Relativistic Ultrafast Electron and Diffraction Imaging facility (RUEDI)
RUEDI will be the national facility for Relativistic Ultrafast Electron and Diffraction Imaging and is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, a part of UKRI. The facility will be led by the University of Liverpool in partnership with Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the Rosalind Franklin Institute, and will be housed at the STFC Daresbury Laboratory.
RUEDI will be a truly unique instrument. Its ultrafast capabilities will allow structural changes in material to be observed and measured in time-resolved experiments for the first time.
RUEDI will support multi-disciplinary research with five scientific themes – Dynamics of chemical change, Energy generation, conversion and storage, Materials in extreme conditions, Quantum materials and processes, AI, and Biosciences.
Professor Angus Kirkland, the Franklin’s Science Director for Correlated Imaging, will lead the development of some key optical components of the instrument, together with the imaging detectors, and also lead the life sciences theme.
For life sciences, this exceptional instrument will allow look at larger and thicker samples, 1-10nm images with a penetration depth around 10µm. This will allow researchers to look at whole eukaryotic cells at unprecedented resolution. The ability to image larger samples in addition to observe complex dynamic process in real time will be revolutionary for the life sciences and medicine.