Annual Report
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ANNUAL REPORT European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Facility GmbH The European XFEL is organized as a non-profit company with limited liability under German law (GmbH) that has international shareholders. ANNUAL REPORT European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Facility GmbH CONTENTS 01 12 NEWS AND EVENTS 18 FACTS AND FIGURES 20 At a glance 44 Cooperation 02 22 Staff 51 User consortia 32 Organization chart 53 Short history of European XFEL 33 Budget 35 Shareholders 36 Organs and committees 64 FACILITY 66 Civil construction 03 71 Technical Services 74 IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS 76 IKC Overview 04 90 Accelerator Consortium 94 PHOTON BEAM SYSTEMS 96 Undulator Systems 122 Photon Systems Project Office 05 101 Simulation of Photon Fields 105 Theory 110 X-Ray Optics 114 Vacuum 118 X-Ray Photon Diagnostics 4 CONTENTS 126 SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS AND EQUIPMENT 128 Scientific Instrument FXE 151 Optical Lasers 06 132 Scientific Instrument HED 155 Sample Environment 136 Scientific Instrument MID 159 Central Instruments Engineering Team 140 Scientific Instrument SCS 143 Scientific Instrument SPB/SFX 147 Scientific Instrument SQS 162 DETECTORS, CONTROLS, AND COMPUTING 164 Detector Development 07 167 Advanced Electronics 169 Control and Analysis Software 172 IT and Data Management 174 OPERATIONS 176 Facility 08 180 Experiments 184 Operation Statistics 186 SERVICES 188 Administrative Services 09 192 Internal Audit 193 Human Resources 195 Press and Public Relations 201 User Office 203 Safety and Radiation Protection 206 SCIENTIFIC RECORD AND GLOSSARY 208 European XFEL Users’ Meeting 10 209 RACIRI Summer School 210 Workshops 213 Seminars 216 Publications 230 Glossary 5 6 FOREWORD BY THE MANAGEMENT BOARD Left to right Serguei Molodtsov, Robert Feidenhans’l, Andreas S. Schwarz, Claudia Burger (until October 2017), and Thomas Tschentscher Opposite Laser installation on the European XFEL headquarter in Schenefeld in the week before the opening in September: Five laser beams indicate the locations of the five photon tunnels. 2017 – A fantastic year In 2017, nearly 10 years of construction work paid off with the start of user operation. The commissioning of the accelerator began in late 2016, and the cooling down went quickly and smoothly. First lasing at a wavelength of 9 Å was achieved on 2 May 2017 on the SASE1 undulator system, lasing at 2 Å was achieved on 24 May, and the X-ray beam arrived at the end of the tunnels just before the instrument stations on 27 May. The X-ray beam reached the instruments FXE and SPB/SFX on 23 June. On the same day, first test measurements were performed on both instruments. After many years of construction, this great achievement was celebrated enthusiastically. The year 2017 started with a successful European XFEL Users’ Meeting with nearly 1000 participants, organized as usual back-to-back with the DESY Users’ Meeting. The participants were invited to visit the headquarter building and the experiment hall in Schenefeld for the first time, which was a logistic challenge, but worked very well. Furthermore, the first call for proposals was announced in January, and, by March, we had received 63 proposals, 37 for the FXE instrument and 26 for SPB/SFX. The proposals were evaluated in May by the Proposal Review Panels. In total, 14 proposals were granted beamtime, 7 on FXE and 7 on SPB/SFX—at a point in time when the beam had not yet reached the instruments. 7 FOREWORD BY THE MANAGEMENT BOARD The arrival of the first X-ray beam at FXE and SPB/SFX on 23 June was perfectly timed for opening the 25th Council meeting on 29 June. With the great success of having beam in the hutches and performing first measurements with the Karabo control system, the Council decided that European XFEL was ready to officially enter the operation phase on 1 July. Furthermore, the Council decided on a sustainable operation budget that would cover the first three years of operations and on a plan to review the operation cost in 2019. At that point, the European XFEL will be closer to full operation, and we can much better estimate the efforts that are required to run the experiment programme. In July and August 2017, the two large detectors—the Large Pixel Detector (LPD) and the Adaptive Gain Integrating Pixel Detector (AGIPD)—arrived in the experimental hall. The LPD is an in-kind delivery from the STFC in the UK and the AGIPD an in-kind delivery from DESY. These truly unique and highly advanced detectors were both quickly commissioned in order to get ready for first user operation planned for 14 September, thanks to our highly motivated and dedicated staff working around the clock. On 1 September, the great day had finally arrived: the European XFEL facility was officially inaugurated. A fantastic event blessed by