The key to move from a mere description of static materials properties to the determination and control of functionality and chemistry lies in understanding dynamic pathways through multidimensional energy landscapes. Through my efforts over the last decade my group accomplished breakthroughs towards the required excited states selectivity and to follow dynamic pathways with resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering (RIXS) in three aspects: Non-linear RIXS for materials science to boost scattering efficiency. Time resolved and Anti-Stokes RIXS for back-ground free detection of excited states. Sub-natural line width RIXS to map out potential energy surfaces at selected atoms. In the ERC research I link these unfolding fields and combine them with ab-initio treatment of excited states to create unprecedented back-ground free X-ray probes of excited states of matter and their dynamics. This will be femtosecond time resolved Anti-Stokes RIXS for excited state selectivity with transform limited pulses and doubly resonant soft X-ray 4 wave mixing to determine multi-center dynamics on atomic scales. The ERC grant will answer long standing questions on the governing principles of functionality, regarding chemical pathways and energy landscapes in molecules as well as phase transitions, driven phases and emergence in functional materials. These novel approaches become only now feasible through the unprecedented brilliance of Free-Electron Lasers and the efforts of my group over the last decade. The ERC grant will establish proof-of-principle at brilliant soft X-ray Free-Electron Lasers that will be followed by world leading, ideal conditions implemented at the European XFEL.

OpenDreamKit will deliver a flexible toolkit enabling research groups to set up Virtual Research Environments, customised to meet the varied needs of research projects in pure mathematics and applications and supporting the full research life-cycle from exploration, through proof and publication, to archival and sharing of data and code. OpenDreamKit will be built out of a sustainable ecosystem of community-developed open software, databases, and services, including popular tools such as LinBox, MPIR, Sage(sagemath.org), GAP, PariGP, LMFDB, and Singular. We will extend the Jupyter Notebook environment to provide a flexible UI. By improving and unifying existing building blocks, OpenDreamKit will maximise both sustainability and impact, with beneficiaries extending to scientific computing, physics, chemistry, biology and more and including researchers, teachers, and industrial practitioners. We will define a novel component-based VRE architecture and the adapt existing mathematical software, databases, and UI components to work well within it on varied platforms. Interfaces to standard HPC and grid services will be built in. Our architecture will be informed by recent research into the sociology of mathematical collaboration, so as to properly support actual research practice. The ease of set up, adaptability and global impact will be demonstrated in a variety of demonstrator VREs. We will ourselves study the social challenges associated with large-scale open source code development and of publications based on executable documents, to ensure sustainability. OpenDreamKit will be conducted by a Europe-wide demand-steered collaboration, including leading mathematicians, computational researchers, and software developers long track record of delivering innovative open source software solutions for their respective communities. All produced code and tools will be open source.

Advanced optical laser light sources and accelerator-based X-ray sources, as well as their technologies, scientific applications, and user communities, have developed independently over more than five decades. Driven by the developments at each optical laser and free-electron laser research infrastructures (RIs) in recent years, the gap between the optical laser and accelerator-driven light sources has diminished significantly. Both communities operate, implement, or plan advanced laser light source RIs, combining high-power optical and high-brightness X-ray light sources operated as dedicated user facilities. Operational and technical problems of these RIs have become very similar, if not identical. In specific cases, joint projects by the two communities have been initiated, but a closer and more structured collaboration of the corresponding communities and light sources is urgently required and shall be developed through this project. The present proposal for a European Cluster of Advanced Laser Light Sources (EUCALL) is the first attempt to create an all-embracing consortium of all (optical and X-ray) advanced laser light source RIs in Europe. Besides addressing the most urgent technical challenges, EUCALL will develop and implement cross-cutting services for photon-oriented ESFRI projects, will optimize the use of advanced laser light sources in Europe by efficient cross-community resource management, will enhance interoperability of the two types of light sources, will ensure global competitiveness, and will stimulate and support common long-term strategies and research policies for the application of laser-like short-wavelength radiation in science and innovation. The EUCALL consortium includes the three ESFRI projects ELI, European XFEL, and ESRF(up), several national RIs, and the LASERLAB-EUROPE and FELs OF EUROPE networks as representatives for the nationally operated optical laser and free-electron laser RIs.

In the present project, CALIPSOplus, the relevant synchrotrons and free electron lasers in Europe and the Middle East join forces to contribute to the completion of ERA and to tackle the new challenges arising from the commitment of the EU to Open science, Open innovation and Open to the world. Integration with respect to user access, support, instrumentation, data analysis and data management is strongly pushed forward by this advanced community, looking back at a long tradition of integrated activities funded under FP6 and FP7, and largely profiting from the experiences already gained. The European Synchrotron and FEL User Organisation will be consolidated and the performance and use of the wayforlight portal as pivotal platform of the light sources community will be boosted. Data management of the different facilities will be harmonised and a data management plan for the CALIPSOplus consortium be defined. Particular focus will be on leveraging scientific excellence in EU-13 countries and on widening the use of light sources by users from these regions. This will be achieved by visits to universities in these countries, by dedicated schools and by an especially set-up Twinning programme. As a pilot action a specific Trans-national Access programme will be offered for users from SMEs, closely related to an awareness raising campaign for light sources use and the role of light sources as customers among local industry around the facilities. Joint Research Activities will focus on metrology of diffraction limited optics in collaboration with the manufacturing industry, of particular importance for the new hard X-ray free electron lasers as well as for the next generation synchrotrons, and on software tools for remote data analysis. Focusing on the horizon beyond 2020, established programmes and activities of the light source community will be evaluated with respect to their future importance and corresponding sustainability and business plans will be developed.

One of the highlights of the European research infrastructure landscape is the world's most powerful X-ray-laser, the European XFEL. The ELBEX (Extracted Lepton Beam at the European XFEL) proposal builds on this strength and will set up new opportunities for European scientists and innovators, by providing an extracted high energy electron beam for experiments. With ELBEX we propose a pathfinder project to demonstrate the feasibility of such a facility at the European XFEL. This unique new possibility would strengthen the global competitiveness of the European Research Area and create opportunities for new user groups. The high energy, high charge density and excellent quality of the electron beam, if brought into interaction with a strong laser beam, opens up the study of a range of scientific topics, most prominently, of strong field Quantum Electrodynamics (QED). For the first time, the Schwinger limit for the electromagnetic field strength, at which non-perturbative QED effects become relevant, could be reached experimentally in this facility. Studying the particles created in the photon beam dump opens up the possibility to search for feebly interacting particles, complementing current or planned experiments like FASER II or SHiP. In addition, the electron beam itself is at the centre of a range of highly relevant and ambitious experiments in the area of accelerator science and detector science. Within the ELBEX project, the installation of a facility to extract an electron beam from the European XFEL using a fast kicker magnet and to transport it into a multi-purpose experimental area will be prepared. On the condition that a positive decision by the European XFEL council is reached to grant an extended 12-week XFEL shutdown, the installation of the ELBEX facility is an option.