14th Call for Proposals for User Experiments
The 14th call for proposals at the European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Facility (European XFEL) is open until:
Tuesday 24 June 2025, at 16:00 CEST
(local Hamburg/Schenefeld time / Central European Summer Time)
Please refer to the information below and apply via the User Portal to the European XFEL (UPEX). Beamtime will be allocated in 2026 at these scientific instruments:
- Femtosecond X-Ray Experiments (FXE) at Beamline SASE1
- Single Particles, Clusters, and Biomolecules and Serial Femtosecond Crystallography (SPB/SFX) at Beamline SASE1
- High Energy Density Science (HED) at Beamline SASE2
- Materials Imaging and Dynamics (MID) at Beamline SASE2
- Spectroscopy and Coherent Scattering (SCS) at Beamline SASE3
- Small Quantum Systems (SQS) at Beamline SASE3
This is the only call for experiment proposals enabling access to European XFEL in 2026. Due to important accelerator maintenance tasks, European XFEL will not accommodate user experiments in the second part of 2025. X-ray photon delivery is expected to resume in early 2026, with user operation currently anticipated to start in April 2026. Beamtime in both semesters of 2026 will be allocated based on this single call and feedback to applicants will be provided late 2025. The next regular call for proposals is planned in 2026, for experiments in the first semester of 2027.
Before submitting a proposal, and for more information about user community projects, check with the relevant instrument group about feasibility conditions:
- FXE: christopher.milne@xfel.eu
- SPB/SFX: spb.sfx@xfel.eu
- HED: ulf.zastrau@xfel.eu
- MID: mid-info@xfel.eu
- SCS: scs@xfel.eu
- SQS: michael.meyer@xfel.eu
In the framework of this call,
- and in addition to regular proposals, the option of standard configurations for the HED and the MID instruments is available (see Section 1. below). The choice must be specified in the proposal form. At HED, priority access for the HiBEF User Consortium will reduce the available general user time by 30%. Questions regarding priority access should be directed to the HiBEF spokesperson, Prof. Thomas Cowan (HZDR) (cf. HiBEF webpages).
- the SCS instrument accepts proposals to all experiment stations and detectors. Details can be found in the fact sheet on the SCS instrument web pages.
- SPB/SFX welcomes regular experiment proposals which can take advantage of the full capabilities of the instrument.
- PCS beamtime: A rolling access call for sample screening and limited scope data collection will open at SPB/SFX in late 2025, for allocation on an ongoing basis in 2026. This call will incorporate and extend the previously available protein crystal and sample screening. The opening of this call and further details will be announced in due course.
Individual contact to the instrument groups is strongly encouraged to discuss specific requirements and technical feasibility of proposals in detail. |
Proposals submitted in this call will be reviewed for their scientific quality by panels of international experts and checked for technical feasibility and safety conditions.