A European large-scale project: The European Spallation Source (ESS) in Sweden

Scientists from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) hold primary responsibility for the development of instrument concepts and components for ESS

Photo credit: ESS AB
http://ess-scandinavia.eu/

What is ESS?
The European Spallation Source (ESS) is a joint project of 17 European nations. It will be Europe’s largest neutron source for investigating the nature and structure of matter, and it will be open to scientific users from around the world.  At present the project has reached the critical planning phase for the instruments and components.  Construction will begin in 2013 in Lund, Sweden and the first neutrons together with the initial 7 instruments will be available in 2019.  The remaining instruments will be completed by 2025, when the facility shall be fully operational. The total costs for planning, construction and operation of ESS are estimated at 1.48 billion Euros.

What can be studied at ESS?
The European Spallation Source is a kind of super microscope. It will allow for novel insights  into the inner structure and properties of matter and to study the movement of particles.  Neutrons are a unique tool for the study of matter and provide information which cannot be gained with  other research methods such as using synchrotron light.  

ESS will deliver very long neutron pulses and thus increase the neutron intensities for the benefit of the experiments. Metaphorically speaking, if researchers have been studying materials under candlelight so far, the neutrons at ESS will provide the brilliance of floodlight.  Thus, it will be possible to investigate  complex problems in many fields, including physics, biology, chemistry and medicine. 

Photo credit: ESS AB
http://ess-scandinavia.eu/

How is HZB contributing to ESS?
ESS is currently at a crucial planning stage. In this Design-Update phase concrete concepts for the construction of ESS are being developed. What should instruments for the future neutron source be like? What components and building elements are needed? These are questions which researchers have to answer now. In 2010 the German government through the Federal Ministry for Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) agreed to participate in the ESS project, allocating € 15M for the Design-Update-Phase. In addition the Helmholtz Association of German research centres is contributing €6M in-kind design work for ESS instruments. As part of this HZB is responsible for numerical simulations of some of the planned instruments, testing new neutron-optical components and designing and building new neutron detectors that will be needed in order to ensure that ESS instruments will be at the cutting edge of technology.