Research institute DIFFER and Eindhoven University of Technology will work together on a national facility for research with high-energy X-rays. For this type of research, Dutch researchers currently need to reserve scarce, expensive time at enormous synchrotrons abroad. However, TU/e is at an advanced development stage of a technology that generates high-energy X-rays with small, relatively inexpensive set-ups. This could boost research into materials for the energy transition, for instance.
This will enable the development of new materials needed for sustainable energy, such as for a nuclear fusion reactor or for hydrogen production. But there will also be great demand from medical research, nanotechnology, research into metal fatigue and research into historic art – imagine discovering overpainted layers in old masters, for example.