BESSY II – From Pico to Femto – time resolved studies at BESSY II
180 scientists listened to the lectures. The aim of the dialogue is to identify future scientific fields as well as expectations, needs and requirements for BESSY II.
180 scientists attended the workshop on time resolved studies
From 26 to 27 January 2015, at the HZB workshop “From Pico to Femto”, more than 180 scientists discussed the advantages of conducting measurements on different time scales. With BESSY VSR, HZB is looking forward to perform a so-far unique upgrade to an electron storage ring: When complete, BESSY II will offer a flexible pulse duration of the useful light without diminishing the brilliancy of the light pulses.
Which specific areas of research could benefit from this was presented by speakers from university and non-university research establishments over two days in parallel sessions. Thematic blocks addressed in the lectures included magnetism, energy research, biosystems, and catalysis research.
Presently, BESSY II already allows measurement on different time scales, with methods such as low-alpha mode and femtoslicing available for user experiments. As it stands, however, this is limited because the short pulses come at the cost of light intensity.
“We were especially pleased to see so many researchers who have not yet experimented at BESSY II taking part in our workshop,” says organizer Dr. Antje Vollmer. About one third of the participants who followed the lectures in the full BESSY auditorium are potential new users of the facility.
The participants also expressed their own future needs for the machine and sampling environment. The results of the discussions were recorded and will be incorporated into the future plans for the BESSY VSR upgrade project.
The event was part of a series of foresight workshops HZB will be holding as a way to communicate closely with the user community about their research interests and needs. Already this year, more workshops will be held to address further questions regarding research at the photon source BESSY II.
You can read the abstracts of the lectures in the workshop booklet: booklet
- What Zinc concentration in teeth revealsTeeth are composites of mineral and protein, with a bulk of bony dentin that is highly porous. This structure is allows teeth to be both strong and sensitive. Besides calcium and phosphate, teeth contain trace elements such as zinc. Using complementary microscopy imaging techniques, a team from Charité Berlin, TU Berlin and HZB has quantified the distribution of natural zinc along and across teeth in 3 dimensions. The team found that, as porosity in dentine increases towards the pulp, zinc concentration increases 5~10 fold. These results help to understand the influence of widely-used zinc-containing biomaterials (e.g. filling) and could inspire improvements in dental medicine.
- Fascinating archaeological find becomes a source of knowledgeThe Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments (BLfD) has sent a rare artefact from the Middle Bronze Age to Berlin for examination using cutting-edge, non-destructive methods. It is a 3,400-year-old bronze sword, unearthed during archaeological excavations in Nördlingen, Swabia, in 2023. Experts have been able to determine how the hilt and blade are connected, as well as how the rare and well-preserved decorations on the pommel were made. This has provided valuable insight into the craft techniques employed in southern Germany during the Bronze Age. The BLfD used 3D computed tomography and X-ray diffraction to analyse internal stresses at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), as well as X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy at a BESSY II beamline supervised by the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM).
- Element cobalt exhibits surprising propertiesThe element cobalt is considered a typical ferromagnet with no further secrets. However, an international team led by HZB researcher Dr. Jaime Sánchez-Barriga has now uncovered complex topological features in its electronic structure. Spin-resolved measurements of the band structure (spin-ARPES) at BESSY II revealed entangled energy bands that cross each other along extended paths in specific crystallographic directions, even at room temperature. As a result, cobalt can be considered as a highly tunable and unexpectedly rich topological platform, opening new perspectives for exploiting magnetic topological states in future information technologies.