Welcome to the website of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH
The Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) was founded by merging the former Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin (HMI) and the Berliner Elektronenspeicherring-Gesellschaft für Synchrotronstrahlung (BESSY), two of Berlin's largest research centres. As member of the Helmholtz-Association, HZB is financed by federal gouvernment (90%) and city state Berlin (10%).
The Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) operates two scientific large scale facilities for investigating the structure and function of matter: the research reactor BER II for experiments with neutrons and the synchrotron radiation source BESSY II, producing ultrabright photon beams ranging from Terahertz to hard X-rays. Due to this, HZB is one of the few centres world-wide to offer the whole range of instruments for neutron and synchrotron radiation within one laboratory structure. A common user gateway provides a unified proposal procedure with one scientific selection panel.
In the department of solar energy our scientists are working on the next generation of solar cells, including new kinds of materials and innovative cell structures. Long-term goals are to develop efficient and competitive thin film solar cells and multispectral cells. Thin-film technologies are developed to a stage where industrial applications can follow as the next step. As cofounder of the Photovoltaic Competence Centre (PVcomB) HZB supports the technology transfer to the industry.
News and Press Releases
Ein schneller Blick auf komplexe Ordnung
(german)Grundlagenforschung zu magnetischen Ordnungsphänomenen in Festkörpern ist eine der Hauptforschungsrichtungen am HZB, bei denen die Kombination von Neutronen- und Röntgenstreuung eine herausragende Rolle spielt. Materialien mit komplexen magnetischen Strukturen wie z.B. antiferromagnetische Halbleiter lassen sich mit solchen Methoden untersuchen. Hier ordnen sich unterhalb einer bestimmten Temperatur die magnetischen Momente in atomaren Schichten mit alternierender Magnetisierungsrichtung an. Dies führt zu magnetischen Beugungsreflexen, die auch mit Neutronen beobachtet werden können. Röntgenstreuung als komplementäre Methode kann zusätzlich eine hohe Ortsauflösung und, in Kombination mit ultrakurzen Röntgenpulsen, eine sehr hohe Zeitauflösung erreichen. Dies ermöglicht nun die Untersuchung der bisher nicht zugänglichen magnetischen Dynamik solcher komplexer Strukturen. [...].
Help from the Dark Side
Using “dark channel” fluorescence, scientists can explain how biochemical substances carry out their function
Spectroscopic techniques are among the most important methods by which scientists can look inside materials. They exploit the interaction of light waves with a given sample.
Using X-ray absorption spectroscopy, researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) have observed the moving of electric charges from solute to solvent – so-called electron transfer. They can even make assertions on the temporal sequence of this process. As one example, they can find out how solute biochemical substances carry out their microscopic functions in their natural environment at room temperature and normal pressure. Until recently, studying such systems by soft X-ray radiation has not been possible. [...].
