1.1 | The mission of Rijnhuizen

Rijnhuizen is one of the three research institutes of the foundation for fundamental research on matter (FOM), the funding organisation for physics in the Netherlands. In addition to these three institutes, FOM supports a large fraction of the physics research at Dutch universities. The primary goal of FOM is to promote fundamental research on matter for the advancement of science. The research funded by FOM is nationally co-ordinated in some 100 comprehensive research programmes, so-called ‘FOM-programmes’. Currently, Rijnhuizen hosts 5 of these FOM-programmes that run at Rijnhuizen only, and participates in one nationwide FOM-programme.

The FOM-Institute for Plasma Physics ‘Rijnhuizen’ was inaugurated in 1959 with the mission to be the Dutch centre for fusion research. Since then, the scientific programme has included fundamental (experimental and theoretical) plasma physics research and research on fusion technology. Gradually, the progress in fusion called for increasingly large experimental facilities. This led to the decision in 1995/1996 to form the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC) with institutes in Jülich and Brussels for a joint programme on the TEXTOR tokamak in Jülich, Germany. Rijnhuizen currently has no large in-house experimental fusion experiments, but a new large facility to study plasma-surface interaction, Magnum-PSI, is under construction at the institute. The research on this new facility will be important for the international ITER project, the next step in the development of fusion as a clean, safe and sustainable source of energy. Rijnhuizen is the home base for all Dutch fusion physicists. The Fusion Physics division, headed by Niek Lopes Cardozo and Tony Donné covers both the plasma-surface interaction studies and the core plasma physics.

Around 1986, it was decided to broaden the mission of Rijnhuizen beyond plasma physics. This resulted in the start of an activity in quantum electronics in 1987: the development of an infrared Free Electron Laser, FELIX. Later FELIX became a user facility. The institute started an in-house programme in 1998 to study the dynamics of molecular processes with FELIX. The extension of the facility by a Free Electron Laser for Intra-Cavity Experiments, FELICE, has been recently implemented. With FELICE, this type of research has a bright future. The focus of all work in this division, Generation and Utilization of THz radiation (GUTHz), is concerned with experiments in the THz spectral range. The division operates under the leadership of Lex van der Meer.

Another activity, started in 1987, concerns the generation of optical elements for extreme ultra-violet radiation for lithography (EUVL). This activity was carried out for a long time in the Laser Plasma and XUV optics (LPX) group in the plasma physics division. The group focused on generation of EUV radiation by laser induced plasmas, on laser wakefield acceleration and on multilayer optical components. Due to the steady growth of notably the last activity, the LPX group has turned into the nanolayer Surface and Interface physics (nSI) division managed by Fred Bijkerk. The primary focus of this division is now on the physics of multilayer optics, their synthesis, and dynamical phenomena at and in these optics.

The mission of Rijnhuizen in 2008 was:
- To perform high-quality scientific research and to develop methods and techniques with that aim, in the field of;
• Fusion Physics, comprising both fundamental research aimed at controlled fusion in the framework of ITER and the European fusion research programme, for which Rijnhuizen acts as the national home-base, and in-house research in the field of low-temperature plasma physics;
• Generation and Utilization of THz Radiation, comprising both in-house research and the exploitation of an international research facility, the free-electron laser for infrared experiments FELIX, for high-quality scientific research of external users;
• Nanolayer Surface and Interface Physics, including applications in plasma physics, and short-wavelength optics’;
- To train graduate and undergraduate students and technicians;
- To transfer high-level scientific and technical knowledge to the international research
community, industry and society at large.
In 2008 an external evaluation of the institute took place. As a result of the evaluation the formulation of the mission for 2009 will change. The detailed wording might be subject to change, but the mission will be as follows:

“We perform high-quality fundamental research in the field of sustainable energy, with emphasis on fusion. In addition, we train graduate and undergraduate students and technicians, and transfer high-level scientific and technical knowledge to industry and society at large.”