HZB makes new contacts with Argentinian Neutron Beams Laboratory
Photo (from left to right): Dr. Javier Santisteban, scientific director of LAHN, Thomas Frederking, administrative director of HZB, Karina Pierpauli, CEO of LAHN, and Prof. Dr. Bernd Rech, scientific director of HZB. They came together to sign the agreement in Berlin.photo: Silvia Zerbe
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) has signed a cooperation agreement with the Argentinian Neutron Beams Laboratory, LAHN (Laboratorio Argentino de Haces de Neutrones). Through this cooperation, HZB will be advising Argentinian researchers on the construction of two neutron instruments. Also planned is an exchange programme for researchers from both countries.
LAHN plans to build an instrument for residual stress analysis and for neutron tomography at its research reactor RA-10. The researchers from Buenos Aires will be receiving advice from HZB scientists who are world-renowned for their many years of expertise in the development of neutron experiments. As one of the first concrete measures, a postdoc from Argentina will be arriving at HZB at the beginning of 2018 and will receive training from the experts on site.
Visiting HZB for the signing of the agreement at the end of September 2017 were the LAHN CEO and engineer Karina Pierpauli and the scientific director Dr. Javier Santisteban. The two guests visited the experimental halls of the research reactor BER II and met for discussions with HZB managers and neutron researchers. “Through this cooperation with LAHN, we are increasing the knowledge transfer and forging ahead with the internationalisation strategy of HZB,” says Dr. Catalina Elena Jimenez, the responsible spokesperson for internationalisation in the HZB management office.
Cooperation partners: Laboratorio Argentino de Haces de Neutrones
(sz)
https://www.helmholtz-berlin.de/pubbin/news_seite?nid=14746;sprache=en
- Copy link
-
BESSY II: Phosphorous chains – a 1D material with 1D electronic properties
For the first time, a team at BESSY II has succeeded in demonstrating the one-dimensional electronic properties of a material through a highly refined experimental process. The samples consisted of short chains of phosphorus atoms that self-organise at specific angles on a silver substrate. Through sophisticated analysis, the team was able to disentangle the contributions of these differently aligned chains. This revealed that the electronic properties of each chain are indeed one-dimensional. Calculations predict an exciting phase transition to be expected as soon as these chains are more closely packed. While material consisting of individual chains with longer distances is semiconducting, a very dense chain structure would be metallic.
-
Did marine life in the palaeocene use a compass?
Some ancient marine organisms produced mysterious magnetic particles of unusually large size, which can now be found as fossils in marine sediments. An international team has succeeded in mapping the magnetic domains on one of such ‘giant magnetofossils’ using a sophisticated method at the Diamond X-ray source. Their analysis shows that these particles could have allowed these organisms to sense tiny variations in both the direction and intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field, enabling them to geolocate themselves and navigate across the ocean. The method offers a powerful tool for magnetically testing whether putative biological iron oxide particles in Mars samples have a biogenic origin.
-
What vibrating molecules might reveal about cell biology
Infrared vibrational spectroscopy at BESSY II can be used to create high-resolution maps of molecules inside live cells and cell organelles in native aqueous environment, according to a new study by a team from HZB and Humboldt University in Berlin. Nano-IR spectroscopy with s-SNOM at the IRIS beamline is now suitable for examining tiny biological samples in liquid medium in the nanometre range and generating infrared images of molecular vibrations with nanometre resolution. It is even possible to obtain 3D information. To test the method, the team grew fibroblasts on a highly transparent SiC membrane and examined them in vivo. This method will provide new insights into cell biology.