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

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)

  • Copy link

You might also be interested in

  • New contact material boosts the efficiency of perovskite solar cells
    Science Highlight
    16.07.2026
    New contact material boosts the efficiency of perovskite solar cells
    A newly developed material for the electron contact improves the efficiency of single perovskite solar cells and perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells. The new material is based on a carborane molecule. It offers several advantages over the standard material C60, as shown by the study led by Steve Albrecht’s team. The new material has since been patented and is already commercially available.
  • Precision interface chemistry pushes perovskite solar cells beyond 26% efficiency
    Science Highlight
    14.07.2026
    Precision interface chemistry pushes perovskite solar cells beyond 26% efficiency
    An international research collaboration has developed a new molecular strategy for controlling one of the most critical interfaces in perovskite solar cells. The resulting solar cells reached a power conversion efficiency of 26.19% in the n i p architecture, together with strong operational stability under prolonged illumination and elevated temperature. The results have been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
  • Magnetic imaging: Micro-flowers increase the local magnetic field
    Science Highlight
    06.07.2026
    Magnetic imaging: Micro-flowers increase the local magnetic field
    Materials 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.