• High Power Laser Science and Engineering
  • Vol. 3, Issue 3, 03000001 (2015)
M. Altarelli*
Author Affiliations
  • European XFEL GmbH, Albert-Einstein-Ring 18, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
  • show less
    DOI: 10.1017/hpl.2015.17 Cite this Article Set citation alerts
    M. Altarelli. The European X-ray Free-Electron Laser: toward an ultra-bright, high repetition-rate x-ray source[J]. High Power Laser Science and Engineering, 2015, 3(3): 03000001 Copy Citation Text show less
    Schematic representation of the time sequence of both the electron bunches and the x-ray pulses at the European XFEL.
    Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the time sequence of both the electron bunches and the x-ray pulses at the European XFEL.
    Schematic representation of the layout of the undulator and photon tunnels and of the instruments at the European XFEL. The linear accelerator is to the left of the figure. The SASE1, SASE2 and SASE3 undulator positions are visible; between the SASE1 and the SASE2 tunnels, the two additional undulator tunnels available for future developments are shown. Far right: the acronyms of the six baseline instruments are explained in Table 3.
    Fig. 2. Schematic representation of the layout of the undulator and photon tunnels and of the instruments at the European XFEL. The linear accelerator is to the left of the figure. The SASE1, SASE2 and SASE3 undulator positions are visible; between the SASE1 and the SASE2 tunnels, the two additional undulator tunnels available for future developments are shown. Far right: the acronyms of the six baseline instruments are explained in Table 3.
    Layout of the European XFEL facility; the path of the underground tunnels is superimposed on a map of the northwest part of Hamburg and the town of Schenefeld in Schleswig–Holstein.
    Fig. 3. Layout of the European XFEL facility; the path of the underground tunnels is superimposed on a map of the northwest part of Hamburg and the town of Schenefeld in Schleswig–Holstein.
    FacilityLCLSSACLA European
    (USA)(Japan)XFEL (SASE1
    undulator)
    Max. electron energy (GeV) 14.3 8.0 17.5
    Min. photon wavelength (nm) 0.15 0.06¡0.05
    Photons/pulse
    Peak brilliance
    Average brilliance
    Pulses/second 120 60 27 000
    Date of first beam 2009 2011 2016
    Table 1. Basic parameters of the European XFEL.
    Detector parameters AGIPD LPDDEPFET sensor with signal compression (DSSC)
    Energy range (keV)3–13 (25)5(1)–20 (25) 0.5–6 (25)
    Dynamic range (photons/pixel/pulse)104 @ 12 keV105 @ 12 keV6000 @ 1 keV
    Single photon sensitivity yes yes yes
    Number of intermediate stored images512
    Pixel size 200 × 200500 × 500236 × 236
    Table 2. Target performances of detectors for the European XFEL.
    Hard x-raysSASE1SPBSFX: Single particles, clusters and biomolecules – serial femtosecond crystallography (User Consortium): Structural determination of (mostly) biological objects
    FXE: Femtosecond x-ray experiments: time-resolved investigation of ultrafast processes in solids, liquids or gases
    SASE2MID: Materials imaging and dynamics: structure and dynamics determination of disordered systems by coherent scattering and photon correlation spectroscopy
    HED: High energy-density matter: matter under extreme conditions, e.g., in very high fields, high temperature and pressures
    Soft x-raysSASE3SQS: Small quantum systems: investigation of atoms, ions, molecules and clusters in intense fields, nonlinear x-ray optical phenomena
    SCS: Soft x-ray coherent scattering and spectroscopy: electronic and atomic structure, dynamics of nano-systems and non-reproducible biological systems with soft x-rays
    Table 3. Schematic description of the scientific applications of the six baseline instruments.
    M. Altarelli. The European X-ray Free-Electron Laser: toward an ultra-bright, high repetition-rate x-ray source[J]. High Power Laser Science and Engineering, 2015, 3(3): 03000001
    Download Citation