2017

Noah Chang leaves CFEL

20 December 2017

Noah Chang has joined CFEL’s Ultrafast Optics and X-rays Division led by Franz Kärtner in 2012. Jointly funded by the Helmholtz Association, DESY, and University of Hamburg he has set up a ...

Novel lenses enable X-ray microscopy with record resolution

07 December 2017

Scientists at CFEL have developed novel lenses that enable X-ray microscopy with record resolution in the nanometer regime. Using new materials, the research team led by DESY scientist Saša ... Modern particle accelerators provide ultra-bright and high-quality X-ray beams. The short wavelength and the penetrating nature of X-rays are ideal for the microscopic investigation of complex ...

A mixtape for drug discovery

27 November 2017

DESY scientists at CFEL have developed a new method that enables automated and fast screening of promising drug candidates. This novel technique, called mix-and-diffuse serial synchrotron ... Many proteins in the body are potential drug targets. Pharmaceutical molecules with the correct shape can bind to these proteins and activate or deactivate their function. For instance, to combat ...

Max Born Prize 2018 for Angel Rubio

24 November 2017

CFEL Division Leader, Angel Rubio, is to receive the German Physical Society’s Max Born Prize 2018. The Society (the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, or DPG) is honoring Rubio, who is the head of the MPSD’s Theory Department at CFEL, for his leading role in computer-based condensed matter ...

Scientists watch diamond turn into graphite

24 November 2017

In a surprising achievement, a team of scientists has turned diamond into graphite, using an X-ray laser. What may seem undesirable at first glance, is a decisive step forward in understanding the ... The team used the Italian soft X-ray free-electron-laser FERMI to shoot ultra-short flashes at tiny diamond slices with a thickness of just 0.3 millimeters. Usually, if you shoot such intense laser ...

More than 10,000 visitors at Open Day 2017

09 November 2017

12-hour science event at CFEL breaks previous years' records A record number of people attended the Open Day in the CFEL building on 4 November. They watched and took part in dozens of ... In the course of 12 hours, 10,477 visitors of all ages and backgrounds made their way through the building. Thousands took part in the interactive events – from the nanocrystals lab in the ...

Humboldt fellowship awarded to Ankit Disa

03 November 2017

Ankit Disa from the Quantum Condensed Matter Dynamics group under Andrea Cavalleri, located at CFEL, has been awarded a prestigious Humboldt research fellowship in recognition of his work. He will use the funding for a two-year project to study if light can be used to control functional interfaces between different oxides on ultrafast time scales. Dr Disa has been at the MPSD since ...

R.J. Dwayne Miller named honorary doctor at University of Waterloo, Canada

27 October 2017

R. J. Dwayne Miller has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Waterloo in Canada for his scientific achievements. He is a director of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and ... The University cites Professor Miller’s success in creating the first camera to observe atoms in motion during structural changes, or molecular movie, based on a novel concept using ...

Frank Isakson Prize for Andrea Cavalleri

26 October 2017

Andrea Cavalleri has been awarded the 2018 Frank Isakson Prize for Optical Effects in Solids by the APS. APS cites 'pioneering contribution' to ultra-fast optical spectroscopy The Frank ... The prize citation quotes Cavalleri’s “pioneering contributions to the development and application of ultra-fast optical spectroscopy to condensed matter systems." His research, says ...

Creating higher harmonics

02 October 2017

CFEL Scientists from MPSD, DESY and the University of Hamburg have demonstrated the possibility of using a new knob to control and optimize the generation of high-order harmonics in bulk materials, ... When atoms and molecules interact with strong laser pulses, they emit high-order harmonics of the fundamental driving laser field. The high-harmonic generation (HHG) in gases is regularly used ...

Henry Chapman named honorary doctor at Uppsala University

26 September 2017

Henry N. Chapman, Leading Scientist at CFEL/DESY, has been named honorary doctor at the Faculty of Science and Technology at Uppsala University in Sweden. The title of Honorary Doctor of Philosophy ... Chapman, who is also a Professor of Physics at Universität Hamburg, Germany, leads the coherent imaging division at CFEL at DESY, where algorithms, instruments and methods for X-ray imaging are ...

