Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize and Innovation Award Synchrotron Radiation
Martin Bluschke (MPI for Solid State Research, TU Berlin) receives the Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize from Mathias Richter for his outstanding dissertation. © Screenshot
The prize for innovation in synchrotron research went to Guiseppe Sansone, Luca Giannessi, Carlo Callegari and Kevin Prince. © Screenshot
This year, the Friends of HZB awarded the Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize to Dr. Martin Bluschke (MPI for Solid State Research and TU Berlin) for his outstanding doctoral thesis. The European Innovation Award for Synchrotron Radiation went to a team of four physicists for their work on the FERMI free electron laser at the Elettra synchrotron source in Trieste. The award ceremony took place at this year's HZB user meeting, which had to be held digitally this year.
The award ceremony was well attended with 197 spectators. The chairman of the Friends of HZB, Prof. Dr. Mathias Richter, led the award ceremony on screen and distributed hand-drawn bouquets of flowers as well as the award certificate. The prize committee had read the submitted proposals with great pleasure this year, he reported.
Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize 2020
The Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize went to Dr. Martin Bluschke, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, who completed his doctorate in 2019 at the Technical University of Berlin. The title of his dissertation is: "Resonant x ray scattering studies of collective electronic states in cuprates and nickelates controlled by isovalent chemical substitution and epitaxial integration". Bluschke has been studying so-called collective states in solids at BESSY II, which are related to the phenomenon of superconductivity.
"Mr. Bluschke's dissertation reveals a deep understanding of physics. The numerous results are published to a high standard, which is also reflected by the number of citations," Richter quoted from the prize committee. Bluschke will continue his research at the University of British Columbia in Canada.
Innovation Award Synchrotron Radiation 2020
The Innovation Award Synchrotron Radiation 2020 went to Prof. Dr. Guiseppe Sansone (University of Freiburg), Dr. Luca Giannessi (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Frascati, Italy), Dr. Carlo Callegari and Prof. Dr. Kevin Prince (Elettra, Trieste, Italy) for their achievements in the development and application of innovative investigation methods exploiting the radiation emitted by seeded free electron lasers at the FERMI free electron laser at Elettra in Trieste. The prize committee acknowledged "this development is of utmost importance for the future" and "concerns ground-braking experiments even on the attosecond scale". The Innovation Award Synchrotron Radiation is endowed with 3000 Euros and is sponsored by SPECS GmbH and BESTEC GmbH.
- Fascinating archaeological find becomes a source of knowledgeThe Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments (BLfD) has sent a rare artefact from the Middle Bronze Age to Berlin for examination using cutting-edge, non-destructive methods. It is a 3,400-year-old bronze sword, unearthed during archaeological excavations in Nördlingen, Swabia, in 2023. Experts have been able to determine how the hilt and blade are connected, as well as how the rare and well-preserved decorations on the pommel were made. This has provided valuable insight into the craft techniques employed in southern Germany during the Bronze Age. The BLfD used 3D computed tomography and X-ray diffraction to analyse internal stresses at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), as well as X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy at a BESSY II beamline supervised by the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM).
- Element cobalt exhibits surprising propertiesThe element cobalt is considered a typical ferromagnet with no further secrets. However, an international team led by HZB researcher Dr. Jaime Sánchez-Barriga has now uncovered complex topological features in its electronic structure. Spin-resolved measurements of the band structure (spin-ARPES) at BESSY II revealed entangled energy bands that cross each other along extended paths in specific crystallographic directions, even at room temperature. As a result, cobalt can be considered as a highly tunable and unexpectedly rich topological platform, opening new perspectives for exploiting magnetic topological states in future information technologies.
- MXene for energy storage: More versatile than expectedMXene materials are promising candidates for a new energy storage technology. However, the processes by which the charge storage takes place were not yet fully understood. A team at HZB has examined, for the first time, individual MXene flakes to explore these processes in detail. Using the in situ Scanning transmission X-ray microscope 'MYSTIIC' at BESSY II, the scientists mapped the chemical states of Titanium atoms on the MXene flake surfaces. The results revealed two distinct redox reactions, depending on the electrolyte. This lays the groundwork for understanding charge transfer processes at the nanoscale and provides a basis for future research aimed at optimising pseudocapacitive energy storage devices.