EUCALL will build bridges between major laser and X-ray research centres
For the past half-century, two special kinds of light have changed the landscape of research. Advanced visible-spectrum optical lasers have propelled studies into ultrafast processes, new materials, telecommunications, and many other fields, while intense X-rays produced at synchrotrons have helped image tiny structures and otherwise invisible parts of matter, enabling huge leaps in biochemistry, pharmacology, and materials science. New developments in recent years have led to a convergence between the uses of the two kinds of light at large international research centres. The European Union is now funding a 7 million-euro effort to bring laser and X-ray research infrastructures together through the European Cluster of Advanced Laser Light Sources (EUCALL) project.
EUCALL will include the following research infrastructures: European XFEL, a 3.4 km-long X-ray free-electron laser that will open in 2017 and use ultrabright X-ray laser flashes to investigate nanoscale particles, ultrafast processes, and extreme states of matter (Europan XFEL is also coordinating EUCALL); the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI), a trio of cutting-edge high-power optical laser laboratories in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania that will become operational in 2018; the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, which is one of the most prominent X-ray research centres in the world; DESY, which operates the FLASH and PETRA III X-ray user facilities, in Hamburg , Germany; ELETTRA, which operates the 2-stage seeded FERMI free-electron laser user facility in Trieste, Italy; Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, which operates high-power optical laser facilities and a free-electron laser, in Germany; Lund University, which is building the MAX-IV synchrotron, in Sweden; and the Paul Scherrer Institut, which is building the SwissFEL X-ray free-electron laser, in Villigen, Switzerland. EUCALL also includes the existing EU collaborations of optical laser and FEL facilities, LASERLAB-Europe and FELs of Europe.
This Kick-off meeting is intended to bring together the various partners and to enable a first exchange of status and plans of activities part of EUCALL. Also people should meet each other and learn about the other partners' requirements and targets. For this purpose a major part of the meeting is devoted to work package meetings allowing to exchange at the working level.
For the past half-century, two special kinds of light have changed the landscape of research. Advanced visible-spectrum optical lasers have propelled studies into ultrafast processes, new materials, telecommunications, and many other fields, while intense X-rays produced at synchrotrons have helped image tiny structures and otherwise invisible parts of matter, enabling huge leaps in biochemistry, pharmacology, and materials science. New developments in recent years have led to a convergence between the uses of the two kinds of light at large international research centres. The European Union is now funding a 7 million-euro effort to bring laser and X-ray research infrastructures together through the European Cluster of Advanced Laser Light Sources (EUCALL) project.
EUCALL will include the following research infrastructures: European XFEL, a 3.4 km-long X-ray free-electron laser that will open in 2017 and use ultrabright X-ray laser flashes to investigate nanoscale particles, ultrafast processes, and extreme states of matter (Europan XFEL is also coordinating EUCALL); the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI), a trio of cutting-edge high-power optical laser laboratories in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania that will become operational in 2018; the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, which is one of the most prominent X-ray research centres in the world; DESY, which operates the FLASH and PETRA III X-ray user facilities, in Hamburg , Germany; ELETTRA, which operates the 2-stage seeded FERMI free-electron laser user facility in Trieste, Italy; Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, which operates high-power optical laser facilities and a free-electron laser, in Germany; Lund University, which is building the MAX-IV synchrotron, in Sweden; and the Paul Scherrer Institut, which is building the SwissFEL X-ray free-electron laser, in Villigen, Switzerland. EUCALL also includes the existing EU collaborations of optical laser and FEL facilities, LASERLAB-Europe and FELs of Europe.
This Kick-off meeting is intended to bring together the various partners and to enable a first exchange of status and plans of activities part of EUCALL. Also people should meet each other and learn about the other partners' requirements and targets. For this purpose a major part of the meeting is devoted to work package meetings allowing to exchange at the working level.
