News 2023

One billionth of a billionth of a second - extremely short light pulses, which can be used to analyze the dynamics of electrons in matter, are central research topics in the Cluster of Excellence ... In a second interview, Cluster spokesperson Prof. Francesca Calegari presents the research field of this year's Nobel Prize in Physics. This area is also one of the central Cluster ...

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DNA damage drives cancer, ageing, and cell death. Therefore, DNA repair is crucial for all organisms, and a deeper understanding of this basic function helps us better comprehend how life around us ... All life under the sun must cope with harmful UV rays. UV damage can take many forms, but DNA, the molecule that carries the genetic information of all living organisms, is especially vulnerable. For ...

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An international research team has analyzed a naturally produced toxin against insects with atomic precision using the most powerful X-ray laser in the world. The data taken at the European XFEL help ... The analyzed insecticide protein is named Tpp49Aa1 and is produced by the soil bacterium Lysinibacillus sphaericus. It was known to be poisonous, in combination with another protein called Cry48, to ...

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CFEL researchers from MPSD have shown that a previously demonstrated ability to turn on superconductivity with a laser beam can be integrated on a chip, opening up a route toward opto-electronic ... The optical manipulation of materials to produce superconductivity at high temperatures is a key research focus of the MPSD. So far, this strategy has proven successful in several quantum materials, ...

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Whether at the dentist or orthopedist: X-ray examinations are among the most common diagnostic procedures. The research conducted by Theresa Staufer and her team from the University of Hamburg (UHH) ... With the help of so-called X-ray fluorescence imaging, immune cells can be tracked in living organisms and new insights into inflammatory diseases can be gained. This groundbreaking application has ...

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Angel Rubio, Director of the Theory Department at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) and member of CFEL’s board of directors has been awarded the ... Rubio will receive the Premio Nacional de Investigación Blas Cabrera for his achievements in predicting new properties of nanoscale materials and non-equilibrium phases of matter. The Spanish ...

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Using a novel method, beams of laser light can be deflected using air alone. An invisible grating made only of air is not only immune to damage from the laser light, but it also preserves the ... The innovative technique uses sound waves in order to modulate the air in the region where the laser beam is passing. “We’ve generated an optical grating with the help of acoustic density ...

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The behavior of electrons in liquids determines a vast range of chemical processes and thus essential processes in organisms and the world as a whole. But electron movements are extremely hard to ... An international team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) at CFEL and ETH Zurich has now demonstrated that it is possible to probe electron ...

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Franz Kärtner, Professor at the Department of Physics at Universität Hamburg and member of the CFEL-board, has been honored by the UNIPRENEURS initiative for his entrepreneurial spirit. Kärtner is ... Franz Kärtner emphasized the importance of cooperation between science and industry: "Spin-offs are important for translating the results of cutting-edge research into innovations, thereby ...

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Following the successful Arts & Science exhibition of the Cluster of Excellence "CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter" in Hamburg's City Hall, the exhibition has moved on to CFEL until ... CFEL opening hours: Monday to Friday 8 am to 4 pm. Admission is free.

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MPSD research group leader at CFEL James McIver, who is also an Assistant Professor of Physics at Columbia University in New York, has been awarded the prestigious Early Career Award by the U.S. ... McIver is one of 93 researchers selected by the DOE for this highly sought-after award. His proposed research project, Ultrafast Control of Topological Transport in Quantum Materials, sets out to use ...

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How did life begin on Earth? Experts have long been fascinated by this question and over the years have come up with a variety of theories. One hypothesis is that the origin of life can be traced ... For their experiment at the University of Geneva, the team shot pulses of a laser beam through a jet of a highly concentrated urea solution. The laser pulses ionized some of the urea molecules, ...

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Grüner, professor at the University of Hamburg and at CFEL has been honored for advancements in the field of in-situ and in-vivo tracking using advanced X-ray Fluorescence Imaging (XFI). His ... The key breakthrough achieved by Florian and his team lies in the development of a synchrotron-based precision tracking method that allows for the detection of the smallest tumors or the tracking of ...

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Interdisciplinary program features fundamentals and applications of ultrafast X-ray science. More than 100 participants from 18 countries have attended this year´s Ultrafast X-ray Summer ... The five-day course intends to give doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers the opportunity to learn about the latest developments and opportunities in ultrafast X-ray science. With a highly ...

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Groundbreaking technique using a new kind of focusing lens overcomes previous X-ray imaging limitations. A pollen grain showing the nanofoam within or a diatom with the individual geometric ... X-ray light interacts with biological material in a variety of ways, mostly depending on the energy and intensity of the light. At the same time, radiation damage, such as small structural changes up ...

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Scientists from four research institutes in the Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld have joined forces to develop a ground-breaking experimental setup. Their new Spitrobot greatly simplifies observing ... To develop future drugs and design new biotechnological applications, it is fundamental that scientists understand the changes in proteins while these are taking place. Currently, the beginning and ...

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Researchers, partly from CFEL, in Germany and the U.S.A. have shown for the first time that terahertz (THz) light pulses can stabilize ferromagnetism in a crystal at temperatures more than three ... Using light to control magnetism in solids is a promising platform for future technologies. Today’s computers mainly rely on the flow of electrical charge to process information. Moreover, ...

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For those interested in soccer, robots or both, there is an opportunity to rediscover the sport this April. From April 27 to 30, the GORE event will take place in CFEL - and robots from the ... The special feature is that the robots play soccer autonomously against each other, which means there is no remote control. In addition to the humanoid league, there are also matches in the so-called ...

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New material properties, at lightning speed and on demand – this vision moves a step closer thanks to recent findings from a pan-European physics research group. The team uses ultrashort and ... The discovery of new material properties usually depends on our ability to control the chemical composition of the material,” says Ulrich Höfer, professor of experimental physics at ...

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Angel Rubio, Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter in Hamburg and part of CFEL’s Board of Directors, has been elected a member of Germany’s ... Rubio’s research focuses on the electronic and structural properties of advanced materials, nanostructures and molecular complexes. His work includes the development of theoretical ...

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Intense laser light can induce magnetism in solids on the attosecond scale – the fastest magnetic response to date. That is the finding reached by theoreticians at the MPSD located at CFEL, who ... The team concentrated on several benchmark 2D and 3D material systems, but the results apply to all materials that include heavy atomic constituents. “The heavy atoms are especially important, ...

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The German Physical Society (DPG) awarded CFEL PhD student Marvin Edelmann the Georg-Simon-Ohm Prize for his master thesis. With this prize, the DPG honors outstanding theses in physical engineering ... In his master thesis, done in the Ultrafast Optics and X-Rays group under the supervision of Prof. Franz Kärtner at DESY, Edelmann describes the development, the theoretical framework, and the ...

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Much recent research has focused on ‘topological’ materials – an intriguing type of solids which falls outside the standard classification into insulators and conductors. While ... Just like a sound wave travels through the air, a magnon can travel through a magnetic material by creating a disturbance in its magnetic order. That order can be imagined as a collection of spinning ...

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