First experiments at the European XFEL

21 September 2017

A DESY-led team of researchers has successfully started the first scientific experiments at Europe's new X-ray laser European XFEL. The aim of the team led by Anton Barty and Henry Chapman from ... The SPB/SFX instrument, headed by European XFEL scientist Adrian Mancuso, will be used to gain a better understanding of the shape and function of biomolecules, such as proteins, that are otherwise ...

Newton and Marie Curie at CFEL

20 September 2017

Newton and Marie Curie are not often seen in the same room. At the CFEL building however, they both sit at the reception and seem to have a great time with Sakir Sagir, his colleagues at the front ... Like their namesakes, they enjoy the company of scientists. That is where the similarities end, however. Newton is a yellow canary, Marie Curie his companion with the orange plumage. And both arrived ...

Green light from politics for Max Planck School of Photonics

04 September 2017

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) supports the installation of a new network of excellence in photonics. The Max Planck School of Photonics combines the competence of the German ... The network forming partners of the Max Planck School of Photonics teach and research at seven sites in Germany. With Hamburg, Göttingen, Aachen, Jena, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Munich and the Karlsruhe ...

Plasma accelerator produces first X-rays

For the first time, a plasma accelerator at DESY has produced X-rays. The LUX installation, which is headed by Andreas Maier of the University of Hamburg, created ultra-short pulses of radiation with ... Physicists are hoping that the technology of plasma acceleration will lead to a new generation of high-performance particle accelerators with unique properties for a range of applications. In this ...

Scientists shine new light on the “other high temperature superconductor”

09 August 2017

A study led by scientists of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) at CFEL presents evidence of the coexistence of superconductivity and ... The best known and heavily studied family of high temperature superconductor is that of cuprates, which display by far the highest critical temperatures (i.e. the temperature below which ...

Arts & Science 2017 exhibition in Hamburg town hall

01 June 2017

Scientific art from the Center for Ultrafast Imaging will be shown in an exhibit in the Hamburg City Hall (Rathaus), including multiple contributions from the CMI group (CFEL). Due to the positive response the exhibition "Arts & Science" by the cluster of excellence (CUI) of Universität Hamburg is shown again in the foyer of Hamburg Town Hall from 8. to 23. ...

Microwaves reveal detailed structure of molecular motor

12 July 2017

A team of scientists has used microwaves to unravel the exact structure of a tiny molecular motor. The nano-machine consists of just a single molecule, made up of 27 carbon and 20 hydrogen atoms ... “The functional performance of such nano-machines clearly emerges from their unique structural properties,” the authors write in their study. “To better understand and optimise ...

First atomic structure of an intact virus deciphered with an X-ray laser

19 June 2017

An international team of scientists has for the first time used an X-ray free-electron laser to unravel the structure of an intact virus particle on the atomic level. The method used dramatically ... In the field known as structural biology, scientists examine the three-dimensional structure of biological molecules in order to work out how they function. This knowledge enhances our understanding ...

Journal of Physics designated Giovanni Cirmi an 'Emerging Leader'

13 June 2017

CFEL/DESY scientist Giovanni Cirmi has been identified by the Editorial Board of Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (Editor-in-Chief Prof. Paul B. Corkum) as one of the most ... Giovanni Cirmi's invited contribution entitled ‘Cascaded second-order processes for the efficient generation of narrowband terahertz radiation’ reviews several works that brought to a ...

X-ray pulses create “molecular black hole”

01 June 2017

The strongest ionization of a molecule yet is providing important insights for analyzing biomolecules with X-ray lasers Scientists from CFEL and other institutes have used an ultra-bright pulse of X-ray light to turn an atom in a molecule briefly into a sort of electromagnetic black hole. Unlike a black hole in space, ...

Shedding light on light absorption: titanium dioxide unveiled

13 April 2017

MPSD scientists have uncovered the hidden properties of titanium dioxide, one of the most promising materials for light-conversion technology. The anatase crystal form of Titanium dioxide ... When light is shined on a semiconductor material, either free negative charges (electrons), positive charges (holes) or bound electron-hole pairs (excitons) are generated. Excitons can transport ...

