Instruments
There are seven instruments in the underground experiment hall of the European XFEL. The instruments are optimized for particular purposes. Each experiment requires light with special properties, such that the instruments are permanently assigned to the different light sources (beamlines) of the European XFEL. From control rooms beside each of the instruments, users can further adapt the light to the needs of their experiments. For example, the imaging of single particles such as biomolecules calls for radiation with especially short wavelengths, whereas the investigation of small objects in strong fields necessitates a high intensity and longer wavelengths.
All of the instruments were developed with the input of specialists from around the world. Some instruments also have entire sections or special devices contributed by international user consortia.
Instrument |
Description |
Tiny structures |
Ultrafast processes |
Extreme states |
Light source |
Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FXE |
Femtosecond X-ray experiments: time-resolved investigations of the dynamics of solids, liquids, gases |
✔ |
SASE1 |
User operation since Sept 2017 |
||
HED |
High energy density science: investigation of matter under extreme conditions using hard X-ray FEL radiation, e.g. probing dense plasmas |
✔ |
✔ |
SASE2 |
User operation since May 2019 |
|
MID |
Materials imaging & dynamics: structure determination of nanodevices and dynamics at the nanoscale |
✔ |
✔ |
SASE2 |
User operation since March 2019 |
|
SCS |
Spectroscopy & coherent scattering: Investigation of electronic structure dynamics of strongly correlated materials, liquids and nano-systems using soft X-rays |
✔ |
✔ |
SASE3 |
User operation since Dec 2018 |
|
SPB/SFX |
Ultrafast coherent diffraction imaging of single particles, clusters and biomolecules: structure determination of single particles (atomic clusters, biomolecules, virus particles, cells), serial femtosecond crystallography |
✔ |
✔ |
SASE1 |
User operation since Sept 2017 |
|
SQS |
Small quantum systems: investigation of atoms, ions, molecules and clusters in intense fields and non-linear phenomena |
✔ |
✔ |
SASE3 |
User operation since Nov 2018 |
|
SXP |
Soft X-ray Port: Investigating the electronic and atomic properties of condensed matter systems at surfaces and interfaces using time resolved photoelectron spectroscopy in the soft x-ray regime. |
✔ |
✔ |
SASE3 |
In commissioning as of October 2022 |