International Conference in Neutron Scattering: HZB-contributions awarded
Dr. Anup Kumar Bera from the department of Quantum Phenomena in Novel Materials convinced the committee with his poster about ‘Haldane chains’.
More than 800 participants had gathered for the International Conference in Neutron Scattering, held during 8-12 July 2013 in Edinburgh, to discuss advances in neutron research and the advancement of the neutron scattering instruments and techniques. A committee selected sixteen outstanding posters from the 650 poster presentations, two of these from HZB scientists.
Dr. Anup Kumar Bera from the department of Quantum Phenomena in Novel Materials convinced the committee with his poster about quantum magnetic properties in a one dimensional spin-1 chain magnet known as ‘Haldane chain’. When cooled down to low temperature, this material hosts a fascinating state of matter called a “quantum spin-liquid”.
Matthew Barrett received a poster prize for the best student poster contribution. He is a PhD-student at F-ISFM and works as well in the department fpr sample environment, where he optimizes humid environment cells for biological samples.
Dr. Elisa Wheeler received the Young Scientist Award from the International Union of Cristallography. The jury awarded her research work, which she completed as a postdoctoral student with Prof. Bella Lake and Dr. Nazmul Islam at the HZB. Elisa Wheeler is now a scientist at the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, Frankreich.
- Special prize by Jugend Forscht awarded to former school internShaoxuan Wang has won a special prize in the Jugend Forscht competition for her project ‘Smart Capsules – intelligent microcapsules for glucose-dependent insulin release’. She designed the project as a “special achievement” for her A-levels. To carry out the experimental work, Shaoxuan was able to spend a further two weeks in the laboratory at the HZB Institute for Electrochemical Energy Storage, where she had completed a school internship two years earlier.
- Magnetic imaging: Micro-flowers increase the local magnetic fieldMaterials with magnetic nanostructures have many potential applications such as in spintronics. To explore such materials, nanoscale magnetic-sensitive imaging techniques are very useful, but up to now only weak magnetic fields could be applied during the imaging process. Now an international collaboration led by Dr. Sergio Valencia, HZB, has developed an approach that overcomes this limitation. The team designed tiny magnetic flux concentrators (MFCs), into which the sample is placed. The geometry of the MFCs resembles a flower with a number of petals which focus the applied magnetic field into its center. This greatly expands the magnetic field range available during imaging, and so the range of magnetic systems that can be investigated. The micro-flowers, enhancing magnetic fields locally, can find application in different nanometric magnetic microscopy techniques.
- Magnon momentum microscopy: A new window into nanoscale spin-wavesAn international team lead by the Max Born Institute has developed a new type of momentum microscopy to image magnons — the quanta of collectively excited spins — directly in two-dimensional reciprocal space using soft X-rays. Measurements have taken place at BESSY II and PETRA III, first author ist the HZB physicist Steffen Wittrock. Owing to its remarkable sensitivity, simplicity, and access to nanometer-scale wavelengths, this novel technique establishes a powerful and versatile platform for exploring nonlinear magnon interactions, which are promising for future computing schemes.