Tag: facility upgrade

A duo for BESSY III light source

A duo for BESSY III light source

Since 1 March 2026, Renske van der Veen and Andreas Jankowiak have formed the leadership team of BESSY III. Together, they will drive forward HZB’s central project: the planning and realisation of BESSY III light source in Berlin-Adlershof. Here, they talk about their motivation, the next steps, and why BESSY III is a a cross-generational project.

Dear Renske, dear Andreas, a new chapter for our huge BESSY III project is now beginning with you. What do you bring to the table?

Renske van der Veen: Energy and enthusiasm for the project and also for teamwork! I love working with lots of people to achieve something big. For me, BESSY III is a fantastic opportunity to put all this into practice, and I also bring the necessary pragmatism to the table.

Andreas Jankowiak: I bring 15 years of experience at HZB in various management positions and experience from different committees. For example, I have been chairing the machine advisory committee of Diamond II (successor to Diamond, UK) for six years. This gives me a sense of what is happening around us in this field and how things are developing there. I am also enthusiastic that we are a research centre with our own strong research profile, which benefits greatly from our large-scale facility BESSY. For me, this connection is an absolute added value.

Read more on the HZB website

Image: Renske van der Veen und Andreas Jankowiak take over the scientific and technical projectlead of BESSY III light source

Credit: © HZB / Florentine Krawatzek

European XFEL celebrates a successful restart

European XFEL celebrates a successful restart

European XFEL today celebrated the restart of the world’s largest X-ray laser with a ceremony attended by Hamburg’s Senator for Science Maryam Blumenthal and Guido Wendt, State Secretary in Schleswig-Holstein’s Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Culture. This was preceded by a so-called Long Installation and Maintenance Period (LIMP) with maintenance work and numerous upgrades to the infrastructure in underground tunnels and the scientific instruments on the European XFEL campus.

Employees of European XFEL and DESY, who were significantly involved in the extensive work, watched as Blumenthal and Wendt started the electron accelerator with a click of a mouse. Electron packets now speed again through the accelerator section to the so-called dump after about two-thirds of the 3.4-kilometre-long facility. The remaining parts of the X-ray laser, where the X-ray light is generated using the accelerated electrons, and the experiment stations will go into operation in the coming days and weeks. After more than seven months, the facility will be available to researchers again from mid-April.

Innovations for scientific excellence

At the ceremony in the Lighthouse visitor centre, European XFEL Managing Director Prof. Thomas Feurer emphasized the importance of the modification and upgrade work for the long-term performance, reliability and scientific excellence of the large-scale research facility. In addition to the successful maintenance work, for which the accelerator, which normally operates at minus 271 degrees Celsius, was warmed to room temperature and then cooled down again, teams from European XFEL and the DESY research centre installed numerous technical innovations to further expand the research options at the X-ray laser. Important upgrades include the new GUN5 electron source, which enables a pulse rate that is around 30 percent higher, and the expansion of beamlines and instruments for attosecond experiments, which can be used to observe ultrafast processes such as the formation of chemical bonds. In addition, preparatory work has been completed for the installation of superconducting undulators, which will deliver particularly short and highly intense X-ray pulses with very short wavelengths, enabling researchers to achieve even better resolution, among other things.

Read more on the European XFEL website

Image: Thomas Feurer emphasized the smooth cooperation between European XFEL and DESY, involving many teams from different disciplines.

Credit: European XFEL