The world's largest X-ray laser is now fully operational and near completion as the researchers have achieved a major milestone in its development. The facility is located in Hamburg, Germany.
The research facility is known as European XFEL, an abbreviation of European X-ray Free Electron Laser. Last week, the German Electron Synchrotron research center, also known as DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron) announced the major milestone in its development. According to the official press release from DESY, the 2.1 kilometers (1.3 miles) has finished its construction on Wednesday, April 19.
The next phase of European XFEL development is to raise the level of energy of the electron to generate a bright X-ray laser light. DESY is largest shareholders of the international project and also in charge of the construction of the facility. Later on, DESY will also be responsible for operating the linear accelerator superconductor.
“The European XFEL’s particle accelerator is the first superconducting linear accelerator of this size in the world to go into operation," DESY Board of Director Chairman Helmut Dosch said. “I am exceptionally happy about arriving at this milestone and congratulate all involved for the outstanding work and their great tenacity.”
According to Digital Trends, the European XFEL will allow the scientist to capture images of atomic elements on a very tiny scale. This is enabled by the ability to flash up a bright and intense of 27,000 X-ray laser illuminations in one second. With such a brief and intense flash, researchers will be able to take pictures of the atomic level structures and process.
The development of European XFEL is an international project from 11 participating countries, they are Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The facility is built at the 3.4 km (2.1 miles) underground tunnel, stretched from the DESY research center in Hamburg to the city of Schenefeld in northwest of Hamburg, where the European XFEL laboratories, experimental station and office is located. Watch the flight through the tunnel of the European XFEL below:
