SwissFEL Cristallina Endstation

Cristallina beamline overview

Cristallina is the third endstation of the SwissFEL ARAMIS hard X-ray beamline. It serves both quantum science (Cristallina-Q) and structural biology (Cristallina-MX), enabling the imaging of quantum many-body states under extreme conditions and serial femtosecond protein crystallography, respectively.

The Cristallina-MX experimental stations are designed for serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX), and operated by the Cristallina-MX team with the support of the Macromolecular Crystallography Group.  The SwissMX fixed-target SFX experimental station is in user operations since January 2024. Experimental stations for different means of sample delivery are in conception.

The Cristallina-Q experimental stations provide unique high-field and low-temperature capabilities, and are operated by the Cristallina-Q team within the Quantum Photon Science Group. Cristallina-Q has been partially funded by the University of Zurich, the Swiss National Science Foundation and PSI via the R’Equip scheme. The experimental stations include the Ultralow-T Vectormagnet, open to users since January 2025, and the Pulsed Magnet, which is currently under commissioning. Both experimental stations rely on heavy-load diffractometers to orient the sample in the beam. 

The overall Cristallina endstation layout allows for reshuffling of the experimental stations between the X-ray beam experiment position and dedicated preparation areas by sliding the setups over a granite floor by means of airpads. The Cristallina beamline can operate with both pink and monochromatic beam, and provides a variable beam size at the sample position down to smaller than 2 µm using bendable KB mirrors.

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Cristallina-MX

The goal of the Cristallina-MX project is to decrease the barriers to new and non-specialist users wishing to practice SFX. To this end, the project is focused on providing dedicated SFX instrumentation such that users should be able to come armed only with sample and leave with data.

Ultralow-T Vectormagnet instrument on the heavy-load diffractometer.

Cristallina-Q

The aim of Cristallina-Q is to image quantum condensed matter via X-ray scattering. To access these quantum states, the experimental stations are designed for extreme sample environments in terms of ultralow temperatures and high magnetic fields.

Teaser di Kelvin
•1 min

Kelvin: la scala del freddo

Varie

Zero Kelvin: è il punto zero assoluto della temperatura. Poiché il calore è energia, il freddo significa meno energia, ma non può mai esserci energia negativa. Espresso nella scala di temperatura a cui siamo abituati, lo zero Kelvin corrisponde a -273,15 gradi Celsius: niente può essere più freddo di così. Alcuni ricercatori del PSI stanno conducendo esperimenti a bassa temperatura vicino a questo punto zero; altri stanno lavorando su metodi tecnici per abbassare la temperatura nel modo più efficiente possibile.

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Dr. Bill Pedrini
Overall Cristallina Responsible
Dr. Jakub Vonka
Cristallina-Q Contact