European XFEL prepares for user operation: Researchers can hand in first proposals for experiments
For the first time, scientists from around the world can now submit their proposals for experiments at the European XFEL. The user programme is expected to begin in the second half of the year, with two of the planned six instruments being initially available, that is the Femtosecond X-Ray Experiments (FXE) instrument and the Single Particles, Clusters, and Biomolecules and Serial Femtosecond Crystallography (SPB/SFX) instrument. FXE enables investigations of ultrafast processes and the creation of “molecular movies”, which show the progression of an individual reaction with high precision. SPB/SFX is specialized for research into biomolecules and other biological materials. [more]