European XFEL opens a permanent exhibition and a student laboratory on its world's largest X-ray laser
It measures 3.5 kilometers and stretches from the central campus of Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld to Schenefeld in Schleswig-Holstein: At the European XFEL, researchers will find a facility that allows 27,000 X-ray laser flashes per second and a luminosity that is a billion times higher than that of the best conventional X-ray radiation sources. This makes it possible to decipher atomic details of viruses and cells, film chemical reactions and study processes such as those inside planets.
Conference and visitor center
The unique facility is now explained in a permanent exhibition. The Xcool Lab also offers school pupils courses in molecular biology and physics. The non-profit research organization European XFEL European XFE has constructed a new building specifically for all of this: the "Lighthouse" conference and visitor center. "With our new exhibition and conference center, we have created a state-of-the-art, prestigious home for science communication. Here we welcome visitors from all over the world in an open and inviting atmosphere and offer them fascinating insights into our pioneering and socially highly relevant research. This center is emblematic of our ambition to make science tangible and to promote the exchange between science and the public," said Prof. Thomas Feurer, Chairman of the Management Board of European XFEL, at the opening ceremony on 20 November 2024.
Interactive and multimedia
Interactive exhibits, multimedia and original parts illustrate the plant and the research carried out on it on 350 square meters of exhibition space. A special highlight are specially created objects by the Hamburg-based artist collective Well Wired Team, which can be seen from 28.11.2024: A light installation of oversized sculptures crocheted from wire, modeled on biomolecules being researched at the European XFEL.
Xcool Lab
In the Xcool Lab, students can carry out independent experiments in physics or molecular biology in line with the curriculum. Both are important fields of work at European XFEL. Teachers can book the all-day events in the Xcool Lab for their classes or courses.
Teachers can book the all-day events in the Xcool Lab for their classes or courses here:
http://www.xfel.eu/xcoollab_de
Further information on Lighthouse opening hours and registration:
Click here for the full press release.
European XFEL, Alex Heimken 
