Berlin to host 2015 International Small-Angle Scattering Conference
SAS 2012 chairman Elliot Gilbert officially passed the
torch to Daniel Clemens and members of the next
organisation committee.
© Mondephotos, Australia
Sydney passes torch to HZB as host to the SAS 2015
In 2015, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) will be hosting the SAS 2015, the world's biggest international conference on small-angle scattering. Daniel Clemens (HZB) put in his bid at this year's conference in Sydney for being the next conference's host. SAS 2012 chairman Elliot Gilbert officially passed the torch to the next organisation committee and organisation team, which included Clemens, Armin Hoell (both HZB), Michael Krumrey (PTB), and Andreas Thünemann (BAM), for the conference in Berlin and wished everyone good luck.
HZB will be hosting the next Small-Angle Scattering Conference together with the MPI of Colloids and Interfaces (MPI-KG) in Golm and the Technical University Berlin (TUB). More than 500 participants are expected to attend. The local organizing committee, headed by Michael Gradzielski (TUB) and Alan Tennant (HZB/TUB), also includes the German Federal Physical Technical Institute (PTB), the Federal Institute for Material Research and Testing (BAM) and Berlin's other two universities.
With this cross-institutional engagement, the SAS 2015 focuses the international scientific community's attention on Berlin as an important science hub and opens up the possibility of introducing a large circle of researchers to HZB's formidable infrastructure.
Small-angle scattering is a popular method used by scientists from different scientific disciplines to study the details of nanostructured samples undisturbed. Every three years the scientific community meets up to exchange their views on the latest research findings and experimental developments. The SAS Conference, which returns to Berlin (it was last here back in 1980) is the ideal platform for linking up x-ray and neutron applications from different scientific disciplines.
For additional information on the SAS 2015 and about Berlin, please check the flyer and the conference website.
- Solar cells on moon glass for a future base on the moonFuture settlements on the moon will need energy, which could be supplied by photovoltaics. However, launching material into space is expensive – transporting one kilogram to the moon costs one million euros. But there are also resources on the moon that can be used. A research team led by Dr. Felix Lang of the University of Potsdam and Dr. Stefan Linke of the Technical University of Berlin have now produced the required glass from ‘moon dust’ (regolith) and coated it with perovskite. This could save up to 99 percent of the weight needed to produce PV modules on the moon. The team tested the radiation tolerance of the solar cells at the proton accelerator of the HZB.
- Accelerator Physics: First electron beam in SEALabThe SEALab team at HZB has achieved a world first by generating an electron beam from a multi-alkali (Na-K-Sb) photocathode and accelerating it to relativistic energies in a superconducting radiofrequency accelerator (SRF photoinjector). This is a real breakthrough and opens up new options for accelerator physics.
- Protons against cancer: New research beamline for innovative radiotherapiesTogether with the University of the Bundeswehr Munich, the HZB has set up a new beamline for preclinical research. It will enable experiments on biological samples on innovative radiation therapies with protons.