Since today, 30 November 2009, the European research institution that will construct and operate the one-billion-Euro European XFEL facility is standing on its own feet. Science ministers, state secretaries or high-ranking representatives from ten European countries*) travelled to the Hamburg town hall for the signing ceremony of the “Convention concerning the Construction and Operation of a European X-ray Free-Electron Laser Facility” – as the official title of the English version of the convention reads. They signed two documents in six language versions each. These documents lay the foundations of the European XFEL project, define the financial contributions of every country, and confer the responsibility for the construction and operation of the X-ray free-electron laser facility on the non-profit company European XFEL GmbH. For internal reasons, France and Spain will sign the convention at a later date. China and the United Kingdom plan to participate.

The civil construction work for the 3.4-kilometer-long European XFEL X-ray laser facility started in January 2009 in Hamburg and Schenefeld (Pinneberg district, Schleswig-Holstein). Work on the European XFEL has been in full swing for several years now, however, both at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY in Hamburg, Germany, and in the international partner countries. The superconducting electron linear accelerator for the X-ray laser has been developed in an international collaboration under the leadership of DESY and is now being constructed in this joint effort. As the cooperation with the research centre DESY will continue to be very close in the future, its details are specified in a special passage of the convention which was signed today.

In five years’ time, everything will be ready: The European XFEL will generate laserlike X-ray flashes with wavelengths of around one-tenth of a nanometre – 30 000 times per second. These flashes are shorter than 100 quadrillionths of a second (100 femtoseconds). They will allow researchers to analyse various materials in atomic detail, film chemical reactions, generate three-dimensional images of the nano world and study processes under extreme conditions such as the ones occurring in the interior of planets. “This international large-scale project seems like some device from a science fiction novel. One could think of it as a high-speed camera that will enable scientists to view ‘live’ broadcasts of the nano cosmos,” said Professor Helmut Dosch, Chairman of the DESY Board of Directors and the European XFEL Council. New insights are expected in nearly all scientific and technological disciplines that play a role in everyday life – in medicine, pharmaceutics, power engineering, chemistry, materials science, nanotechnology or electronics. “The results will bring about the development of new materials or more effective drugs.”

“All over the world, these new X-ray sources are heralding a true breakthrough for science. It is very important for international science to be able to do research at such a facility not only in Japan and the United States, but also in Europe, all the more so as this facility will boast unique properties,” Professor Massimo Altarelli, Managing Director of the European XFEL GmbH, said on the occasion of the political event at the Hamburg town hall. “The international cooperation not only secures the funding of the European XFEL, it also concentrates the expert knowledge, experience and talents required for its development, construction and operation,” Altarelli explained. “It is a pre-condition for the success of the project, and is now sealed also on the political and financial level. We are very happy about this!”

The European XFEL (X stands for “X-ray”, FEL for “free-electron laser”) will be located mainly in tunnels at a depth of up to 38 metres underground, which can be accessed on three different sites. The facility will begin at DESY in Hamburg-Bahrenfeld, where the major part of the supply technology will be located and operated. Under the site Osdorfer Born, the tunnel will branch out for the first time, followed by several other branching points beneath the third site, so that a total of five individual light sources can be established. This 150 000-square-metre area – the largest of the three European XFEL sites – is located in the town of Schenefeld (Schleswig-Holstein), which borders on Hamburg. It will host the campus of the new research centre on which, starting in 2015, international teams of scientists will carry out experiments at complex instruments using the intense X-ray flashes.

The costs for the construction and commissioning of the new X-ray laser facility amount to 1082 million Euro (price levels of 2005). As the host country, Germany (the federal government, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein) covers 54 percent of these costs. Russia bears 23 percent and the other international partners between 1 and 3.5 percent each. To a great extent, these shares will be provided as in-kind contributions (personnel or technical components). The governments of the international partner designate the shareholders of the European XFEL GmbH. As a rule, these are research institutions or organizations of their own country. With the consent of all the partners, the GmbH (a limited liability company under German law) was founded in Hamburg a few weeks ago already, initially with DESY as the only shareholder. This enabled other shareholders of the new research organization to join the limited liability company right after the signing of the convention.

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*) The project partners are: China, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom

Joint Press Release of European XFEL GmbH and Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY