InternalThe site Schenefeld is the centre for research and innovation with the European XFEL. It is the address of the future research centre, the place where around 350 people will work.
The campus is dominated by the U-shaped main building, which is located on top of the underground experiment hall. Behind it are the supply halls for the underground tunnel “fan”. An oval-shaped information and exhibition centre could be located next to the entrance, with a canteen around 200 metres behind it. The campus can also accommodate partner institutes wishing to establish themselves on the site.
Starting in 2014, the activities on the research campus will chiefly take place in the main building and the experiment hall located beneath it, which is around 14 metres deep. The five tunnels from which the X-ray flashes can be led to two experiment stations each will end in this underground hall. It is approximately 90 metres long and 50 metres wide and will be used for research 24 hours a day. The three storeys located above the hall will house labs and offices, seminar rooms, an auditorium accommodating 200 persons and a specialist library. The U-shaped form of the 12-metre-high main building ensures that all these rooms will be provided with daylight.
The research site, which covers an area of 15 hectares, is currently vacant and used for agriculture and gardening. It was chosen so that it could be expanded to 25 hectares to accommodate a second experimental complex of the same size.
Operation
Researchers in the experiment hall will be able to work in shifts at a total of ten experiment stations. They will be assisted by the technical and scientific staff of the European XFEL, which ensures general operation all year round, 24 hours a day.
When the facility is switched off, the complete hall, the areas for the experiment controls and the experiments are freely accessible to authorized persons and guided visitor groups. When the European XFEL generates X-ray radiation, however, access to the experiment areas is closed by a control system. A suitable radiation protection shielding ensures that no radiation can reach the areas that are freely accessible.
The installations in which the electrons are absorbed and slowed down after light generation will be controlled from the main control room on the DESY site. Their normal operation will have to be interrupted only for maintenance work and checks of the water supply and security systems.
Since the research work requires a lively exchange both within the institute and with other research institutions, the seminar rooms and the auditorium will be in use very frequently for lectures and conferences lasting several days.
