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2013

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Scientists decode serotonin receptor at room temperature

20 December 2013

X-ray laser opens up new paths for investigating biomolecules An international research team has decoded the molecular structure of the medically important serotonin receptor at room temperature for the first time. This study reveals the dynamics of the ...

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EU funds a high resolution time lens for the nanocosm with 14 million euros

17 December 2013

To trace and understand chemical and biological processes taking place in just some quintillionths of a second with full atomic detail: this is the goal of a research project of four ... With a so-called ERC Synergy Grant, the research council supports the project “Frontiers in Attosecond X-ray Science: Imaging and Spectroscopy” (AXSIS) of Professor Franz Kärtner (Center for ...

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Ultrafast heating of water - This pot boils faster than you can watch it

16 December 2013

A group of scientists around Oriol Vendrell from CFEL have devised a novel way to boil water in less than a trillionth of a second. The theoretical concept, which has not yet been demonstrated in practice, could heat a small amount of water by as much as 600 degrees Celsius in just half a picosecond (a trillionth of a second). ...

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Chiral molecules reveal their handedness

09 December 2013

An international group of scientists around Melanie Schnell from CFEL and Harvard performed the first chirality-sensitive ... The chemistry of life is built from left-handed and right-handed molecules that are mirror images of each other. Such molecules are said to be chiral, a word derived from the ancient Greek word for ...

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Two million euro grant for molecule tamer Jochen Küpper

13 November 2013

European Research Council supports Professor Jochen Küpper from the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science with an ERC Consolidator Grant for his COMOTION project. For his work on the control of complex molecules, Professor Jochen Küpper from the Hamburg Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL, DESY ...

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More photos of the CFEL building

03 November 2013

CFEL opens its doors along with the 5th Night of Knowledge and the DESY Open Day

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Graphene can emit laser flashes

10 October 2013

Individual layers of carbon atoms are suitable as active material for terahertz lasers, as they permit population inversion. Graphene is considered the jack-of-all-trades of materials science: The two-dimensional honeycomb-shaped lattice made up of carbon atoms is stronger than steel and exhibits extremely high charge ...

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Reaction rate of many molecules depends on their shape

04 October 2013

Using a sorting machine for molecules, a German–Swiss research team can now for the first time directly measure the various reaction rates of different forms of the same ... Most molecules occur in several shapes, which may behave very differently. Using a sorting machine for molecules, a German–Swiss research team can now for the first time directly measure the ...

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Otto Hahn Group for Ultrafast Electron Dynamics takes off at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter at CFEL

02 September 2013

The newly founded Otto Hahn Group for Ultrafast Electron Dynamics will begin work at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter in September 2013. The junior research group is ...

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Helmholtz PhD Prize in the Research Field Structure of Matter for Stefan Pabst

28 August 2013

Prize for "New Theoretical Approaches to Atomic and Molecular Dynamics triggered by Ultrashort Light Pulses on the Atto-to Picosecond Time Scale" Stefan Pabst is one of the winners of the first Helmholtz PhD Prize. The Helmholtz Association is honouring the CFEL researcher together with five other young scientists who are active in one of the ...

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First laser-like X-ray light from a solid

22 August 2013

Researchers open up new avenues of investigation at DESY's light source FLASH. Researchers have for the first time created an X-ray laser based on a solid. The method developed at the free-electron laser FLASH opens up new avenues of investigation in materials research, as ...

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Speed Limit Set for Ultrafast Electrical Switch

28 July 2013

Switching process in magnetite takes only a trillionth of a second. An international team of researchers have clocked the fastest-possible electrical switching in magnetite, a naturally occurring magnetic mineral, at the X-ray laser LCLS in California. Their results ...

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CFEL Symposium: Official Inauguration of the CFEL building

17 June 2013

On Monday, 17th of June, 2013, the new CFEL research building was officially inaugurated with a scientific symposium followed by a celebration reception. The special guests representing German ...

Impressions from the CFEL – Symposium

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Microwaves reveal mirror molecules

22 May 2013

New technique reliably tells left-handed from right-handed variant of a compound. The chemistry of life is built on left-handed and right-handed molecules that can have completely different functions. A novel technique, developed by researchers from the US and Germany, can ...

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Study reveals 20-year old mystery of chemistry

06 May 2013

Scientists decode molecule dynamics of benzene double molecule. A team of Dutch and German scientists decoded the inner dynamics of an important model system of organic chemistry. The investigation of the benzene dimer solves a 20-year old mystery, reported the ...

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Mimicking an enzyme

27 March 2013

The catalytic oxidation of the enzyme Tyroniase was reconstructed for the first time by a synthetic molecule mimicking the structure and arrangement of the active sites. Inspection of enzymatic reactions often provides chemists strategic direction to approach difficult molecular transformations. Paramount to efficiency is the mechanistic route, so attempting ...

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“Magic” of Chemistry Revealed

17 April 2013

Scientists of the Atomically Resolved Dynamics Division capture image of atoms moving in real time Call it the ultimate nature documentary. At an incredibly fast frame rate of less than 1 millionth of a millionth of second, scientists from the Atomically Resolved Dynamics Division of the Max ...

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