Signing Partners UK with Leading X-Ray Laser Facility

During a ceremony at the British Embassy in Berlin, representatives of the UK government and other contract parties, including the German federal government, signed documents (March 19) officially making the UK the 12th member state of the European XFEL.

Sited in Germany, the European XFEL international research facility houses the world’s largest x-ray laser capable of generating extremely intense X-ray laser flashes that offer new research opportunities. It can, for example, enable researchers to take three-dimensional photos of the nanoworld, film chemical reactions as they happen and study processes such as those that occur deep inside planets.

The UK’s contribution will amount to 26million Euro, or about 2% of the total construction budget of 1.22 billion Euro (both in 2005 prices) and an annual contribution of about 2% to the operation budget. The UK will be represented in European XFEL by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) as shareholder.

UK Science Minister Sam Gyimah said: “The incredible XFEL laser will help us better understand life threatening diseases by using one of the world’s most powerful X-ray machines. Working with our international partners, the super-strength laser will help develop new medical treatments and therapies, potentially saving thousands of lives across the world."

The UK has been involved with XFEL since 2008 through both collaboration on technology and the two XFEL User Consortia. The facilities Large Pixel Detector (LPD), a cutting-edge X-ray camera capable of capturing images in billionths of a second, was developed and built by STFC. Installed mid-2017, it is now operational at the instrument for Femtosecond X-ray Experiments (FXE) at European XFEL.

Additionally, the STFC Central Laser Facility, based at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxford, is currently building a diapole laser for the High Energy Density (HED) instrument at European XFEL, which will be used to recreate the conditions found within stars.

Dr Brian Bowsher, Chief Executive of STFC, said: “As the UK becomes a full member of XFEL it opens up areas of research for British scientists at the atomic, molecular and nanoscale level that are currently inaccessible. This signing today reinforces our continued strategy to ensure UK science remains at the very forefront of global research by collaborating with the best scientists in the world and using the best facilities.”

A training facility, the UK XFEL life sciences hub at the Diamond Light Source, Harwell campus, will also enable users to fully prepare for their experiments with XFELs.

Chair of the European XFEL Council Professor Martin Meedom Nielsen who was present at the signing said: "All member states are very happy that the United Kingdom now officially joins the European XFEL. The UK science community has been very active in the project since the very beginning and their contribution of ideas and know-how has always been highly appreciated. Together, we will maintain and develop the European XFEL as a world leading facility for X-ray science."