Reinforcement for DESY’s future project PETRA IV

With the PETRA IV project, DESY is further developing its accelerator-based synchrotron radiation source PETRA III in order to continue to make important contributions to research and innovation in Germany in the future. DESY has arranged with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, for Harald Reichert to further strengthen the PETRA IV project in the future. The physicist, who has proven expertise in photon science and who was a research director at ESRF, has already been involved in the technical implementation of PETRA IV since mid-January 2022. In the medium term, he will leave ESRF for DESY, where he will take on a position as a PETRA IV project leader.

The PETRA IV project is currently in the technical planning phase, which will be completed with the publication of the Technical Design Report (TDR) by mid-2023. Edgar Weckert, DESY Director in charge of Photon Science, explains: “PETRA IV will be the world’s best fourth-generation synchrotron radiation source. A similar radiation source, the ESRF-EBS, is already in operation in Grenoble, and Harald Reichert played a major role in its development. With him, we were able to win one of the most experienced personalities in this field for the PETRA IV project.”

Harald Reichert was Director for Research in Physical Sciences at ESRF from 2009 until the end of 2021. He will now support the PETRA IV team in the creation of the TDR, which builds on the Conceptual Design Report (CDR). The CDR was developed under the leadership of Christian Schroer, who continues to coordinate the development of beamlines in the PETRA IV project in addition to his duties as scientific head of PETRA III and as a professor at the University of Hamburg.

“A project of this magnitude becomes increasingly extensive in the course of the technical planning phase, and diverse expertise is needed,” says Christian Schroer. “We can benefit greatly from the experience of ESRF and an expert like Harald Reichert. That’s why I I proposed to the DESY Directorate that we seek a collaboration. I am very pleased that this was accepted.”

DESY scientist Riccardo Bartolini, project leader for the PETRA IV accelerator, declares: “It is a great opportunity for us to benefit from the experience Harald Reichert gained during the ESRF upgrade. I am very much looking forward to our collaboration.”

“DESY envisions PETRA IV as the ultimate X-ray microscope to visualise chemical and physical processes from the atomic to the millimetre scale. With the recently appointed team, we will target the next stage in this technically challenging project,” adds Wim Leemans, DESY Director of the Accelerator Division.

Harald Reichert is looking forward to his new tasks: “Together with my new colleagues at DESY, I am looking forward to creating the conditions for PETRA IV to take off as DESY’s most important project for the future.”

About PETRA IV

At DESY in Hamburg, the existing PETRA III X-ray source is to be converted into the unique 3D X-ray microscope PETRA IV by 2028. PETRA IV will generate ultrabright X-ray light that can be focused on the smallest spots, enabling the experiments to produce images that are a hundred times more detailed than before. For the first time, it will be possible to film natural phenomena in the nanocosmos live and non-destructively. A better understanding of these effects will make it possible to develop environmentally friendly materials and better medicines and vaccines for the benefit of society.