2030 PETRA IV, the project of the future

Up to 2030, DESY will build a unique research instrument: the newly conceived large-scale research facility PETRA IV in a 3D X-ray microscope that will outperform all facilities in terms of brilliance and performance.

With today's X-ray sources, important details at the molecular level remain in the dark. That will change with PETRA IV. Through a maximised focussing of the X-ray light – the ultimate bundled X-rays – three-dimensional pictures of structure can be generated, around a hundred times more detailed than with PETRA III.

Real objects can be sharply imaged in their natural environments at different levels, from the macro- to the nanoscale. At the same time, it will be possible to observe the dynamics of individual elements – on time scales from nanoseconds to hours. The key to new knowledge about many processes lies in the nanoscale. It is there where PETRA IV opens a unique view.