Partner:

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY

European XFEL

SINAP/ShanghaiTechnology University

 

X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) have initiated a transformational change in sciences being now able to routinely generate coherent, extremely brilliant, ultrashort and tunable laser pulses in the x-ray regime. With short wavelength and simultaneously femtosecond pulse durations they allow for the first time to resolve the structure and dynamics of matter on the atomic scale. Due to their highly
intense and ultrashort pulses, they will push the frontiers in numerous scientific fields, such as physics, chemistry, materials science, biology, and the life sciences. China and Germany are among the world leaders in research with x-ray FELs and in the advancement of FEL science and technology. In both countries, soft and hard x-ray FELs are either already in operation and/or new facilities are under commissioning or in the planning stage. The centers for these activities are clearly Hamburg and Shanghai. The Helmholtz research center DESY has pioneered x-ray FEL science and technology with FLASH being the first x-ray FEL facility in user operation from 2005 onwards. DESY was also paramount in the design and construction of the European XFEL, an internationally unique scientific research facility based on superconducting RF accelerator technology (SRF). This new facility has started its operation in fall 2017 and is producing the worldwide most intense and brilliant x-ray pulses for a broad range of scientific applications. In China, significant progress on FEL science & technology has been made over the last ten years. Main Chinese actors are the Shanghai Institute for Applied Physics (SINAP), an Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the ShanghaiTech University, a newly founded elite research university closely associated with SINAP and CAS. SINAP has built and commissioned a soft x-ray FEL test facility which is now converted into a user facility (SXFEL) taking the scientific success of FLASH as a role model. Moreover, there are ambitious plans by SINAP to build a hard x-ray FEL based on SRF technology on the Shanghai research campus. In view of the rapid developments and the long-term FEL strategies in Germany and China including existing and future infrastructures, a window of opportunity has now opened to forge a new German-Chinese partnership in FEL S&T. The main FEL actors DESY and SINAP – together with European XFEL and ShanghaiTech University will bundle their forces to establish the CAS-Helmholtz International Laboratory on FEL Science and Technology (CHILFEL) as a scientific cooperation structure with common governance allowing joint research projects and the implementation of common infrastructures around a solid scientific program including a broad spectrum of mobility and exchange schemes as well as the promotion of young scientists. The joint laboratory constitutes a strong effort to take off ground a long-term strategic FEL partnership with the overall goal to synergize the large science and technology potential of the partners to the benefits of their countries. The scientific program of CHILFEL rests on five pillars (work package 1-5) addressing topics at the forefront of science with FELs and further development of FEL technology. The work packages are jointly led by researchers from Shanghai and Hamburg. It is expected that the joint activities and, in particular, the joint projects for PhD students will massively catalyze the further FEL S&T developments in Hamburg and Shanghai, at the x-ray facilities FLASH and European XFEL in Hamburg including its upgrade paths, at the SXFEL and its extension towards a user facility in Shanghai and with strong impacts towards a Chinese participation at the European XFEL as well as on the design and construction of the future Shanghai hard x-ray FEL facility.

Coordinator at DESY:

Wiebke Kircheisen
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron
Notkestr. 85
22607 Hamburg
Office: O2.025
Tel.: +49-40-8998-1574
Email: wiebke.kircheisen@desy.de