Poland’s Science Minister visits European XFEL and DESY
Professor Barbara Kudrycka officially commissions accelerator module test facility.
On Thursday, 14 February, Poland’s Minister of Science and Higher Education, Professor Barbara Kudrycka, visited the construction site of Europe’s new X-ray laser European XFEL and the research centre DESY. Poland is one of the eight shareholders of the European XFEL and contributes, among other things, a test facility for more than 800 superconducting cavities to the construction of the X-ray laser. Together with Professor Massimo Altarelli, European XFEL Managing Director, and Professor Helmut Dosch, Chairman of the DESY Board of Directors, Kudrycka officially commissioned the test facility on the DESY campus.
“The construction of the European XFEL is—apart from research projects carried out at CERN near Geneva—the most important project that Polish scientists contribute to,” said Kudrycka. “I am proud that our researchers, but also engineers and technicians are a significant part of the endeavour.”
After commissioning, which is planned to start at the end of 2015, the European XFEL will be the world’s best X-ray laser light source of a new generation of so-called free-electron lasers (FELs). It employs a high-performance particle accelerator generating ultrashort and extremely intense X-ray flashes. For this purpose, electrons are brought to almost the speed of light in a 1.7 km long particle accelerator. Then, strong magnets force the fast particles onto a tight slalom course. In each curve, the electrons emit X-ray radiation, which adds up to intense laser flashes.
The European XFEL will produce up to 27 000 of these flashes per second and enable completely new insights into the nanocosm. This exceptional light will allow scientists to decode the structure of biomolecules, film chemical reactions and investigate the structure of novel nanomaterials. “When in operation, due to its special features, the European XFEL will be the only machine of its kind in the world," Altarelli pointed out.
In order to provide the electrons with the required energy, the accelerator must be operated at temperatures near absolute zero. At an operating temperature of minus 271°C—which is colder than outer space—the cavities made of ultrapure niobium lose their electrical resistance; they become superconducting. Only in this state do the accelerator modules reach the necessary power.
Prior to their installation into the accelerator, the cavities must undergo a thorough test. To this end, the Polish experts developed and built two test stands, called cryostats, and delivered them to DESY. In these cryostats, the cavities will be cooled with liquid helium and tested under operating conditions. Moreover, the Polish partners built and installed the complete helium transfer line from and to the DESY helium storage tanks.
“The Polish expertise in cryogenic and vacuum technology is outstanding,” said DESY Director Dosch. He emphasized the role of Poland as an important cooperation partner. “We have maintained close relations with Polish colleagues for a long time, not only with regard to the European XFEL but also as current users of X-ray radiation, for example at our X-ray source PETRA III. A very fruitful scientific community has grown here in the past decades. This is a prominent basis to jointly continue to do top-level research.”