Call for Proposals 2026-I

The semester 2026-I will start on 2 February 2026 and will end on 5 July 2026 (week 06 - 27) and comprises 18 weeks of Multi Bunch, 1 week of Single Bunch, and 1 week of low-alpha.

Applications for instrument time may only submitted via the general access tool GATE.
Please find the list of all available instruments HERE.

BESSY II+ upgrade - new naming scheme for the instruments

BESSY II has now been in operation for more than 20 years and will remain in operation at least until 2035. Keeping BESSY II at the forefront of science and technology development requires the transition from a unique and highly productive analytical tool towards a materials discovery and innovation hub. With a clear focus on operando methods for energy research, and along the chain “generation of light, use of light, data generation, data handling”, BESSY II will provide new possibilities for our research, our users, and our partners.

We are taking the BESSY II+ upgrade as an opportunity to adapt the designations of the BESSY II beamlines. In recent years, the trend has shifted away from flexible endstations. It is time to reflect this in the naming convention. Starting with this Call for Proposals 2026-I you will no longer have to choose both beamline and station but only the instrument. This following naming convention is used for those instruments where there are multiple stations available and where the naming of the station might not be unique (see examples below).

In cases where the name of the station is unique the instrument will retain the name like MAXYMUS, mySpot, CoESCA, PEAXIS, SMART, SPEEM...

Energy Materials Facilities (EMF)

The new Energy Materials Facilities (EMF) are dedicated to the research of energy materials and comprises the instruments (former: endstations)

Users who plan to use one of these instruments must submit beamtime applications in GATE for the research facility EMF. The selection of the related beamline (former: ISISS, UE48_EMIL, CPMU17_EMIL, BElChem-PGM) is no longer required. Instead, you will be asked to indicate the energy range required for your experiment. For CAT, OAESE and SISSY I the instrument scientist will allocate the appropriate beamline (UE48 or/and CPMU17) according to your specification.

Former MYSTIIC@UE48_EMIL users must submit beamtime applications in GATE for the research facility BESSY II.

Instrument with limited availability

At ECCOS@BElChem-PGM the spectrometer will be replaced. Due to installation and commissioning of the new specrometer, ECCOS will not be available for user operation for a few weeks in 2026-I. Please contact Michael Hävecker for more detailed information.

In the effort to replace the HIKE endstation at KMC-1 with a new endstation (PRESTO), the availability of beamtime at HIKE@KMC-1 may be affected around the end of the 2026-I cycle. The successful implementation of PRESTO will allow for an upgrade/expansion of the experimental capabilities that users currently have access to at HIKE@KMC-1. For more details, please contact Roberto Felix Duarte.

New instruments in user operation

The new beamline UE51_PGM-2 will be open for user operation for the first time and the instruments SOL³PES@myOPUS and LiXEdrom@myOPUS are available. Please contact the instrument scientists Robert Seidel, Ronny Golnak and Jie Xiao for more detailed information.

Transnational access support through NEPHEWS

Strategic access for quantum technology (STRAQTECH)

In the framework of the LEAPS-INNOV activity STRAQTECH we explicitly are inviting beamtime applications from the research field of Quantum Technology for the instruments GELEM Dipole (soft-x-ray photoemission and absorption) and SPEEM (photoemission electron microscopy with variable light polarization). Please contact Anna Makarova (quantum@helmholtz-berlin.de) for more detailed information.