InternalFirst deliveries from Poland to the European XFEL
The first segments of a helium transfer line required for testing the accelerator elements have arrived. Journalists from Warsaw came to Hamburg to find out more about the Polish contribution to the European XFEL.
Following an invitation of the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ), nine journalists from Warsaw came to Hamburg on 21 October 2011 for a full day’s visit. They were particularly interested in Poland’s activities relating to the construction of the superconducting linear accelerator for the European XFEL. Like many of the 12 partner countries, Poland participates in the construction of the European XFEL facility by providing a large in-kind contribution. This contribution includes the delivery of special cryogenic components. In addition, experts from Polish institutes are responsible for the comprehensive quality tests of the superconducting niobium resonators and accelerator modules, which will be carried out at DESY in Hamburg.
The facility required for the extensive testing, the Accelerator Module Test Facility (AMTF), is currently being set up in a specially constructed hall. The cryogenic plant that will produce the liquid helium at a temperature of minus 271 degrees Celsius already exists at DESY. Both halls are about 150 metres apart, however. One Polish in-kind contribution is thus the complex transfer line inside which the ultracold helium will be transported from the cryogenic hall to the AMTF hall without heating up. Eight wooden boxes with safely packed, 12 metre long sections of pipe have now arrived from Poland. The installation of the helium transfer line will begin in a few weeks.
Detailed information on the helium transfer line and the tests of the accelerator components can be found in the DESY News of 21 October 2011.
The accelerator complex of the European XFEL is being constructed as a joint effort by 16 institutes from eight countries, among them the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, which coordinates this Accelerator Consortium. Participating institutes from Poland are: the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) in Świerk near Warschau, the Henryk Niewodniczański Institute for Nuclear Physics (IFJ-PAN) of the Polisch Academy of Sciences in Krakow, and Wrocław University of Technology (WUT) in Wrocław.
