Hamburg Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory HASYLAB

HASYLAB, the Hamburg Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, supports and coordinates science with photons at DESY. Each year DESY’s unique experimental facilities attract over 2000 researchers to Hamburg from around 300 universities and research institutes right across the world. These visiting scientists come from as many as 36 countries, ranging from Armenia to the USA. Some research centres have permanent outstations at HASYLAB or operate their own experimental stations for such fields as structural molecular biology and materials research.

Hamburg Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory HASYLAB

The Hamburg Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory offers much more than just beamtime at light sources. In addition, it is also a genuine service provider to the research community. HASYLAB employees provide advice and support to visiting researchers. Whether assistance is required with a technical problem on a piece of equipment, with a search for information in the library, or even with the complete realization of an experiment – guest scientists at the Hamburg laboratory can expect to receive full expert support for all their research needs. This is another reason why HASYLAB enjoys such an excellent reputation among researchers working in the field of photon science.

Investigating a van Gogh painting at DORIS III

The HASYLAB cooperation model

If scientists from a university or institute, either in Germany or abroad, wish to use the DESY light sources, they must first submit an application for beamtime along with an explanation of their research project. Following approval by an international panel of experts, they can conduct experiments for a certain period time at one of the HASYLAB experimental stations. Such usage is free of charge, provided that the researchers grant the scientific community access to their results, as is customary in the field of fundamental research.

For industrial companies wishing to carry out applied research, HASYLAB offers a special cooperation agreement. In such cases the company concerned contracts to pay a fixed yearly fee towards the costs. In return, it receives fast and flexible access to beamtime and has the support of a special service team during experiments. Afterward the company can utilize the results solely for its own purposes.