Helmholtz-SESAME Beamline (HESEB) inaugurated

AMMAN — The Helmholtz-SESAME Beamline (HESEB) for soft X-ray light designed and constructed by a consortium of five Helmholtz Research Centres of the Helmholtz Association under the lead of DESY,  another beamline at the SESAME synchrotron light facility near Amman (Jordan ), was inaugurated on Sunday.

The HESEB is a new, state-of-the-art measuring facility for experiments with soft X-ray light that will substantially widen research opportunities for scientists from the region and enable new international collaborations with many institutions, including German institutions, according to a SESAME statement.

Among the dignitaries present to celebrate the event, to cut the ribbon and unveil a commemorative plaque marking the inauguration were Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Jordan Wajih Owais, Bernhard Kampmann, Ambassador of Germany to Jordan, Rolf-Dieter Heuer, President of the SESAME Council, President of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres Otmar Wiestler, and Helmut Dosch, Chair of the Board of Directors at DESY — on behalf of the HESEB Consortium.

Also present were the Governor of Balqa Governorate, thepresident of Al Balqa’ Applied University, members of the Jordan Parliament and of the Local Council, a high-level delegation from the Helmholtz Centres, and representatives of the Turkish and United Arab Emirates community and the local community.

“Had it not been for the donation of BESSY I, none of us would be here today and SESAME would not have been born,” said Khaled Toukan, director of SESAME, welcoming the guests. 

“Now, again thanks to Germany, we have this beamline that we are proud of, which I may quite confidently say will be very much in demand by users” he added, as he thanked the five research centres of the Helmholtz Association for their joint efforts that produced the beamline, said the statement.

Owais said that “when the SESAME project was initiated almost 20 years ago, it received the immediate support of His Majesty King Abdullah, and we are proud to have SESAME located in Jordan and we will always give it our full support”. 

“We are therefore very grateful to the German Government for its generous contributions and on-going support to SESAME, as we are of Germany’s support to Jordan in very many areas, and in the case of my ministry, in higher and technical education and scientific research” he added.

The importance of the new beamline, which extends the energy range of the available radiation to soft X-rays, and whose element-specific interaction with matter allows in-depth investigations of the electronic and structural properties of a variety of samples was highlighted in a roundtable moderated by Alexandra Rosenbach (Helmholtz Association), with the participation of Andrea Lausi (SESAME), Wolfgang Drube (DESY), Sabreen Hammouda (FZJ), Zehra Sayers (Sabanci University), and Kirsi Lorentz (The Cyprus Institute).

During a tour of the experimental hall that followed the round table, the guests were able to see the optical components and experimental chamber of the HESEB beamline and to observe at first hand the beam spot, read the statement. 

Explaining what had prompted the Helmholtz Association to provide SESAME with the HESEB beamline, Wiestler said that “for many years now, SESAME hasbeen demonstrating in an impressive way how a joint research project may bring people from different countries in the Middle East together for civil research. SESAME is a true bridge builder and a beacon of science diplomacy”.