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Generating the equivalent of a trillion light bulbs – more power than the whole national grid, but delivered in incredibly short flashes, a new international science facility will give British researchers unprecedented access to the inner working of cells, atoms and chemical processes.

Minister for Universities and Science Greg Clark MP yesterday announced the United Kingdom will invest up to £30 million to become a full member of the European XFEL facility, now under construction near Hamburg, Germany.

Mr Clark said yesterday:

“This funding will generate intensely bright and short duration X-ray flashes when operational in 2018. It will open areas of research for British scientists at the atomic, molecular and nano-scale level that are currently inaccessible.”

“Today’s announcement shows our determination to ensure UK science remains at the very forefront of global research. Whether it be the development of new medical treatment or industrial materials, our new inventions are creating jobs and economic growth.”

Access to the new science areas made possible by the new technology has been identified as a priority for UK science. X-ray free electron lasers are a new class of light sources based on particle physics accelerator technology. They offer two transformative capabilities: much higher brightness beams and extremely short pulses of light. These complement the physical and life science discovery strengths of high throughput synchrotron sources (such as the UK’s world-class Diamond Light Source at Harwell).

These capabilities open up entirely new scientific opportunities – for example deriving the structures of some the very large number of important biological molecules that cannot easily be crystallised, such as membrane proteins; and observing fast moving chemical reactions as they occur, such as catalysis and photosynthesis.

The UK will become the 12th member of the European XFEL project, joining Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Overall construction costs are expected to be around £1.2 billion (in 2005 prices).

Professor John Womersley is the Chief Executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, which will manage the UK’s membership of the European XFEL.

“We will now work to negotiate formal UK membership of this exciting new facility, building on our own national capabilities and facilities and allow the UK to develop entirely new scientific opportunities,” Professor Womersley said.

UK scientists funded by the Medical Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Wellcome Trust, have already been working to develop new scientific instruments and processes for use at the European XFEL. In addition, a training facility is being developed at the Diamond Light Source at the Harwell campus in Oxfordshire for British scientists.

In addition, STFC’s Central Laser Facility, with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is providing new “Dipole” laser technologies under contract to enable the European XFEL’s unique capabilities.

Contact

Jake Gilmore 
STFC Media Manager
Tel: +44 (0)1793 44 2092
Mob: +44 (0)7970 99 4586

Notes for editors

XFEL

The European XFEL will open up areas of research that were previously 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.

The European XFEL will generate X-ray radiation with properties similar to those of laser light. There will be several light sources with different characteristics. The European XFEL will be located mainly in underground tunnels which can be accessed on three different sites. The 3.4-kilometre-long facility will run from DESY in Hamburg to the town of Schenefeld (Schleswig-Holstein). The Schenefeld site will host the research campus, where international teams of scientists will carry out experiments using the X-ray flashes.

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

View the EPSRC website.

Diamond Light Source UK XFEL Hub

This funding announcement builds on the ground-breaking investment the UK has already made in the European XFEL project through the construction of the world’s first dedicated high-throughput macromolecular crystallography beamline at an XFEL facility. 

Details can be found at:

http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/ or http://www.diamond.ac.uk/