  The European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL.EU) will provide
as-yet-unrivaled peak brilliance and ultra-short pulses of spatially coherent
X-rays with a pulse length of less than 100 fs in the energy range between 0.25
and 25 keV. The high radiation intensity and ultra-short pulse duration will
open a window for novel scientific techniques and will allow to explore new
phenomena in biology, chemistry, material science, as well as matter at high
energy density, atomic, ion and molecular physics. The variety of scientific
applications and especially the unique XFEL.EU time structure require adequate
instrumentation to be developed in order to exploit the full potential of the
light source. To make optimal use of the unprecedented capabilities of the
European XFEL and master these vast technological challenges, the European XFEL
GmbH has started a detector R&D program. The technology concepts of the
detector system presently under development are complementary in their
performance and will cover the requirements of a large fraction of the
scientific applications envisaged for the XFEL.EU facility. The actual status
of the detector development projects which includes ultra-fast 2D imaging
detectors, low repetition rate 2D detectors as well as strip detectors for e.g.
spectroscopy applications and the infrastructure for the detectors' calibration
and tests will be presented. Furthermore, an overview of the forthcoming
implementation phase of the European XFEL in terms of detector R&D will be
given.
