BERGISCH GLADBACH, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RI Research Instruments GmbH, a majority-owned subsidiary of Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies, Inc. (BEST), today announced the award of an option valued at approximately $7.3 million, for an additional 120 superconducting radio-frequency (rf) cavities, on top of its on-going 300-cavity contract for the European XFEL, a new international research facility near Hamburg, Germany. DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron) is the majority shareholder of the European XFEL, and in charge of building and operating the accelerator facility.
Since the initial DESY contract award in September 2010, RI has built up sophisticated infrastructure such as class ISO4 clean rooms with high pressure ultra-pure water rinsing stations, annealing furnaces and chemical plants, all of which are needed to treat the XFEL superconducting cavities for achieving the goal of world record accelerating gradients and quality factors.
The proper functioning of this infrastructure was validated by “reference cavities,” which were first treated in existing and qualified infrastructure at DESY, followed by a cold rf test at the research center. The treatment was then repeated using RI infrastructure and personnel. With the consecutive successful cold rf test of three RI cavities, all reaching accelerating gradients above 30 MV/m at quality factors above 1E10, the qualification phase for the RI infrastructure officially concluded in March 2013. The start of series cavity shipments under the original 24.9 million Euro contract from DESY is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2013.
After this qualification achievement, DESY exercised its option for ordering an additional 120 superconducting 9-cell cavities from RI. With these 120 additional cavities, RI is now contracted to deliver a total of 420 cavities for the European XFEL project, out of which 400 will be used in the accelerator while 20 are either reference cavities, or for quality assurance followed by dedicated high accelerating gradient studies. RI is now proceeding with full series production of the XFEL cavities, with the goal of delivering at a rate of four cavities per week through early 2015.
Dr. Michael Peiniger, Managing Director of RI Research Instruments, explained: “With this successful qualification, industry is now able to put into series production the very complex superconducting cavity preparation processes that were developed by the world’s leading research labs to enable accelerating gradients greater than 30 MV/m. RI is pleased to be a reliable industrial partner for the European XFEL project, and looks forward to working on large next-generation projects such as the European Spallation Source and the future International Linear Collider.”
About RI Research Instruments and Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies, Inc.:
RI Research Instruments GmbH (RI) is a world leader in the development and manufacturing of normal and superconducting rf cavities and systems, linear accelerators, as well as special products for physics and energy research, scientific, medical and industrial applications. RI products also include high-performance electron and ion sources, particle beamlines and diagnostics, research reactor subunits, as well as vacuum and cryogenic systems. BEST has operations in the US, the UK and Germany, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ: BRKR).
For more information, please visit: www.research-instruments.de or www.bruker-est.com
