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. 2014 Jul 17;369(1647):20130311.
doi: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0311.

Structural biology at the European X-ray free-electron laser facility

Massimo Altarelli  1 , Adrian P Mancuso  2
Affiliations

Structural biology at the European X-ray free-electron laser facility

Massimo Altarelli et al. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. .

Abstract

The European X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) facility, under construction in the Hamburg region, will provide high-peak brilliance (greater than 10(33) photons s(-1) mm(-2) mrad(-2) per 0.1% BW), ultrashort pulses (approx. 10 fs) of X-rays, with a high repetition rate (up to 27 000 pulses s(-1)) from 2016 onwards. The main features of this exceptional X-ray source, and the instrumentation developments necessary to exploit them fully, for application to a variety of scientific disciplines, are briefly summarized. In the case of structural biology, that has a central role in the scientific case of this new facility, the instruments and ancillary laboratories that are being planned and built within the baseline programme of the European XFEL and by consortia of users are also discussed. It is expected that the unique features of the source and the advanced features of the instrumentation will allow operation modes with more efficient use of sample materials, faster acquisition times, and conditions better approaching feasibility of single molecule imaging.

Keywords: X-ray instrumentation; X-ray lasers; free-electron lasers; structural biology.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Schematic of the time sequence of both the electron bunches and the X-ray pulses at the European XFEL. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Schematic of the layout of the undulator and photon tunnels and of the instruments at the European XFEL. The linear accelerator is to the left of the figure. The SASE1, SASE2 and SASE3 undulator positions are visible; between the SASE1 and the SASE2 tunnels, the two additional undulator tunnels available for future developments are shown. MID, materials imaging and dynamics; HED, high-energy density matter experiments; SPB, single molecules, clusters and biomolecules; FXE, femtosecond X-ray experiments; SQS, small quantum systems; SCS, spectroscopy and coherent scattering. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Layout of the European XFEL facility; the path of the underground tunnels is superimposed on the map of the northwest part of Hamburg and of the town of Schenefeld in Schleswig-Holstein. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Schematic optical layout of the SPB instrument optics and experiment hutches, in side view (from reference [9]). (Online version in colour.)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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