Two pieces of good news for the team led by Prof. Helmut Zacharias at the Physical Institute at Münster University: the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is providing a total of 1.5 million euros in funding for no fewer than two projects the scientists are working on. Both of these projects have a common denominator - the so-called free electron laser.

Free electron lasers are new tapes of lasers. They make it possible to produce a laser beam from electrons forced to move in an undulating fashion close to the speed of light. "What's particularly interesting in this is the spectral range of the so-called soft and hard X-rays, where no other lasers exist up to now," explains Prof. Zacharias. The setting for the desired wavelengths can be freely selected. The X-ray flashes are extremely short, lasting only some quadrillionths of a second.

The Münster physicists use the FLASH free electron laser in Hamburg. This laser belongs to the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), one of the world's leading particle acceleration centres for research in this field. With the help of FLASH the researchers' aim is to trigger and then study photochemical reactions in so-called doped ice-layers. In doing so, they simulate situations in the lab such as can occur on the dust particles found in molecular clouds between the stars in space. "Nowadays it is generally assumed that in space molecules are formed almost exclusively on such dust particles," explains Zacharias. "However, the mechanisms involved in this process are still unknown." The researchers' work will be making a contribution to the European LASSIE programme (Laboratory Astrochemical Surface Science in Europe) which is dedicated to research into these mechanisms.

The second project being funded by the BMBF is based on a piece of work that the Münster researchers have just successfully completed. In order to use the high time resolution made possible by the free electron laser, it is necessary to generate two exactly correlated and time-adjustable pulses. For this reason Prof. Zacharias' team have developed and built a so-called beam-splitter with a time-delayed second pulse which allows precisely this. The splitter has now been incorporated into the FLASH equipment and is available for use by all scientists doing experimental work there.

The researchers are now developing a corresponding piece of equipment for the new "European XFEL" free electron laser which is currently being built in Hamburg and will open up entirely new research opportunities. For this piece of equipment a three-kilometre long tunnel is being drilled, proceeding from the DESY site, in which the free electron laser will be housed. From 2014, the new laser will generate unique, ultrafast X-ray flashes which can make the most minute structures visible. "The wavelength of these flashes is smaller than the atomic distances in molecules," says Zacharias. "Scientists working all over the world want to use these X-ray flashes to explain the structure of bio-molecules and nano-particles and, for example, observe the formation of molecules." The Münster researchers' expertise is now in demand for the development and construction of the beam-splitter necessary for this.