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

亚利桑那州立大学被授予对紧凑型X射线自由电子激光器(CXFEL)进行全面设计研究的奖项，CXFEL是一种新型仪器，能够以比现有大型X射线激光器低得多的成本和更小的尺寸产生非常短而强烈的硬X射线脉冲。CXFEL较小的尺寸和较低的成本将使其能够在大学校园、医疗机构和工业实验室安装，极大地扩大了全国范围内的使用范围，并满足了广泛的美国研究界的迫切需求。该仪器将在纳米空间尺度和飞秒时间尺度上直接观察、操纵和控制分子和材料，这控制了大部分生物化学和固体物理。来自不同科学和工程领域的50名研究人员将为这一项目做出贡献，该项目旨在解决NSF关于理解生命规则、量子飞跃和不断增长的融合研究的大想法。该项目将通过与亚利桑那州立大学项目相关的研讨会和实验室参观来建设STEM员工队伍，这些项目每年接触到100多名代表不足的或第一代大学生。该项目每一年将有10名学生参加本科生实习。此外，CXFEL每年将聘请四名当地高中和社区大学的教育工作者参加为期五周的暑期项目，教师将参与研究并制定教案。CXFEL是一种房间大小的X射线激光，在时间和空间上完全一致，首次允许完全控制X射线激光的频率和时间特性。CXFEL使用一种新的电子束图案化方法提供对X射线相位的完全控制，该方法提供定制的BLAAM时间结构，例如阿秒脉冲、非常窄的线宽或不同波长的多个脉冲之间的极其精确的计时。这种方法在指向、能量、波长和带宽方面将比大型机器稳定得多。CXFEL将与相关仪器组合成一套中等规模的探测器和终端站，具有高度同步的电子、X射线和其他从太赫兹到紫外线的相干光子的超快脉冲。独特的探测器能力超越了时间和空间，可以测量动量和能量转移，为包括生物、化学和凝聚态物理在内的广泛学科的变革性发现提供所需的深层次多维信息。设计研究的主要结果将是最终的设计报告，其中包括建造生物化学、分子动力学和量子材料实验所需的整套仪器和终端所需的文件。该项目得到了基金会范围的中型研究基础设施计划的支持。该项目将由生物基础设施部和生物科学主任共同管理。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.