Periodic modulation tweaks innovative particle accelerators

24 May 2017

Scientists in Hamburg have come up with an ingenious way of improving so-called plasma accelerators, which are considered promising candidates to become the particle accelerators of the future. The ... In a plasma accelerator, a wave is produced inside a thin capillary containing an electrically charged gas, known as a plasma. This gas could be hydrogen, for example, subjected to extremely intense ...

Roentgen Medal 2017 for Henry Chapman

07 April 2017

Henry Chapman the head of the DESY Coherent Imaging group at CFEL will be awarded the Roentgen Medal by the city of Remscheid on Saturday, 8 April 2017. The town in which Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen ... Chapman’s team develops sophisticated new experimental techniques for making use of the excellent new opportunities offered by free-electron lasers (FEL). The X-ray pulses produced by these ...

Max von Laue Prize goes to CFEL scientist Thomas White

29 March 2017

Jury recognizes the program suite CrystFEL as an outstanding achievement in the field of crystallography. For his outstanding contribution to the analysis of biomolecules with X-ray lasers, ... Before such analyses can be carried out, the samples first need to be grown in the form of crystals. The diffraction pattern then reveals the spatial structure of the crystal, and hence that of its ...

Pinball at the atomic level

27 March 2017

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) at CFEL in Hamburg and of the University of Edinburgh have currently discovered a new intermediate state for ... In the solution phase, the triiodide anions photodissociates predominantly into iodine radical ([I]•) and diiodide ([I₂]•⁻) radicals. The surrounding solvent plays a passive role in the ...

Journal designated Sang-Kil Son an 'Emerging Leader'

23 March 2017

CFEL scientist Sang-Kil Son has been identified by the Editorial Board of Journal of Physics as one of the most exciting researchers in his generation in the field of

How photons change chemistry

08 March 2017

Theoretical description of molecules under the influence of quantized light. The quantum nature of light does usually not play an important role when considering the chemical properties of atoms ... Experimentally such situations have already been observed, but theoretical predictions of the chemical properties of such states were possible only to a limited extend. The reason being that the ...

Novel nozzle saves crystals

16 March 2017

Double flow concept widens spectrum for protein crystallography Thanks to an innovative nozzle, scientists can now analyze more types of proteins while using fewer of the hard-to-get protein ... Many proteins do not like being squeezed into crystals as it contradicts their natural state. “Growing protein crystals is complex, the amount of protein that can be produced is often limited ...

X-ray pulses reveal structure of viral cocoon

13 February 2017

An international team of scientists has used high-intensity X-ray pulses to determine the structure of the crystalline protein envelope of an insect virus. Their analysis reveals the fine details of ... “The granulovirus attacks certain insects and kills them. This initially leaves it stranded inside the decaying host, so it has to protect itself, perhaps for years, against adverse ...

Researchers unravel dynamics of electron clouds

06 February 2017

A US-German research team has elucidated the ultra-fast dynamics of electron clouds in xenon atoms. Using attosecond technology, the scientists around Stephen R. Leone from the University of ... Electrons are not only spatially displaced by electromagnetic fields, they can also absorb the energy of the field which puts them in an excited state. If the energy is high enough, the electrons can ...

Studying fundamental particles in materials

17 January 2017

Studying properties of fundamental particles in condensed matter systems is a promising approach to quantum field theory. Quasiparticles offer the opportunity to observe particle properties that have ... In the standard model of particle physics, the fundamental particles that make up all matter around us – electrons and quarks – are so-called fermions, named after the famous Italian ...

Laser metronome achieves record synchronization

12 January 2017

Scientists at DESY have set up the world's most precise ‘metronome’ for a kilometer-wide network. The timing system synchronizes a 4.7-kilometer-long laser-microwave network with 950 ... “Extreme timing accuracy is important for many areas of research,” says PhD student Kemal Şafak from Kärtner's group, one of the lead authors of the paper. “For instance, ...