Two HFML-FELIX projects receive funding for modernizing research infrastructure

A great day for the HFML-FELIX partnership: two HFML-FELIX proposals funded in NWO large-scale research infrastructure (LSRI) upgrade call.

Two teams led by Sandra Brünken and Steffen Wiedmann have secured funding for major upgrades to the far-infrared free-electron laser and high-field magnet infrastructure at HFML-FELIX, respectively.

These upgrades will significantly expand the experimental capabilities of the national HFML-FELIX partnership, enabling researchers from its national and international user community to perform cutting-edge experiments combining intense laser pulses with high magnetic fields. The enhanced facilities will support a broad spectrum of research, spanning quantum materials, energy-efficient data storage, and bio- and soft-matter science, while also providing new insights into chemical processes, including those relevant to astrochemistry.

More about the projects

• Double & dump: Unlocking spectroscopy and dynamics in the far-infrared

Main applicant: dr. Sandra Brünken, HFML-FELIX, Radboud University

By upgrading the heart of the laser, and thereby implementing the possibility to make all light in one, intense pulse available for experiments, researchers can investigate new, fundamental processes. Such processes underly potential new technologies for energy-efficient data storage or govern the lifecycle of interstellar molecular gas and dust.

• MAGEX: A wide-bore resistive MAGnet Platform for research under EXtreme conditions at HFML-FELIX

Main applicant: dr. Steffen Wiedmann, HFML-FELIX, Radboud University.

Today’s magnets at HFML-FELIX reach up to 38 Tesla, but only in very small spaces. With the LSRI-Upgrade, new large-aperture magnets will provide record field strengths and far more room for experiments. They will also create the world’s strongest magnetic forces for studying levitation and extreme states of matter. This upgrade puts the Netherlands at the forefront of global research in physics, quantum materials, and science under extreme conditions.

You can read more about the other funded projects in the NWO press release: 30.5 million euros granted for the upgrading of Large-scale Research Infrastructure