Following the decision of various European partners to build the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund (Sweden), representatives of the German and Swedish governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding detailing their commitment to future collaborative projects. Both countries made clear they want to work together very closely on utilizing synchrotron and neutron radiation in the fields of materials research and structural biology.
The collaboration was given the name Röntgen-Ångström-Cluster.
The Röntgen-Ångström-Cluster includes several research centres: the research centre DESY in Hamburg with PETRA III and FLASH, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin for Materials and Energy (HZB) with BESSY II and BER II, and Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG). These institutes, together with the synchrotron radiation source MAX IV, currently under construction in Lund, offer researchers of the region outstanding research possibilities in the field of materials science and structural biology.
With the X-ray laser European XFEL, currently under construction in Hamburg and with DESY’s strong participation in the planned European Spallation Neutron Source in Lund, the range of facilities will be extended to include world-leading photon and neutron sources.