Institutional and international cooperation

European XFEL has established an extensive international research network with partners around the world. Cooperation and partnership agreements with research organizations serve to further advance X-ray laser science and help scientists to prepare for the unique research opportunities at the new facility.

Cooperations with research institutions

CLPU
European XFEL and the Spanish Center for Ultrashort Ultraintense Pulsed Lasers (CLPU) in Salamanca cooperate to develop new ultrafast optical lasers to analyse physical and chemical processes in conjunction with the X-ray beams of the European XFEL. In combination with the unique features of the European XFEL, new optical laser technologies will enable scientists to film ultrafast processes, such as chemical and biochemical reactions that provide a basis for the development of more efficient industrial production processes or new medical products and devices. An Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 10 October 2011 and was prolonged in 2016 for a further five years.
Further information: news 2011
CLPU homepage: www.clpu.es

CNRS
In addition to becoming a shareholder of European XFEL in 2014, National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), one of France's largest research organizations, signed a collaboration agreement with European XFEL regarding design, development, construction, and delivery of a MHz prototype noncollinear optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) through the Cluster of Research Infrastructures for Synergies in Physics (CRISP) framework.
CNRS homepage: www.cnrs.fr

DESY
The relationship between European XFEL and its main shareholder, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Germany, is unique. The two partners collaborate on the construction, commissioning, and eventual operation of the facility, based on a long-term agreement, among others.
Further information: Cooperation with DESY
DESY homepage: www.desy.de

ELI Beamlines
European XFEL and the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences agree to enhance scientific collaboration with the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) Beamlines facility in Dolní Břežany, Czech Republic, including an exchange of personnel, performance of joint research and workshops, collaboration in the ELIBIO project, development of high-repetition-rate targetry, information exchange on user access, and joint development of instrumentation, among other goals. An MoU was signed in Prague on 28 April 2017.                                                                             ELI Beamlines homepage: www.eli-beams.eu

FELs of Europe
European research facilities that operate or develop X-ray FELs and advanced short-pulse and coherent light sources cooperate to promote FEL science and technology in Europe and to provide the experimental conditions needed by large, multidisciplinary user community. An MoU was signed in May 2012. Other members are Ankara University in Turkey, CNRS in France, DESY in Germany, Elettra Sincrotone Trieste in Italy, HZB in Germany, HZDR in Germany, INFN in Italy, MAX IV Laboratory in Sweden, NCBJ in Poland, PSI in Switzerland, Radboud University in the Netherlands, SOLEIL in France, and STFC in the UK.                                                                                                                                                                                             FELs of Europe homepage: www.fels-of-europe.eu

HAW Hamburg
European XFEL and Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg) cooperate in science and engineering education. The main focus is to give undergraduate students practical experience in their degree programmes. A cooperation agreement was signed on 2 December 2013.
HAW Hamburg homepage: www.haw-hamburg.de

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin
A Memorandum of Understanding for a collaboration was signed on 11 March 2010 by European XFEL and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) in Germany. The goal is to establish specific collaborations to develop optical components in soft X-ray optics and diagnostics, especially with respect to the expertise at the BESSY synchrotron at HZB. In 2013, European XFEL signed an additional cooperation agreement with HZB in the framework of the Helmholtz Virtual Institute "Dynamic Pathways in Multidimensional Landscapes".
HZB homepage: www.helmholtz-berlin.de

Kurchatov Institute
National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute” in Moscow, Russia (Shareholder)
Institute homepage: www.kiae.ru/e/engl.html

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
European XFEL and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, California, USA, established a framework for proposed cooperation in the area of the development and use of free-electron lasers in an MoU signed in Hamburg on 16 April 2013.
Further information: news 2013
LBNL homepage: www.lbl.gov

Max Planck Society
On 24 November 2014, European XFEL signed a research agreement with the Max Planck Society, represented by the Semiconductor Laboratory ("Halbleiterlabor") in Munich, Germany, on "Cooperation within the framework of the production of Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) sensors for the DSSC 1 Megapixel Detector".
Max Planck Society homepage: www.mpg.de/en

NCBJ                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        European XFEL and the National Center for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) in Świerk, Poland, collaborate on FEL technology, particularly in the field of data management. A Collaboration Agreement was signed on 24 November 2017.
NCBJ homepage: www.ncbj.gov.pl/en

Osaka University
European XFEL and the Osaka University in Japan agreed to jointly appoint a scientist to promote education and research. An MoU was signed on 16 December 2014. On 4 Septemeber 2015, European XFEL and Osaka University signed a framework collaboration agreement to share knowledge, resources, equipment, and personnel on high energy density science research.
Osaka University homepage: www.osaka-u.ac.jp

