1200 accelerator physicists from around the world meet in Dresden
The graduate students Jens Vöker and Christoph Kunert received a IPAC grant and presented their work on a student poster sesson.
HoBiCaT is a test facility for superconducting RF systems at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin.Ecperts from HZB are jointing the accelarator conference.
The world’s largest particle accelerator conference is being held in Germany for the first time, with around 1200 scientists expected to visit the Saxon capital Dresden from 15 to 20 June. The 5th international conference IPAC is the place for experts to share the advancements they have made in developing particle accelerators and their components.
Experiments with accelerated particles have yielded countless valuable insights for science and mankind. They will forever be a part of modern research. Producing these coveted particles requires a reliable accelerator. The demands on these large machines are constantly growing as researchers wish to gain a deeper understanding of the structure and dynamics of materials, for example, using increasingly intense beams and ever shorter light pulses. Yet, materials research is just one aspect – the range of uses for particle accelerators is extremely wide and is reflected by the range of topics on the IPAC agenda: from future accelerator projects, to alternative concepts, to use in cancer therapy. The conference is being hosted by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR). Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, with its competence in accelerator physics, is supporting the local organization of the conference.
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin is taking this opportunity to present the concept BESSY-VSR, the most important advancement on the electron storage ring BESSY II, to a large community of specialists. The HZB scientists have also summarized on a number of posters the progress in the development of a prototype for an energy recovery linac (ERL), BERLinPro, as well as in undulator development. Following the conference, 50 interested participants will be visiting the electron storage ring BESSY II, the Metrology Light Source (MLS) and the test laboratory for superconducting cavities (HoBiCaT) and learning about the experimental possibilities at HZB.
The international conference aims especially at promoting new, young talents in accelerator physics and giving them the opportunity to participate in this important exchange platform. In total, 90 students from around the world have received “IPAC Grants”. These grants cover their conference fees and allow them to participate in a junior scientist poster exhibition. From Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Christoph Kunert (Proton Therapy) and Jens Völker (Institute for Accelerator Physics) have each received a grant. In the conference’s local organization committee, Stefanie Kodalle (Communication) is supporting the smooth proceedings of the conference as Presentation Manager.
The accelerator conference also featured a free evening lecture for the interested public: On 15 June, Dresden scientist Professor Wolfgang Enghardt presented information about the novel cancer therapy with particle beams and about accelerators in medicine.
- BESSY II: New sample environment allows glimpse into thermocatalytic processesA novel measurement cell allows, for the first time, soft and hard X-ray investigations under high pressures of up to 20 bar and temperatures of up to 400°C. This provides new insights into thermocatalytic processes, such as the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis for producing synthetic fuels. The development of the measurement cell is considered a significant achievement within the Care-O-Sene project.
- 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.
- Disorder creates new properties in compound semiconductorsAn international research team has demonstrated that the intrinsic disorder of the compound semiconductor CuInSnS₄ can be exploited to influence its optical properties. While the atomic vibrations also sense the local disorder, their response is averaged over many different local environments and therefore appear isotropic, as expected for a cubic crystal. In contrast, the optical excitations, known as excitons, are much more sensitive to the local arrangement of atoms. Surprisingly, they show a direction-dependent optical response even though the average crystal structure is cubic. These findings shed new light on the relationship between disorder and material properties, opening up new options for targeted 'disorder engineering' in optoelectronic and photocatalytic devices.