Network of leading European ion-beam facilities founded
Eleven leading European ion-beam facilities joined together in the network - SPIRIT (Support of Public and Industrial Research using Ion Beam Technology). The network was officially launched at a kickoff-meeting on March 6, 2009, held at the Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (FZD) in Dresden, Germany.
The consortium is led by Prof Wolfhard Moeller at Rossendorf and includes partners from the University of Bordeaux, CEA and Universite de Pierre et Marie Curie in France; University of Surrey in UK, University of Leuven in Belgium; Universitat der Bundeswehr in Munich; ITN in Portugal; Josef Stefan Institute in Slovenia; ETH Zurich in Switzerland as well as Ruđer Bošković Institute. The SPIRIT network is funded by the EU FP7 Infrastructures project with about 7 million euros.
The 4 year project aims at facilitating the transnational access of European scientists to ion-beam centres by covering their expenses for travelling and accommodation, as well as by the support of host laboratries. Joint research activities will promote emerging fields such as targeted single ion implantation and irradiation of living cells; ion-beam based analysis with ultrahigh depth resolution; ion-based 3-D tomography, and chemical and molecular imaging. The network partners intend to share the results of their research and to make them available for external users. Finally, the partners focus on networking through regular meetings, exchange and training of scientific and technical staff.