Like many big-science research facilities, the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (European XFEL) has the numbers to impress. The €1.2bn facility, which is located in Hamburg, Germany, uses superconducting linear accelerator technology to generate 27,000 X-ray flashes per second, with a pulse duration of less than 100 fs and a brilliance that’s orders of magnitude greater than any other conventional X-ray source.
That unique radiation is put to work in the European XFEL’s underground experimental hall, where six scientific instruments enable international teams of researchers and industrial users to carry out a diverse programme of basic and applied materials research – from mapping the atomic details of cells, viruses and biomolecules to time-resolved investigations of chemical reactions and structural imaging of nanoelectronic materials.
Underpinning that collective endeavour and spanning the 3.4 km long facility (XFEL accelerator, X-ray beamlines and the experimental hall) are all manner of enabling vacuum technologies, including chambers and end-stations, CF flange systems, feedthroughs, sample manipulators, valves, pumps and a range of associated hardware and instrumentation.
Building the relationship
The European XFEL’s High-Energy Density (HED) instrument is a case in point. Here the XFEL’s ultrashort X-ray laser pulses enable fundamental studies of matter at extremes of temperature and pressure – simulating conditions in the interiors of large planets – and at extreme electric or magnetic field strengths.
“Scientists will use the HED instrument to investigate what happens to a material when it’s compressed to very high density and changes state from a solid to a plasma,” says Ian Thorpe, instrument engineer for the HED programme.
Back in May, Thorpe and his colleagues initiated a series of in-house experiments with the HED instrument – effectively a user-assisted commissioning programme to ensure that the set-up is fit for purpose ahead of full go-live later in the summer. “The first of these experiments successfully characterized the focus,” explains Thorpe. “This is critical because we’re working on very small samples and you get the highest detail and pressure if you focus the X-ray and optical laser beams into a very tight spot.”
In terms of its vacuum specifications, the HED instrument requires a mix of ultrahigh-vacuum and high-vacuum technologies for the X-ray optics/diagnostics enclosure and sample chamber. Many standard catalogue parts are available via the European XFEL’s online ordering system, with Kurt J. Lesker Company (KJLC) among the registered suppliers approved by the facility’s procurement department.
However, it’s KJLC’s capabilities in the manufacture and supply of custom vacuum parts, subsystems and chambers that sets the working relationship apart. None of the European XFEL’s demands are straightforward, and the delivery of custom vacuum orders relies on a robust feedback loop between manufacturer and customer.
In this way, product specialists and engineers at KJLC review the customer’s designs to fully understand the European XFEL’s technical requirements and scientific objectives. The design review, tighter tolerances, cleaning, vacuum test and bake-out are all part of that collaboration with KJLC.
Connected customers
Luis Lopez is a systems integration engineer on another European XFEL experiment, the Single Particles, Clusters and Biomolecules and Serial Femtosecond Crystallography (SPB/SFX) instrument. SPB/SFX is primarily focused on 3D diffractive imaging and structural dynamics (on timescales of milliseconds to femtoseconds) of biological samples such as macromolecules, viruses, organelles and cells.
Although the scientific and vacuum system requirements for SPB/SFX differ from the HED experiment, the SPB/SFX experimental team clearly values the same close working relationship with the KJLC manufacturing division. “We have a direct connection with the product specialists and engineers,” says Lopez. “On custom-made parts, that interaction is welcomed, with KJLC staff often coming up with alternative options, improvements and work-arounds to our original designs.”
It's all about relationships
Dialogue, trust and, most important of all, listening to your customer. Jonathon Ward, product specialist at KJLC, tells Physics World about the vacuum vendor’s forward-looking take on the manufacturer-customer relationship.
What are your priorities when dealing with a big-science customer like the European XFEL?
We want to be the preferred partner for all things vacuum – from a commercial, manufacturing and technology perspective. For me and my colleagues in the manufacturing division, the task is to build relationships and trust with the scientists and engineers at the European XFEL – finding out what they’re working on right now but also what they’re going to need in three, four, even five years’ time. They’re thinking about budgets on that timeframe now and that’s where we want to position ourselves. Put another way: we’re not here for the short term, we’re here for the long term.
On a day-to-day basis, what does the operational interaction look like?
It’s all about listening to the customer, understanding requirements and ongoing dialogue. For contracts involving bespoke vacuum parts, subsystems and chambers, we’ll review the customer’s sketches before talking to them about what they’re trying to achieve. The job then is to deliver as closely as possible against the technical specifications, delivery time and price. It’s often an iterative process – that’s what’s good about this working relationship. Some technical features we may be able to compromise and trade-off versus others where we might be able to do better than specification.
Are there other ways you look to reinforce the manufacturer-customer relationship?
We recently organized a one-day workshop on fundamental aspects of vacuum science, technology and engineering for the staff at the European XFEL. This is something we’ve run previously at other European institutions, helping to shape best practice in vacuum applications. It’s typically a diverse audience: early-career scientists and engineers as well as staff with lots of experience. There was even someone from purchasing and procurement at the European XFEL event. Our technical director of education, J R Gaines, has years of experience in the field of vacuum science and engineering and this type of forum enables us to share our technical capability, expertise and domain knowledge more widely. At the same time, we’re learning new things from our customers. It’s a two-way street.
What are the commercial benefits of working with a high-profile customer like the European XFEL?
The European XFEL is at the leading edge of scientific endeavour. If you’re a trusted supplier for a customer like them, it opens doors with other big-science initiatives.
- The European XFEL gets no commercial advantage from its participation in this article.
