Construction of the European X-ray laser project (XFEL*), which had been approved by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) on February 5, 2003 is to start in 2006. The site for the XFEL has now been determined by the research center DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron); it was announced today at a press conference in Hamburg. The 3.3-kilometer-long facility is to be located in the federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. It will begin on the DESY site in Hamburg-Bahrenfeld and run in a north-western direction to the town of Schenefeld (district of Pinneberg), which borders on Hamburg. Here, the experimental hall with its ten measuring stations is to be erected. This site is large enough to accommodate a second experimental hall of the same size, which could be constructed at a later date beside the first hall. According to current planning, the commissioning of this facility for basic scientific research – which will be unique in Europe – will start in 2012. – The site planning for the project for particle physics TESLA**, on which no decision has been taken yet, remains unaltered by these plans.

On February 5, 2003, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) decided that DESY should realize the X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) as a European project. The ministry also announced that in view of the locational advantage, Germany is prepared to cover half of the investment costs for the XFEL. (The investment costs amount to € 673 million, the estimates being based on price levels in the year 2000). At the same time, a decision was postponed on the TESLA project. It was thus clear that the X-ray laser and TESLA could not be realized on the same time scale, as had been planned originally. This also implied that the intended scientific and economic synergy effects between these two projects, which had required the original location for the X-ray laser to lie around 20 kilometers away from DESY, ceased to apply. DESY therefore decided to look for a new site with a strong connection to DESY which would offer corresponding synergy effects. "We are pleased that we have found an ideally suited location for the new XFEL in the vicinity of DESY," said Professor Dr. Albrecht Wagner, Chairman of the DESY Directorate. "No new plots of land will have to be bought for the supply buildings, we can erect them on the DESY site. In addition, we can use parts of the existing infrastructure. Looking far into the future, one could think of connecting the linear accelerator of the X-ray laser with particle accelerators already existing on the DESY site in order to open up new opportunities for science." Until the end of 2004, the negotiations on the funding and participation in the X-ray laser project will be carried on on the national and European level. In parallel, DESY will prepare the detailed planning documents required to apply for the Planfeststellungsverfahren – the procedure of the official approval of a plan. According to current planning, the ground-breaking ceremony for the facility could take place in the first half of 2006.

October 29 – November 19, 2003: Exhibition in the lobby of the Hamburg City Hall

On the occasion of the location decision, DESY has been invited to present the exhibition "The Light of the Future – The European X-ray Laser Project at DESY" in the lobby of the Hamburg City Hall from October 29 to November 19. On 48 large exhibition panels divided into three themes ("The Project in General", "Technology and Operation", and "Future Research Perspectives"), the exhibition describes the X-ray laser project – a project of basic scientific research unparalleled in Europe – in an accessible and descriptive way. A fourth subject area presents the research center DESY itself. Highlight of the exhibition is a 1-meter-long original accelerator structure made of the superconducting metal niobium, which was taken from a test facility. These so-called resonators have been developed and tested at DESY during the last 10 years in cooperation with the international TESLA Collaboration. The resonators form the core of the 2200-meter-long electron linear accelerator for the X-ray laser. The exhibition was inaugurated today after the joint press conference by Hamburg’s Senator for Science and Research Jörg Dräger, the Minister of Research and Science of Schleswig-Holstein Ute Erdsiek-Rave and the Chairman of the DESY Directorate Professor Albrecht Wagner.

The X-ray free-electron laser XFEL

The European X-ray laser proposed by DESY will create unique opportunities for basic research in the natural sciences in Europe. It will open up completely new, fascinating possibilities to study a wide range of questions in the natural sciences – from physics and chemistry to materials science, geological research and the life sciences. The facility produces X-ray radiation with the properties of laser light. It will provide wavelengths in the nanometer region, light pulses shorter than 100 femtoseconds (one-tenth of a million millionths of a second) and previously unattained values of radiation brilliance. This will allow researchers in the next decade to take snapshots of atomic details and of processes in materials and biomolecules on the atomic time scale for the first time.

*XFEL
X-ray Free-Electron Laser, the European X-ray laser project being planned at DESY: a 3.3-kilometer-long facility starting at DESY in Hamburg and extending into the state of Schleswig-Holstein, into the southern part of the neighboring town of Schenefeld in the Pinneberg district.

**TESLA
TeV-Energy Superconducting Linear Accelerator, a superconducting linear accelerator operating at energies of the order of a teraelectronvolt. Tera is the scientific abbreviation for one thousand billion; one electronvolt is the unit of energy used in particle physics. TESLA is a future project of particle physics, with a 33-kilometer-long tunnel extending from DESY in Hamburg to Westerhorn in the north of the Pinneberg district, and a research site located in the middle of the tunnel in Ellerhoop.

Download [0 MB, 3366 x 2211]

Suggested location
To its funding organizations and European partners, DESY has suggested a location for the X-ray laser project in the states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. The supply station would be located on the DESY site in Hamburg. The linear accelerator tunnel would also begin here. The experimental hall would be built on a site in the south of the town of Schenefeld (Pinneberg district), which borders on Hamburg. (Source: DESY Hamburg)