Commercializing of DESY detectors
“X-Spectrum GmbH"

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
Notkestr. 85
22607 Hamburg

To build up the DESY spin-off “X-Spectrum GmbH” five scientists from the DESY detector group (FS-DS) are funded by the Helmholtz Association “Helmholtz Enterprise” support program receiving 100.000 EUR over one year. The X-Spectrum company itself was founded in July 2014 and aims to enter the market with a high-technology X-ray detector. The funding of the Helmholtz Enterprise offers support in an important and also critical phase of the new spin-off. Especially in the first year after the foundation of the company it is significant to establish a good fundament for future success. The Helmholtz Enterprise program combined with the assistance and support of the DESY Start-up Office under the leadership of the DESY Technology Transfer Office offers very good conditions for the incubation of a commercial enterprise during the whole start-up phase. Spin-offs find overall support from before until a few years after the foundation. To create room for innovative spin-offs DESY is planning to build an innovation centre on site with the support of the state of Hamburg. The innovation centre will offer office and lab space as well as easy access to the research campus.

The first product of X-Spectrum is an X-ray area detector named LAMBDA, offering an extremely high spatial resolution and a high recording rate, which was developed in the last years in the detector group. LAMBDA stands for Large Area Medipix Based Detector Array. This camera provides innovative and unique features for high-end research projects at advanced X-ray sources. Researchers at such sources, like synchrotrons and free electron lasers, depend on being able to record their results with images of best possible quality. Based on this technology with the Medipix3 readout chip, which provides the core functionality of the system, first single-module LAMBDA systems can be produced. Since summer 2013 the spin-off team has been using and testing LAMBDA successfully in a number of experiments at DESY and the ESRF. The feedback from researchers who have used the system was very positive.
For the future, X-Spectrum plans the commercialisation of the existing versions of the LAMBDA detector system, but also the development of special systems for experiments at free-electron lasers in the soft and hard X-ray range. Moreover, the scientists are already thinking about application possibilities in industry.

Contact at DESY:

Stefanie Jack
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron
Notkestraße 85
22607 Hamburg
e-mail: stefanie.jack@desy.de
Office: 99/O3.013
Tel.: +49 40 8998-3959

and

Dr. Heinz Graafsma
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron
Notkestraße 85
22607 Hamburg
e-mail: heinz.graafsma@desy.de
Office: 99/O3.009
Tel.: +49 40 8998- 1678