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HIP and CompactLight

by Markus Aicheler · February 10, 2020

The European project CompactLight (XLS) (http://www.compactlight.eu) is about to enter its third and last year of funding. We intend to design a hard X-ray Free-Electron-Laser (FEL) facility beyond today’s state of the art, using the latest concepts for bright electron photo injectors, very high-gradient X-band structures at 12 GHz, and innovative compact short-period undulators. If compared to existing facilities, the proposed facility will benefit from a lower electron beam energy, due to the enhanced undulator performance, be significantly more compact, as a consequence both of the lower energy and of the high-gradient X-band structures, have a much lower electrical power demand and a smaller footprint. More info about FELs in general can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-electron_laser

CompactLight gathers the world-leading experts in these domains, united to achieve two objectives: disseminate X-band technology as a new standard for accelerator-based facilities and advance undulators to the next generation of compact photon sources, with the aim of facilitating the widespread development of X-ray FEL facilities across and beyond Europe by making them more affordable to build and to operate.

We as HIP, and more specifically, the Accelerator Technology project, contribute with the Integration efforts of the linac. We look at the specific subsystems on which no explicit work is attributed and harmonize those with the various ongoing tasks in the linac. Additionally, we contribute to the overall coordination of data and reporting infrastructure as well as outreach.

Last June HIP hosted the second annual review of the entire project and welcomed almost 60 participants in the hotel Rantapuisto close to Helsinki https://indico.cern.ch/event/804400/. The workshop triggered a lot of constructive discussions and the project checked off multiple milestones. We as hosts were happy about the exclusively positive feedback about the overall experience and the beauty of Finland which the participants were able to enjoy during a cruise dinner and a guided tour of Suomenlinna.