Mid-Scale RI-1 (M1:DP): Compact X-ray Free-Electron Laser Project (CXFEL)

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An award is made to Arizona State University to conduct a comprehensive design study of a Compact X-ray Free Electron Laser (CXFEL), a novel instrument to produce very brief and intense hard x-ray pulses at a much lower cost and smaller size than existing large-scale X-ray lasers. The smaller size and lower cost of the CXFEL will enable installation at university campuses, medical institutions, and industrial labs, greatly expanding national access and fulfilling an urgent need in the broad US research community. This instrument will directly observe, manipulate, and control molecules and materials at the nanometer spatial scale and femtosecond time scale which controls much of biochemistry and solid-state physics. Fifty investigators across a diverse range of science and engineering fields will contribute to this project, which addresses the NSF's Big Ideas for Understanding the Rules of Life, the Quantum Leap, and Growing Convergence Research. This project will build the STEM workforce through workshops and lab tours connected to Arizona State University programs that reach more than one hundred underrepresented or first-generation college students annually. Ten students will participate in undergraduate internships for each year of the project. Additionally, CXFEL will engage four local high school and community college educators each year in a five-week summer program, in which the teachers will participate in research and develop lesson plans.The CXFEL is a room-sized X-ray laser with full coherence in time and space that allows, for the first time, full control of the frequency and temporal properties of an X-ray laser. The CXFEL offers full control of the X-ray phase using a new method of electron-beam patterning that provides customized time-structuring of the bream such as attosecond pulses, very narrow linewidths, or extremely precise timing among multiple pulses of different wavelengths. This method will be far more stable in pointing, energy, wavelength, and bandwidth than large machines. The CXFEL will be combined with related instruments into a midscale suite of probes and end-stations with highly synchronized ultrafast pulses of electrons, x-rays, and other coherent photons from terahertz to ultraviolet. The unique probe capabilities extend beyond time and space to measure momentum and energy transfer, providing the deep multidimensional information needed for transformative discoveries in a wide range of disciplines including biology, chemistry, and condensed matter physics. The primary result of the design study will be a Final Design Report including the documents needed for construction of the suite of instruments and end-stations for experiments in biochemistry, molecular dynamics, and quantum materials. This project is supported by the Foundation-wide Mid-scale Research Infrastructure program. The project will be managed by the Division of Biological Infrastructure with the Director for Biological Sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.