A milestone has been reached on the way towards the realization of the European X-ray Free Electron Laser facility (XFEL). France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which they agree to prepare the ground for a governmental accord on the construction and operation of the European XFEL research facility until mid-2006. Denmark will also sign up soon. Together with Hungary, the Netherlands, Russia, Slovakia and the European Union, which are present as observers, the signatory countries form a steering committee that coordinates the preparations for the construction of XFEL.
Following a recommendation by the German Science Council, the German federal government decided in February 2003 to go ahead with XFEL as a European joint project to be situated at the DESY laboratory in Hamburg. Commissioning this research facility, which will be unique in Europe, is to start in 2012. Its cost amounts to about €900 million, which will be borne jointly by Germany and the partner countries.
The memorandum includes working out proposals for detailed time schedules and financing schemes, the future organization structure, the exact technical design and the operation of the X-ray laser. XFEL, with its ultra-short X-ray pulses with laser-like properties, will open up completely new opportunities in a wide range of research, from geological studies to nanotechnology.
