Agreement signed: Three neutron instruments will be transferred to the Polish research reactor MARIA in 2019
Agreement signed: HZB and NCBJ agreed to transfer and rebuild three of HZB’s neutron scattering instrumentsin 2019.
In February 2017 Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) in Poland agreed to transfer and rebuild three of HZB’s neutron scattering instruments at the Polish research reactor MARIA in 2019. With support from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the facility near Warsaw is currently being upgraded with latest generation technology, offering attractive research opportunities for neutron scientists from Germany and Europe.
After authorization by the Supervisory Board of HZB, the management of HZB agreed to the transfer of the neutron instruments E4 (2-axis diffractometer), E5 (4-circle diffractometer) and E6 (focusing powder diffractometer) to the Polish research reactor MARIA. At present the instruments are still located in the experimental hall of the research reactor BER II. They are currently operated for research co-operations (with external partners) but are not in user service. Also the neutron instrument E1 is currently being transferred to the Polish reactor MARIA.
“By this agreement we ensure, with the approval of the HZB Supervisory Board, that the neutron instruments of BER II will remain available to the user communities in Germany and Europe,” Prof. Dr. Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, scientific director of HZB. The research reactor MARIA is currently undertaking extensive upgrades to a state-of-the-art facility, making it a highly attractive neutron source in Europe. The European and in particular the German user community will benefit from the re-location of the four neutron instruments from BER II. Once fully operational, the instruments will offer new research opportunities at the research reactor MARIA to all neutron users. A user service for scientists currently being set up.
The National Centre for Nuclear Research is the one of the largest research centers in Poland, with approximately 1,000 employees. It is home to the sole research nuclear reactor in the country. The research focus of NCBJ is on basic and applied research in widely understood nuclear physics, plasma physics, solid-state research and technological advancement. NCBJ also produces linear accelerators and radio isotopes for industry and medicine. More about NCBJ
More about the instruments at BERII
- Joint power instead of duplicate structures:Berlin’s research community is further advancing its research excellence by establishing a high-performance, cross-institutional infrastructure for data and AI. With a joint agreement signed on 18 September 2026, the Berlin University Alliance (BUA), the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB) are paving the way for a joint data science and AI centre in Berlin-Dahlem and Adlershof.
- New technique could make MRI more preciseA team of researchers at the University of Stuttgart and HZB has developed a new method that could make MRI even more precise by eliminating “dead time,” a key limiting factor in the measurement process, thereby enabling the detection of signals that are lost using conventional methods. This method opens up new possibilities for medical diagnostics and non-destructive materials testing. The research team presents the new approach in Science Advances.
- New method shows how molecular switches are influenced by their neighborsResearchers at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Helmholtz Centre Berlin (HZB) have, for the first time, been able to directly observe how the environment surrounding a molecular switch influences its electronic structure. Molecular switches are molecules that can be switched between two states by external influences such as changes in temperature—similar to a switch with the positions »On« and »Off«. Such molecules are being investigated as potential building blocks for future data storage devices or sensor materials. Using magnetic-field-dependent terahertz spectroscopy, the researchers have now, for the first time, been able to distinguish whether neighbouring molecules in a material are in the same or different states. The results have been published in the journal »Angewandte Chemie International Edition«.