Today the laying of the cornerstone for the PETRA III experimental hall – the most brilliant storage-ring-based X-ray source worldwide is celebrated. “Being the most powerful light source of its kind, PETRA III will offer scientists excellent experimental possibilities with short wave X-ray radiation of very high brilliance,” said Professor Albrecht Wagner, Chairman of the DESY Directorate. “With it, a unique combination of radiation facilities will be available at DESY for the national and international user community.”


The new PETRA III light source will be finished in 2009. For this purpose, DESY is remodelling the 2.3 kilometer-long storage ring PETRA, which had been used for a long time for particle physics; one example was the detection of the “gluons”, responsible for binding protons and neutrons together in the atomic nucleus. The new experimental hall will have the respectable length of 280 meters and its curved form follows the circular arc of the accelerator ring. 14 measuring stations will be installed on approx. 10,000 square meters, with the possibility to run up to 30 experiments.

“Such brilliant X-ray beams, which will be generated by PETRA III, offer decisive advantages to scientists,” explains project leader Professor Edgar Weckert. “Molecular biologists, for example, will be able to reveal the spatial atomic structure of tiny protein crystals and find starting points for new pharmaceuticals. Material scientists need the extremely energetic radiation to test welding seams or to study fatigue of work pieces. Particularly structure and dynamics investigations of nano-particles or measurements with a spatial resolution within the range of some 10 nanometers will profit from the extremely focusable X-ray beams.”

Research in the nano-world requires a considerable complexity in the construction of PETRA III. The finest X-ray beam worldwide, which will be provided by PETRA III, will be generated with the help of special undulators, magnet structures that produce an extraordinary brilliance or luminous intensity. Therefore, the ground floor of the hall must be absolutely vibration-free, which requires special construction techniques for the experimental hall. In order to make available the optimal radiation at the measuring stations for all kinds of applications, already the planning of the PETRA III project was carried out with the strong participation of future university and research center users.

The construction costs of the new X-ray source amount to 225 million Euros; mainly financed by funds of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the Helmholtz Association. Additional 25 million Euros for experimental facilities will be contributed by partner institutes like EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory), the GKSS Research Centre in Geesthacht, the Max-Planck Society and the Universities of Hamburg and Lübeck.

Research with Photons at DESY
Smallest details from the microcosm, visualized by the intense radiation emitted from particle accelerators. At DESY’s Hamburg Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory HASYLAB, scientists from many countries experiment with this special radiation. The existing and planned light sources offer excellent research possibilities: The particle accelerator DORIS III generates radiation for a great variety of applications, e.g. for the analysis of catalysts or semiconductor crystals and for the development of new pharmaceuticals. Unique research opportunities worldwide for ultra fast physical, chemical and biochemical processes are offered by the new free-electron laser FLASH that provides extremely intense short-wave laser flashes.
From 2009 on, PETRA III, the most brilliant storage-ring-based X-ray source worldwide for extremely short-wave X-ray radiation, will be added to these research facilities.
The planned European X-ray laser XFEL, scheduled for 2013, will complement the unique spectrum of state-of-the-art light sources in the metropolitan region of Hamburg.