SwissFEL

The New Highlight in Switzerland's Research Infrastructures

Welcome to the Website of the SwissFEL, Switzerland's X-ray free-electron laser at the Paul Scherrer Institute.

The SwissFEL is based on a novel technology holding exceptional promises for diverse areas of scientific research. Serving our society's modern trends "smaller, faster, more complex", SwissFEL will provide unprecedented insights into structures as small as an atom and into phenomena as fast as the vibrations of molecular bonds. It will also reveal the secrets behind the inner complexity of technologically relevant materials and biochemical structure and interaction.

Read more about SwissFEL in the 'About' Section:

About SwissFEL

Introduction on SwissFEL and X-rays

Technical Overview

How a FEL works, technical components

Why SwissFEL

Science and Business case

Latest Research Highlights

4 July 2019

Teaser Molekulare Energiemaschine als Filmstar

Molecular energy machine as a movie star

Media Releases Biology SwissFEL Large Research Facilities Research Using Synchrotron Light

Using the Swiss Light Source SLS, PSI researchers have recorded a molecular energy machine in action and thus revealed how energy production at cell membranes works. For this purpose, they developed a new investigative method that could make the analysis of cellular processes significantly more effective than before.

25 June 2019

PSI School for Master Degree Students - Introducing Photons, Neutrons and Muons for Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science

From 17 – 21 June 2019 the Neutron and Muon Division (NUM) and the Photon Science Division (PSD) of PSI hosted 18 Master Degree students of physics, chemistry, materials and interdisciplinary science, as well as nuclear engineering to provide an introduction to the characterization of materials with large scale facilities like SINQ, SμS, SLS and SwissFEL. The course taught a basic understanding of how photons, neutrons and muons interact with matter, and how this knowledge can be used to solve specific problems in materials research.

Details of the program can be found at http://indico.psi.ch/event/PSImasterschool

25 June 2019

Measured longitudinal phase space of the injected electron beam

First serial femtosecond crystallography experiment using SwissFEL’s large bandwidth X-ray pulses

The typical mode of operation at XFEL facilities uses the so-called self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) process to generate the short, bright X-ray pulses. This mode of operation is stochastic in nature, causing some variance in intensity and spectrum on a shot-to-shot basis, which makes certain types of crystallographic measurements much more challenging.

SwissFEL Science Case

Utrafast Phenomena at the Nanoscale: Science opportunities at the SwissFEL X-ray Laser

SwissFEL Science Case Download

Photon Science Division

Home page of Photon Science Division (PSD)

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