marvelous weather and many high ranking officials in attendance, including Prof. Dr. Johanna Wanka, German Minister for Education and Research; Prof. Dr. Andrei Fursenko, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation and former Research Minister; Prof. Dr. Frédérique Vidal, French Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation; Hamburg’s First Mayor Olaf Scholz; and Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister of Education, Science and Cultural Affairs Karin Prien. Everything went smoothly and our guests enjoyed seeing the facility and the experiment hall. On 14 September, the long-awaited moment of truth had arrived: the first users came to the European XFEL. The User Office had been working hard for many months to prepare for this day and was anxiously waiting to greet our first users, who indeed showed up in great numbers: more than 100 users registered for the first experiment at SPB/SFX. Very little time had been left for doing commissioning of the instruments. From first lasing to first users only took a little more than four months, which was a truly amazing record, something we would not have considered possible before it happened. In order to mitigate risks and manage the expectations of the first users, the first three weeks of users beamtime were labeled “user-assisted commissioning”, a term that was very well accepted and meant that the users would be granted more beamtime at a later stage if the experiments could not be fully conducted. 8 FOREWORD BY THE MANAGEMENT BOARD Of the 14 experiments planned for 2017, 10 had beamtime and 4 had to be cancelled due to technical reasons. The accelerator worked very well and was stable, with 30 pulses per train, in total 300 pulses per second, a photon energy of about 9.3 keV, and bunch energies up to 1 mJ. In all, 700 Tb of data was collected. The data from the first experiments are being analyzed and the first results and publications are under way. All said, 2017 was a fantastic year, with the start of operation and first user experiments. This was only possible due to a highly motivated and dedicated staff at European XFEL, DESY and other partners. The focus in 2017 was nearly entirely on SASE1 and the FXE and SPB/SFX instruments. In 2018, the focus of construction will shift to SASE3 and SASE2, while simultaneously keeping the user programme running on the SASE1 instruments. The SCS and SQS instruments on SASE3 are expected to go online in mid-2018. SASE2 is expected to lase in May 2018, and the MID and HED instruments will receive users in 2019. We are all looking forward to the coming years in order to get into full operation. It will be truly exciting. Robert Feidenhans’l Serguei Molodtsov Nicole Elleuche Andreas S. Schwarz Managing Directors Thomas Tschentscher Scientific Directors 9 FOREWORD BY THE EUROPEAN XFEL COUNCIL CHAIRMAN Martin Meedom Nielsen Dear Readers, The year 2017 was a year of glorious firsts. In January, we had the first electrons in the cooled superconducting accelerator. In May, we had the first lasing. In June, we had the first light at the scientific instruments. And in September, we had the first users at the European XFEL. This success was possible only through the efforts and commitment of staff members at European XFEL and DESY, members of the Accelerator Consortium, and all the in-kind contributors, who have been working very hard to make this happen. September was also the month of a very festive and spectacular inauguration of the European XFEL, in which Hamburg shined several lasers in the sky for the European XFEL, and the European XFEL shined right back. Past and present staff, scientists, and delegates from the member countries contributed to make this a very enjoyable and memorable occasion and a testament to the enthusiasm surrounding the project. With all the activity in 2017, there were also many important decisions for the European XFEL Council to make. Not least was the decision to start the operation phase. The technical design report from 2006 already laid out the criteria for when the facility could be considered to have progressed from the construction phase to the operation phase and, with the help of the Scientific and Machine Advisory Committees, the Council was able to confirm the fulfilment of these criteria by the end of June. Another important decision was about the scope of the operation budget. Given that the European XFEL is the first facility of its kind, it was not a simple task to establish the basis for a sustainable operation budget. Based on the vision and mission of the European XFEL, we launched an effort to establish the background for the operation cost, which was then thoroughly scrutinized by task 10 FOREWORD BY THE EUROPEAN XFEL COUNCIL CHAIRMAN forces from the Administrative and Finance Committee, the Scientific Advisory Committee, and the Machine Advisory committee, coordinated by a Council working group.