First protein probing experiments from Europe’s XFEL published

Results from the first analyses performed using the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) – a facility capable of producing one million laser pulses per second – have been published.

Based near Hamburg in Germany, the European XFEL cost €1.5 billion to build and was launched in 2017. It generates high-intensity x-rays by accelerating electrons inside a 3.4km long tunnel that runs from the DESY synchrotron in Hamburg to the XFEL labs in Schenefeld. Experiments began last September, and now the first paper based on XFEL data has been published.