PTB
European XFEL and Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Braunschweig und Berlin (PTB) cooperate on ultrahigh precision metrology for metre-long X-ray mirrors. A collaboration agreement was signed on 9 December 2015.
PTB homepage: www.ptb.de

RSC
European XFEL and the RIKEN SPring-8 Center (RSC) in Sayo, Hyogo, Japan, intend to collaborate on the development of technologies for the enhanced utilization of X-ray FELs. An MoU was signed on 23 February 2015.
RSC homepage: www.riken.jp/en/research/labs/rsc


SLAC
Regular contacts with SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, California, provide an important opportunity to gain hands-on experience at an X-ray FEL in operation, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS).
SLAC homepage: www.slac.stanford.edu
LCLS homepage: lcls.slac.stanford.edu

STFC
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) in Swindon, UK, develops the Large Pixel Detector (LPD) as well as hardware elements for the readout and data acquisition architecture. A prolongation of a 2010 cooperation agreement was signed on 30 January 2013. The new phase of the agreement includes production of the LPD detector.
STFC homepage: www.stfc.ac.uk

Turkish Accelerator Center
European XFEL collaborates with the Turkish Accelerator Center (TAC) in the development of scientific instrumentation for highly coherent, ultrashort-pulse X-ray light sources and their scientific use. An Memorandum of Understanding was signed in May with Ankara University, Turkey, the coordinator of the TAC.
TAC homepage: thm.ankara.edu.tr

"Umbrella" Federated Identity Management System
On 31 March 2015, European XFEL signed an MoU with ALBA Synchrotron in Spain, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Germany, Diamond Light Source in the UK, Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste in Italy, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in France, Instruct Academic Services in the UK, HZB in Germany, Institut Laue-Langevin in France, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) in Switzerland, Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) in the UK, and SOLEIL in France. The purpose of the MoU is to establish an efficient, long-term collaboration between the partners in order to develop, implement, and operate a unique, persistent, trans-facility user identification system that will function across Europe.

University of Hamburg
European XFEL and the School of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences (MIN) at the University of Hamburg, Germany, cooperate in research and teaching. The main focus is on exchanging know-how, implementing joint research projects, providing mutual access to experimental facilities, and promoting undergraduates, Ph.D. students, and young scientists.
A contract was signed on 15 August 2011.
Further information: news 2011
MIN homepage: www.min.uni-hamburg.de/index_e.html

Participation in the cluster of excellence “The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging” (CUI):
www.cui.uni-hamburg.de/en/
Participation in Research Training Group GRK 1355
www.photon.physnet.uni-hamburg.de/de/grk/
Participation in Collaborative Research Centre SFB 925: Light induced dynamics and control of correlated quantum systems
www.photon.physnet.uni-hamburg.de/sfb/

University of Milan
The University of Milan in Italy will provide a pulsed microplasma cluster source setup and seconded scientific staff to the Small Quantum Systems (SQS) scientific instrument group, on the basis of a framework collaboration agreement signed on 16 June 2015.
University of Milan homepage: www.unimi.it/ENG
 

University of Rostock
European XFEL and the University of Rostock, Germany, agreed on aa framework for cooperation and common procedures for the appointment of professors. A collaborate agreement was signed on 5 June 2014.
Further information: news 2014
University of Rostock homepage: www.uni-rostock.de

University of Siegen
European XFEL and the University of Siegen in Germany exchange scientific information and know-how, cooperate on joint and individual research projects, teach students and junior scientists, share experiment equipment, and conduct in-house and external user research. A cooperation agreement was signed on 20 September 2016.
University of Siegen homepage: www.uni-siegen.de

VISAVIX                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The Heinrich-Pette-Institute, Leibniz-Institut für Experimentelle Virologie; the University of Greifswald; and European XFEL collaborate on the Viral Structural Analysis via Intense X-Ray Pulses (VISAVIX) project, which aims to develop special methods for studying viral structures at facilties such as European XFEL. A cooperationagreement was signed on 23 August 2017. 

Instrumentation from ErUM project funding

BMBF funding has enabled new components and instruments to be built at European XFEL through collaboration with universtities. Researchers from universities combine broad-brush expertise with outstanding research capabilities and are important partners for the important science being conducted at European XFEL. ErUM-Pro funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research acts as a bridge between facility and universities, involving university partners to become involved in the long-term development of research infrastructures. The following infrastructure at European XFEL has been enabled through ErUM project funding: 

