Traditional HZB Neutron School will be continued at ANSTO in Australia
The neutron school at ANSTO in cooperation with HZB experts could transfer knowledge and skills in neutron research. © ANSTO
This summer, researchers at the Australian neutron source ACNS organised a joint neutron school at Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation ANSTO. The HZB-ANSTO neutron school will take place every two years.
The first joint HZB-ANSTO neutron school took place from 23 to 28 June 2019 at ANSTO. HZB experts Prof. Dr. Bella Lake and Prof. Dr. Susan Schorr held several lectures. The interest in the neutron school was high, 24 participants were selected from 60 applications. In addition to lectures, hands on trainings on three instruments of the neutron source ACNS at ANSTO have been offered.
“Certainly we were inspired by the all-encompassing nature of the Berlin school - I believe that our plan going forward would be to run a 'general' neutron school every two years and a more specific school in between," said Dr. Helen Maynard-Casely, one of the organisers at ANSTO.
Shortly before the start of the neutron school, the SPATZ neutron reflectometer at ACNS was inaugurated. SPATZ, formerly known as BioRef at the BER II at HZB, is ideally suited for studies of soft matter in biomedicine, energy and materials. It was donated by HZB to ANSTO since the BER II neutron source will be shut down end of 2019.
In a short video, ANSTO presents SPATZ and its virtues.
- Cool vaccines in rural Kenya: solar solution has been awarded by UNIn May 2026, Tabitha Awuor Amollo is spending some weeks as a guest scientist at HZB, analysing perovskite thin films at BESSY II. The Kenyan physicist from Egerton University, Nairobi, was recently recognised for her achievements in research and teaching. For the development of a solar-powered refrigeration system for use in rural health centres, she has been awarded the 2026 Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD)-Elsevier Foundation Award. An interview on exceptional projects and daily struggles of a scientist. Questions were asked by Antonia Rötger.
- BESSY II: How intrinsic oxygen shortens the lifespan of solid-state batteriesAlthough solid-state batteries (SSBs) demonstrate high performance and are intrinsically safe, their capacity currently declines rapidly. A team from the TU Wien, Humboldt-University Berlin and HZB has now analysed a TiS₂|Li₃YCl₆ solid-state half-cell in operando at BESSY II using a special sample environment that allows for non-destructive investigation under real operating conditions. Data obtained by combination of soft and hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS and HAXPES) revealed a new degradation mechanism that had not previously been identified in solid-state batteries. They have gained some surprising insights, particularly regarding the harmful role played by intrinsic oxygen. This study provides valuable information for improving design and handling of such batteries.
- Spintronics at BESSY II: Real-time analysis of magnetic bilayer systemsSpintronic devices enable data processing with significantly lower energy consumption. They are based on the interaction between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layers. Now, a team from Freie Universität Berlin, HZB and Uppsala University has succeeded in tracking, for each layer separately, how the magnetic order changes after a short laser pulse has excited the system. They were also able to identify the main cause of the loss of antiferromagnetic order in the oxide layer: the excitation is transported from the hot electrons in the ferromagnetic metal to the spins in the antiferromagnet.