260 scientists from 22 countries gathered on January 24-25 at the DESY research center in Hamburg for the first European XFEL Users’ Meeting, which brought together the future users of the European X-ray laser facility. “We are very happy about the overwhelming attendance from scientists coming from all over the world – after all the commissioning of the XFEL is only due in seven years’ time,” said Professor Massimo Altarelli, Italian physicist and leader of the European XFEL Project Team. “This clearly demonstrates the worldwide interest in the planned X-ray laser and the excitement with which the realization of the facility is awaited within the international scientific community.”

The first users’ meeting marks the beginning of a series of regular workshops and meetings between the scientists interested in the research opportunities at the XFEL and the planners of the facility. Its goal was not only to inform about the status of the project and its scientific perspectives. “We wanted to include the future users in the planning already in this early stage,” said Dr. Thomas Tschentscher, DESY physicist and member of the European XFEL Project Team. The European XFEL is a new light source that will generate extremely intense, laserlike X-ray radiation for research in various areas of the natural sciences. “The facility itself is ready to be realized. Now we have to start the detailed planning of the experimental stations and the development of new measuring methods and detectors. The close cooperation with the users allows us to fully take their wishes and requirements into consideration,” Tschentscher said.

As the representative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Dr. Rainer Koepke insisted on the European and global aspects of future large-scale research institutions such as the XFEL: “In the future, it will not be possible any more for one country to cover such large and complex facilities on its own. They can only be realized as a joint effort of several countries. In the case of the European XFEL project, we try to conclude the negotiations with our partner countries within the next months.” Professor John Wood, chairman of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures ESFRI, pointed out the important role played by the XFEL on the European research scene: “In September 2006, ESFRI published the first European roadmap for new, large-scale research infrastructures which are of central importance for the European research position for the next 10 to 20 years and whose impact will reach far beyond European boarders. The XFEL is a vanguard among the 35 selected projects. The experimental opportunities at the facility will revolutionize the nature of X-ray science.“ Today, Europe holds a leading position in this kind of research thanks to the DESY facility FLASH, which until 2009 will be the only facility in the world for first experiments with soft X-ray laser radiation. “As a pilot facility for the XFEL, FLASH is an invaluable asset, and the remarkable first results already demonstrate the enormous potential of the European X-ray laser XFEL.”

The first users’ meeting clearly showed the atmosphere of excitement created by the European XFEL. With great dedication, the researchers joined in the four workshops, which had been selected according to the main scientific disciplines, drew up the details of the required experimental stations and determined priorities. “This highly successful kick-off meeting allowed us to bring the scientists interested in the XFEL together and motivated them to closely cooperate with us in the detailed planning,” said Professor Albrecht Wagner, chairman of the DESY Directorate. “Their extremely positive reaction underlines the fundamental importance of the European XFEL facility for the long-time future of X-ray science in Europe and worldwide. Even if negotiations about the international funding are still ongoing, we reckon that the construction of the XFEL will begin next autumn.”

The European XFEL Facility
The X-ray laser XFEL, which was proposed by DESY and is to be realized as a European project, will produce high-intensity ultra-short X-ray flashes with the properties of laser light (X stands for X-ray, FEL for free-electron laser). This new light source, which can only be described in terms of superlatives, will open up a whole range of new perspectives for the natural sciences. It could also offer very promising opportunities for industrial users. The inconceivably brief and intense X-ray pulses will enable researchers to record what are essentially films with atomic resolution – for example, of how a chemical reaction progresses, how biomolecules move, or how solids are formed. This will benefit a wide range of natural sciences – from physics and chemistry to materials science, geological research and the life sciences. Industrial users will also profit from the facility – for instance from the ability to develop new materials in the nanoworld; i.e., with dimensions measured in billionths of a meter.

The 3.4-kilometer-long XFEL facility will be located in the federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein and comprise three sites. The facility will begin on the DESY site in Hamburg-Bahrenfeld and run in a north-western direction to the town of Schenefeld (Pinneberg district, Schleswig-Holstein), which borders on Hamburg. Here, the research campus with an underground experimental hall comprising ten measuring stations will be realized until 2013. A second experimental complex with another ten measuring stations is foreseen for construction at a later date.

The construction cost for the XFEL facility amount to 986 million Euro. As the host country, Germany will cover up to 60 percent of these costs, at least 40 percent will be born by European partner countries. Until now, 11 European countries and the People’s Republic of China declared their intention to participate in the XFEL. Concrete bilateral negotiations are currently taking place on the governmental level between Germany and the various interested countries to determine the nature and scale of each country’s participation. The goal is to establish the prerequisites for an independent European XFEL research organization by mid-2007, and start the construction work in autumn 2007.

The German Electron Synchrotron DESY, Member of the Helmholtz Association
The research center DESY (“Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron”) is one of the world’s leading accelerator centers for exploring the structure of matter. Its research spectrum covers three areas: accelerator development, research with photons and particle physics. DESY is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers, and a publicly funded national research center with two locations, in Hamburg and in Zeuthen (Brandenburg). Research at the particle accelerators is carried out in international cooperation. 2750 scientists from 33 countries come to DESY every year; 950 of them are working at the HERA accelerator in the field of particle physics, a further 1800 guests use the Hamburg Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory HASYLAB with its two light sources DORIS III and FLASH. DESY has 1600 employees, 200 of which are working in Zeuthen. DESY’s yearly budget amounts to 160 million Euro (145 million Euro for the Hamburg site and 15 million Euro for the Zeuthen site).