ErUM-Pro funded projects
Name
Instrument
Topic
Partner
Funding Catalogue Link
Status?
N/A
Propagation of partially coherent radiation from FELs based on Hartmann wavefront measurements
Laser-Laboratorium Göttingen e.V.
Ready
SFX2
High-throughput serial femtosecond crystallography @ EU XFEL
Universität Hamburg
Under construction
SpeAR_XFEL
SpeAR_XFEL: Spectrometer with angular resolution for ultrafast experiments at X-ray FELs
Technische Universität Dortmund
Ready
XFEL-k-Spin-multi-D [sub-project 1]
Full 8D photoelectron spin and pulse microscopy for comprehensive dynamics analysis in quantum materials at the XFEL
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
Under construction
XFEL-k-Spin-multi-D [sub-project 2]
Full 8D photoelectron spin and pulse microscopy for comprehensive dynamics analysis in quantum materials at the XFEL
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Under construction
XFEL-k-Spin-multi-D [sub-project 3]
Full 8D photoelectron spin and pulse microscopy for comprehensive dynamics analysis in quantum materials at the XFEL
Universität Duisburg-Essen
Under construction
N/A
Time-resolved X-ray emission and X-ray Raman scattering under extreme conditions at the HED instrument of the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser: Investigation of the dynamics of the atomic and electronic structure of matter under conditions of the interior of the Earth and planetary bodies
Technische Universität Dortmund
Ready
N/A
Superconducting undulators for the European XFEL
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Ready
N/A
Microscopic liquid jets to study the dynamics and kinetics of structural non-equilibrium phase transitions at the European free-electron laser
Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
Ready
N/A
Split-and-delay instrument for the European XFEL Beamline Materials Imaging and Dynamics
Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V.
Ready
VISAVIX [sub-project 1]
Viral structural analysis via intense X-ray pulses
Heinrich-Pette-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Experimentelle Virologie
Ready
VISAVIX [sub-project 2]
Viral structural analysis via intense X-ray pulses
Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald
Ready
N/A
Installation and commissioning phase of a COLTRIMS reaction microscope for many-body coincidence experiments at the European XFEL
Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
Ready
NP-Facility SQS Improved measurement stand for the investigation of free nanoparticles with FEL radiation Freie Universität Berlin Link Ready
Nanoteilchenstruktur SQS Nanoparticle structure: High-resolution structure and dynamics of individual nanoparticles Technische Universität Berlin Link Ready
XFEL-k-Spin [sub-project 1] SXP Spin and time-resolved pulsed microscopy at the European XFEL Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel Link Ready
XFEL-k-Spin [sub-project 2] SXP Spin and time-resolved pulsed microscopy at the European XFEL Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz Link Ready
XFEL-k-Spin [sub-project 3] SXP Spin and time-resolved pulsed microscopy at the European XFEL. Universität Duisburg-Essen Link Ready

 

Participation in EU programmes

CALIPSOplus
In the present project, CALIPSOplus, the relevant synchrotrons and free-electron lasers in Europe and the Middle East join forces to contribute to the completion of ERA and to tackle the new challenges arising from the commitment of the EU to Open science, Open innovation and Open to the world. Integration with respect to user access, support, instrumentation, data analysis, and data management is strongly pushed forward by this advanced community, looking back at a long tradition of integrated activities funded under FP6 and FP7, and largely profiting from the experiences already gained. The European Synchrotron and FEL User Organisation will be consolidated and the performance and use of the
wayforlight portal as pivotal platform of the light sources community will be boosted. Data management of the different facilities will be harmonised and a data management plan for the CALIPSOplus consortium be defined. Particular focus will be on leveraging scientific excellence in EU-13 countries and on widening the use of light sources by users from these regions. This will be achieved by visits to universities in these countries, by dedicated schools and by an especially set-up Twinning programme. As a pilot action a specific Trans-national Access programme will be offered for users from SMEs, closely related to an awareness raising campaign for light sources use and the role of light sources as customers among local industry around the facilities. Joint Research Activities will focus on metrology of diffraction limited optics in collaboration with the manufacturing industry, of particular importance for the new hard X-ray free electron lasers as well as for the next generation synchrotrons, and on software tools for remote data analysis. Focusing on the horizon beyond 2020, established programmes and activities of the light source community will be evaluated with respect to their future importance and corresponding sustainability and business plans will be developed. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 730872.
Further Information:
https://www.calipsoplus.eu/

