European XFEL
The European XFEL will generate, from 2017, ultrashort X-ray flashes at a rate of approximately 30 000 times per second and with a brilliance that is a billion times higher than that of the best conventional X-ray radiation sources. The short and intense flashes of the European XFEL will open up areas of research that are nowadays inaccessible. Using the X-ray flashes of the European XFEL, scientists will be able to map the atomic details of viruses, decipher the molecular composition of cells, take three-dimensional images of the nanoworld, film chemical reactions, and study processes such as those occurring deep inside planets.
Italy contributed to the realization of the accelerator that drives the free electron laser producing the X-Ray flashes.
LASA designed and procured with the Italian industry approximately half of the main components for the 100 superconducting accelerator modules and various special machine components.
The XFEL Injector
To the right the first accelerating module (yellow), placed after the electron gun, and to the left the special third harmonic module (red), provided by LASA. The injector complex has been operated to its full specifications during the first commissioning phase of XFEL, from December 2015 to July 2016. The whole accelerator complex will start operation within the end of 2016.
