Research Director in charge of Photon Science Britta Redlich welcomes the participants of the Users' Meeting in the DESY auditorium. (Photo: DESY, Marta Mayer)
Hamburg once again becomes the global hub for photon science as over 1100 scientists from more than 200 institutions gathered for the joint Users’ Meeting of DESY’s light sources and the European XFEL X-ray laser. Held from 27 to 29 January at DESY and European XFEL, they are the largest Users’ Meeting worldwide.
Particular highlights of this year are first results after the FLASH2020+ upgrade project of the free-electron laser FLASH as well as key milestones and further details of the PETRA IV project, the planned major upgrade of DESY's current X-ray light source PETRA III. Once complete, PETRA IV will be the world’s brightest X-ray source for decades to come. It will enable high-resolution 3D imaging of heterogeneous materials in real time or local quantitative measurements of physical and chemical properties down to the single nanometre regime.
The participants presented results from their latest research performed at PETRA III, FLASH and European XFEL and discussed novel developments and future prospects during the three-day event. A jointly organised session on synergies between European XFEL and FLASH featured topics such as Coulomb explosion imaging and photoelectron momentum microscopy known as ‘k-microscopy.’
“The annual Users´ Meeting is of highest importance for us as it is the platform for scientific and technology exchange: It fosters collaborations and we share information with our user community. We also look forward together to the major developments in the coming years. Particularly exciting are the novel capacities we can offer after the upgrade of FLASH and the developments around PETRA IV," says DESY's Director in charge of Photon Science, Britta Redlich. “This year’s event has also reinforced the critical role DESY’s facilities play in driving important scientific innovation in Germany, Europe and the world with contributions to the High-Tech Agenda Germany and solutions for society’s grand challenges.”
In addition to several plenary sessions, the whole week is filled with 23 satellite workshops on special topics from 26 to 30 January, three poster sessions including over 300 poster contributions and an exhibition with 49 stands from industry, all fostering lively discussions between participants from academia and industry.
An integral part is the participation of the representatives of the user organisations: the European Synchrotron and FEL User Organisation (ESUO), the German Committee for Research with Synchrotron Radiation (KFS) and the DESY Photon Science User Committee (DPS-UC). They represent the interdisciplinary user community with a broad spectrum of research at DESY´s light sources and beyond and report on their activities at the Users’ Meeting, emphasising the importance of continued international collaboration in advancing photon science.
(from DESY News)
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Further information and programme