EOSCpilot
The EOSCpilot project will support the first phase in the development of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) as described in the EC Communication on European Cloud Initiatives [2016].
It will establish the governance framework for the EOSC and contribute to the development of European open science policy and best practice; develop a number of pilots that integrate services and infrastructures to demonstrate interoperability in a number of scientific domains; and engage with a broad range of stakeholders, crossing borders and communities, to build the trust and skills required for adoption of an open approach to scientific research. These actions will build on and leverage already available resources and capabilities from research infrastructure and e-infrastructure organisations to maximise their use across the research community. The EOSCpilot project will address some of the key reasons why European research is not yet fully tapping into the potential of data. In particular, it will reduce fragmentation between data infrastructures by working across scientific and economic domains, countries and governance models, and improve interoperability between data infrastructures by demonstrating how data and resources can be shared even when they are large and complex and in varied formats. In this way, the EOSC pilot project will improve the ability to reuse data resources and provide an important step towards building a dependable open-data research environment where data from publicly funded research is always open and there are clear incentives and rewards for the sharing of data and resources. EOSCpilot has received funding from the European Commission's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Grant Agreement no 739563.
Further information:
https://eoscpilot.eu/about/eoscpilot-brief

EUCALL
The European Cluster of Advanced Laser Light Sources (EUCALL) is a network between leading large-scale user facilities for free electron laser, synchrotron and optical laser radiation and their users. Under EUCALL, they work together on their common methodologies and research opportunities, and develop tools to sustain this interaction in the future. EUCALL has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and involves 11 partners from nine countries as well as the networks Laserlab Europe and FELs of Europe during the project period 2015 to 2018.
Further information: news 2015
EUCALL homepage: www.eucall.eu

OpenDreamKit
OpenDreamKit will deliver a flexible toolkit enabling research groups to set up Virtual Research Environments, customised to meet the varied needs of research projects in pure mathematics and applications and supporting
the full research life-cycle from exploration, through proof and publication, to archival and sharing of data and code. OpenDreamKit will be built out of a sustainable ecosystem of community-developed open software, databases, and services, including popular tools such as LinBox, MPIR, Sage(sagemath.org), GAP, PariGP, LMFDB, and Singular. We will extend the Jupyter Notebook environment to provide a flexible UI. By improving and unifying existing building blocks, OpenDreamKit will maximise both sustainability and impact, with beneficiaries extending to scientific computing, physics, chemistry, biology, and more and including researchers, teachers, and industrial practitioners. OpenDreamKit will define a novel component-based VRE architecture and the adapt existing mathematical software, databases, and UI components to work well within it on varied platforms. Interfaces to standard HPC and
grid services will be built in. The architecture will be informed by recent research into the sociology of mathematical collaboration, so as to properly support actual research practice. The ease of set up, adaptability and global impact will be demonstrated in a variety of demonstrator VREs. We will ourselves study the social challenges associated with large-scale open source code development and of publications based on executable documents, to ensure sustainability.
OpenDreamKit will be conducted by a Europe-wide demand-steered collaboration, including leading mathematicians, computational researchers, and software developers long track record of delivering innovative open source software solutions for their respective communities. All produced code and tools will be open source. OpenDreamKit has received funding from the European Commission's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Grant Agreement no. 676541.
More Information:
http://opendreamkit.org/project/about/

Memberships in research cooperations

EIROforum
EIROforum is a collaboration between eight European intergovernmental research organizations (EIROs): EMBL, ESRF, European Fusion Development Agreement—Joint European Torus (EFDA-JET), European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), European
Southern Observatory (ESO), European Space Agency (ESA), European XFEL, and Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL). The mission of EIROforum is to combine resources, facilities, and expertise to support European science in reaching its full potential.
Further information: news 2010
EIROforum homepage: www.eiroforum.org

FELs of Europe
FELS of Europe is an initiative of the ESFRI projects EuroFEL and European XFEL. It is a collaboration of all free-electron laser (FEL) facilities in Europe, with the goal to meet the technological and scientific challenges of these novel and rapidly developing technologies and to provide a worldwide unique, pan-European research infrastructure that enables exploiting the full scientific potential of these unique accelerator based short-pulse light sources. The collaboration includes 14 facilities in 10 countries.
FELs of Europe homepage: www.fels-of-europe.eu

Science in School by EIROforum
Science in School is a free journal aiming to promote inspiring science teaching.
Science in School homepage: www.scienceinschool.org

Hard X-ray FEL collaboration (formerly FEL three-site meeting)
The LCLS, the Japanese SPring-8 Compact SASE Source (SCSS), and the Hamburg FEL projects (FLASH at DESY and European XFEL) collaborate, share project information, and identify topics of common interest in a meeting series.

Röntgen–Ångström Cluster
The Röntgen-Ångström Cluster (RÅC) is a Swedish-German research collaboration in the fields of materials science and structural biology that aims to strengthen research at synchrotron and neutron radiation sources. Enabled by an agreement between the Swedish and German governments in 2009, the RÅC helps initiating and developing cooperative projects between research groups from Germany and Sweden in the above-named fields. Several large-scale facilities from both countries are included in the cluster.
More Information:
https://www.rontgen-angstrom.eu/index_eng.html