XFEL: European XFEL inaugurates Schenefeld headquarters

European XFEL, an international X-ray laser facility that is to begin operation in 2017, reached a major milestone on 29 June: the inauguration of the new headquarters in the town of Schenefeld in the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. Guests from politics, administration, and the diplomatic corps; the European XFEL Council; and employees from European XFEL and the organization’s largest shareholder and close partner DESY celebrated the event at the new research campus.

The inauguration of the building comes near the close of the civil construction of the new research facility. The headquarters building houses the workplaces of most of the about 300 scientists, engineers, technicians, administrative staff, and guests, as well as support and sample preparation laboratories. Starting in 2017, scientists from around the world will be coming to the campus to use the intense, ultrashort X-ray flashes that the facility will produce to perform studies of ultrafast processes, tiny structures, and extreme states of matter.

European XFEL Managing Director Prof. Massimo Altarelli thanked the partner countries, companies, and institutions involved in the construction of the facility as well as the employees of DESY and European XFEL. “This is a very important milestone for us. We now feel every day more than ever how close we are to the start of operation of the facility, which is scheduled to begin in mid-2017. Together with the scientific community, our shareholders, and our partners at DESY, we are looking forward to this important day with impatience and great expectations”, Altarelli said.

“There are many things that will contribute to making the European XFEL a success for users”, said European XFEL Council Chairman Prof. Martin Meedom Nielsen. “The outstanding quality of the X-ray beam and the instruments are perhaps the most easily visible. But it is just as important to provide the users with good environments to prepare their samples and with efficient means to analyse their measurements and turn the raw data into publishable results. With this new headquarters building, we have taken an important step towards realizing this goal, and it is a great joy for us all to see the European XFEL company in its new and beautiful building.”

 

“With today’s inauguration of the headquarters building, great opportunities open up for our state”, said Schleswig-Holstein Economic Affairs and Technology Minister Reinhard Meyer. “European cutting-edge research has a new home here in Northern Germany, in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. We are looking forward to welcoming scientists from around the world who will find new possibilities here for doing their work. We hope that the facility will not only cross the border between two German federal states, but also be a place where science can bring people together in global cooperation.”

“The European XFEL is a project that is truly based on a joint European effort”, said Hamburg Second Mayor and Senator for Science, Research, and Equality Katharina Fegebank. “Eleven countries contribute more than a billion euro to the construction of this research facility. With the help of the high-intensity and ultrashort X-ray flashes of the European XFEL, it will be possible to film chemical reactions at the atomic level and investigate the structure of biomolecules. Researchers from around the world are looking forward to the start of the facility’s operation. I am happy that the staff has already been able to move into the new headquarters. I wish all the employees a good start and lots of success in their new workplace.”

“The inauguration of the European XFEL headquarters building is an important milestone towards the realization of the world’s most powerful X-ray laser facility”, said Dr. Beatrix Vierkorn-Rudolph, who is responsible for basic science and large facilities at the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). “We are convinced of the scientific and economic importance of the European XFEL and are looking towards the beginning of its operation with great hope. The BMBF has contributed around 760 million euro to the construction of the X-ray laser facility.”

 

Prof. Ludmila Ogorodova, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, said: “Science in the modern world is a not an elite area of knowledge, but a tool for economic and social development. Regardless of the economic challenges that Russia faced during its different periods of development, we have invested and continue to invest considerable funds in international scientific and technical projects. As a representative of the Russian Federation, which has made a significant contribution to the development of the idea of free-electron lasers and has been actively participating in the construction of the European XFEL, I am especially glad to see such a rapid realization of our common goals. Our successful cooperation during the realization of the European XFEL project serves as proof that even in the world of today’s difficult political realities, science continues to be a viable area for mutually beneficial and constructive international cooperation.”

Russia contributes 27% to the construction costs of the European XFEL and is the second largest shareholder after Germany, which provides 58%.

“I am proud to have been a part of such an exciting project from the beginning, and I would like to thank European XFEL and DESY for the good and transparent cooperation”, said Schenefeld Mayor Christiane Küchenhof. “I’d like to greet the employees of European XFEL with a hearty ‘welcome to Schenefeld’. I am also already looking forward to welcoming guests from around the world who will come to Schenefeld starting next year.”

 

European XFEL’s research campus in Schenefeld is at the end of a 3.4-km-long underground tunnel system extending from the DESY campus in the Bahrenfeld district of Hamburg. At the heart of the European XFEL site in Schenefeld are the headquarters building and the large underground experiment hall. In the experiment hall, scientific users will be able to conduct their research, the results of which are expected to have significant impact on fields as diverse as biomedicine and astrophysics.

The move of the facility’s employees to Schenefeld is one of the final milestones of its construction phase. The construction phase, which began in 2009, included the boring of 5.77 km of tunnels, the erection of several support buildings, and the construction of the headquarters building. Until 20 June, the European XFEL had rented offices in buildings adjacent to the DESY campus.

Work on the facility’s sites is now focusing on the final installation steps of the accelerator and the light-generating magnetic structures, the undulators, as well as on the installation of the scientific instruments and their infrastructure.

You can find photos of the event on our media database.