The European Spallation Source ERIC (ESS) is an international research infrastructure with the vision to build and operate the world’s most powerful neutron source, enabling scientific breakthroughs in research related to materials, energy, health, and the environment, and addressing some of the most important societal challenges of our time. The ESS will deliver a neutron peak brightness of at least 30 times greater than the current state-of-the-art, thus providing the much-desired transformative capabilities for interdisciplinary research in the physical and life sciences.
The facility is under construction in Lund (Sweden), while the ESS Data Management and Software Centre (DMSC) is based in Copenhagen (Denmark). The ESS is a partnership of 13 Member Countries, namely Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The Organisation continuously explores possibilities to establish strategic partnerships with new countries: currently The Netherlands is an Observer Country.
The construction of the facility began in the summer of 2014 and is now 62% complete (as of December 2019). A total of 15 instruments will be built during the construction phase to serve the neutron user community. In the long term, expansion of the suite up to 22 instruments is anticipated. First science is scheduled for 2023 and the start of user programme for the earliest instruments will follow.