New research collaboration on free electron lasers
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Today, November 28, Uppsala University, together with the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Stockholm University, is signing a declaration of intent regarding collaboration on free electron laser and photon and neutron science with École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland.
The purpose of the collaboration is to exploit joint competencies in developing accelerators and instrumentation and to pursue joint research projects.
- We have shared interests and will be working together on various research projects as well as working with advance technology development, says Joseph Nordgren, professor of soft x-ray physics at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University.
With the help of free electron lasers, x-ray radiation in pulses of light as brief as one millionth of a billionth of a second can be used to study extremely rapid events, such as those between molecules in chemical reactions. The intensity of the pulses is also extremely high and can be used to study the atomic structure of individual protein molecules or to capture images of living cells.
- We want to understand what happens in chemical reactions in order to be able to design new chemical reactions and create new materials, such as synthetic fuels, for instance, explains Joseph Nordgren.
For the past five year Uppsala University has collaborated with Stockholm University and KTH, but this collaboration is now being expanded to include colleagues in Switzerland, who are currently building a free electron facility at the Paul Scherrer Institute.
Anna Malmberg