Max IV and ESS

Lund University is in the middle of an intensive development phase. The two largest research facilities in Sweden - Max-Lab IV and the European Spallation Source (ESS) - are being built in Lund: 

MAX IV

MAX-lab is a national facility for materials research based on synchrotron radiation. It is jointly operated by the Swedish Research Council and Lund University. MAX-lab supports three distinct research areas: accelerator physics, research based on the use of synchronisation radiation and nuclear physics using energetic electrons.

Max-lab is now to be extended with MAX IV, which will be 100 times more efficient than any existing comparable synchrotron radiation facility in the world. The facility will put Sweden in a class of its own in materials and nano research.

European Spallation Source

In an area of two square kilometres in north-west Lund, the European Spallation Source (ESS), a unique facility for materials research, will be built. The ESS will be a multidisciplinary scientific research centre harnessing the world’s most powerful neutron source. Researchers will be able to study the materials of everyday life, from plastics and proteins to medicines and molecules, in order to understand how they are built up and how they work. 

The facility can be likened to a giant microscope, where neutrons are fired at different types of material so that they can be analysed in detail. ESS will be responsible for future research breakthroughs in medicine, environmental science, climate, communication and transport.

Despite competition from British, Spanish, Hungarian and German rivals, Lund was given the honour of building the facility, which is being co-financed by a number of countries in the EU who will all benefit from it. 

Along with the planned MAX IV facility, ESS will form a hub in the European research infrastructure. ESS is expected to be fully operational in 2020.