BESSY II - What can I do for you?
To this very special question the current movie published by HZB gives an answer. We didn't produce a classic image film and show the xth series of images from a storage ring, but chose a different approach. The result is a funny puppet animation, in which our message is very clear but subtle: The Berlin Electron Storage Ring for Synchrotron Radiation
Because the users are in focus, the film had its official premiere at the last User Café on 5th June. Now it is published in our HZB youtube channel and as well in our mediathek at the HZB webpage. We are happy to share the movie and encourage you as well to send links or likes to anybody who might be interested.
Feel welcome and have fun in the "Happy Undulator"!
We would like to thank the team of Hoppenhaus & Grunze Medien for the production and their love of details!
- BESSY II: High-resolution insights into individual biomolecules and catalystsVery small biological samples and even individual biomolecules can now be examined under near-physiological conditions with high confidence at the BESSY II infrared beamline with a newly validated and improved technique: The nanoscale infrared spectroscopy (s-SNOM) with ultra-thin silicon-based membranes. An international team demonstrated after an initial proof of concept, that high-resolution (a few tens of nanometres) nano-IR measurements reliably match expected far-field IR spectra in an aqueous environment. This methodological advance provides a solid foundation for studying biomaterials or observing catalytic processes in a liquid environment.
- 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«.
- BESSY II is back in operation after maintenance shutdownOn 7 September 2026, BESSY II was set into operation after a four-week shutdown. BESSY II is scheduled to resume full user operation on 22 September.