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2014

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Young scientists at CFEL receive ERC starting grants

15 December 2014

The European Research Council (ERC) awards project grants to three young researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) at CFEL Prestigious support for young ... Since October 2010, Melanie Schnell is heading one of the independent research groups of the Max Planck Society. At the same time, she is a ...

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Professor Henry Chapman honored with prestigious Leibniz Prize

10 December 2014

CFEL scientist Professor Henry Chapman will be awarded one of the prestigious Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prizes 2015 by the German research foundation Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the DFG ...

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Max Born Prize 2015 goes to Andrea Cavalleri

08 December 2014

German-British award for Prof. Dr. Andrea Cavalleri CFEL Scientist and Executive Director of the Max Planck Institute for the structure and dynamics of matter (MPSD). For his "time-resolved ...

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New research paves the way for nano-movies of biomolecules

05 December 2014

An international team, including scientists from CFEL, has caught a light sensitive biomolecule at work with an X-ray laser. . The study proves that X-ray lasers can capture the fast dynamics of biomolecules in ultra slow-motion, as the scientists led by Prof. Marius Schmidt from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee write ...

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Superconductivity without cooling

04 December 2014

An infrared laser pulse briefly modifies the structure of a high-temperature superconductor and thus removes its electrical resistance even at room temperature. Superconductivity is a remarkable phenomenon: superconductors can transport electric current without any resistance and thus without any losses whatsoever. It is already in use in some niche areas, ...

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Precise duration and intensity measurements of X-ray pulses

24 November 2014

Characterization of X-ray flashes open new perspectives in X-ray science. Ultra-short and extremely strong X-ray flashes, as produced by free-electron lasers, are opening the door to a hitherto unknown world. Scientists are using these flashes to take “snapshots” of ...

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Scientists X-ray tiny organelles of bacteria

18 November 2014

X-ray laser imaging method successfully tested on nanoscale biological samples. An international team of scientists led by Uppsala University has developed a high-throughput method of imaging biological particles using an X-ray laser. Images obtained with this method show ...

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Prestigious Kekulé Mobility Fellowship awarded to Nicole Teschmit

14 November 2014

The scholarship, named after the German chemist August Kekulé, provides mobility support for exceptional PhD candidates. Nicole Teschmit was awarded a prestigious Kekulé Mobility Fellowship from the Chemical Industry Fund ...

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Stephan Stern wins PhD thesis award 2014

31 October 2014

Young scientists distinguished The award of the Association of the Friends and Sponsors of DESY 2014 is shared in equal parts by Stephan Stern, DESY (CFEL) and University of Hamburg, and Tigran Kalaydzhyan, DESY (Theory) and ...

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Professor R.J. Dwayne Miller receives prestigious ACS-Award

08 October 2014

R. J. Dwayne Miller will be awarded the 2015 E. Bright Wilson Award for Spectroscopy from the American Chemical Society “for the development of femtosecond electron diffraction and coherent ... Professor R. J. Dwayne Miller, CFEL division leader, speaker of CUI and director at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Hamburg, will be honored with the 2015 E. Bright ...

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‘Electric Prism’ Separates Water’s Nuclear Spin States

08 September 2014

Using an "electric prism", scientists have found a new way of separating water molecules that differ only in their nuclear spin states and, under normal conditions, do not part ... Since water is such a fundamental molecule in the universe, the recent study may impact a multitude of research areas ranging from biology to astrophysics. The CFEL research team reported

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Scientists observe quantum vortices in cold helium droplets

22 August 2014

Nanodroplets rotate faster than expected. An international research team including CFEL scientists has observed tiny quantum vortices in cold droplets of liquid helium. The team reports in the

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Manipulating magnetic forces with light

06 August 2014

The magnetic forces in materials like iron can be rapidly manipulated with light. Johan Mentink and Martin Eckstein from CFEL demonstrated theoretically the manipulation of magnetic forces by light in a publication in a

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Study at DESY's FLASH calls for a better theory of electrons in solids

05 August 2014

Recent study has now concluded that a flaw in current theories of solids hinders further understanding of complex material behavior. “High-temperature superconductors are a very good example,” says Michael Rübhausen, one of the study’s corresponding authors from CFEL. “We have known these materials for almost 30 years. ...

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When is a molecule a molecule?

18 July 2014

Scientists watch fast electron jumps in exploding molecules. Using ultra-short X-ray flashes, an international team of researchers watched electrons jumping between the fragments of exploding molecules. The study reveals up to what distance a charge transfer ...

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Scientists watch photosynthesis in action

09 July 2014

First observation of the molecular dynamics of photosystem II . An international team of scientists, including researchers from CFEL, has caught a central step of photosynthesis in action for the first time. The team led by Prof. Petra Fromme from Arizona State ...

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Scientists watch molecular footballs explode

27 June 2014

Study provides important milestone for investigation of individual biomolecules. Using intense X-ray flashes, scientists have watched tiny molecular footballs explode. The molecules called buckminsterfullerenes or buckyballs for short are made of 60 carbon atoms and disintegrate ...

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X-rays probe structure of liquid water at minus 46 degrees

18 June 2014

First structural measurements in previously inaccessible "no-man's land". Using the world's strongest X-ray laser, an international team of scientists has probed the internal structure of super-cooled liquid water at minus 46 degrees Celsius for the first time. The study, ...

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Biology with free-electron X-ray lasers

09 June 2014

Special edition of Philosophical Transactions B describes an emerging field. The invention of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFEL) has unveiled new vistas into the world of molecules and atoms. This is of particular interest to biologists, striving to understand the workings of ...

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PETRA III pioneers protein serial crystallography at synchrotrons

30 May 2014

CFEL scientists have pioneered a new way to analyse delicate biomolecules using DESY's synchrotron light source PETRA III. The novel approach, borrowed from a new class of high-intensity X-ray sources called free-electron lasers (FELs), could reveal the atomic structure of proteins that were previously inaccessible to ...

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Towards the optimal performance of graphene chips

18 May 2014

A collaboration of CFEL scientist Arya Fallahi with Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, Switzerland, led to the foundation of maximum theoretical limits in the efficiency of ... The discovery of graphene with its amazing properties opens new venues towards the fabrication of new computer chips with faster performance and simultaneously less power consumption. In recent ...

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A first hint of superconductivity at room temperature

12 May 2014

Scientists of the Max Plank Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter at the Hamburg Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) have turned a normal insulator partially into a ... Superconductors are materials that carry electric currents without any resistance. Even good normal conductors like electrical lines lose roughly six per cent of the power they transmit due to ...

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Scientists Capture Ultrafast Snapshots of Light-Driven Superconductivity

17 April 2014

X-rays reveal how rapidly vanishing 'charge stripes’ may be behind laser-induced high-temperature superconductivity A new study pins down a major factor behind the appearance of superconductivity—the ability to conduct electricity with 100 percent efficiency—in a promising copper-oxide material. A research ...

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Scientists open door to better solar cells, superconductors and hard-drives

14 April 2014

Research enhances understanding of materials interfaces Using DESY's bright research light sources, scientists have opened a new door to better solar cells, novel superconductors and smaller hard-drives. The research reported in the scientific journal ...

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A molecular ballet under the X-ray laser

28 February 2014

Researchers capture snapshots of free molecules by the light of the free electron laser An international team of researchers from Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and the USA has used the world’s most powerful X-ray laser to take snapshots of free molecules. The research team ...

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