Inauguration and first beam of PSI’s X-ray FEL SwissFEL
On December 5th, in the presence of the President of Switzerland Johann Schneider-Ammann, PSI inaugurated the X-ray Free Electron Laser facility, SwissFEL, after 4 years of construction. The facility consists of a low emittance injector, a 6 GeV linear electron accelerator, a string of 12 undulator magnets designed for FEL lasing at photon energies of up to 12.8 keV and photon beamlines and end-stations. The SwissFEL building is located in a forest site near the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). Its total building length is 740m. In its initial configuration, SwissFEL is equipped with two end stations for user experiments dedicated to studies in photochemistry/photobiology, structural biology and condensed matter physics.
SuperB accelerator to gain Free Electron Laser
The SuperB accelerator will soon expand its scientific offerings through a multidisciplinary infrastructure: the Free Electron Laser [FEL]. This will add to the accelerator apparatus – based at Cabibbolab, Italy – which will be completed in the next five years.
The FEL contains a long magnetic “ondulator”, comprising a large number of magnets of alternating polarities, which force electrons into a slalom-type path. This nano-beam of light has the characteristics of typical laser light…
