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.
- BESSY II: Heterostructures for SpintronicsSpintronic devices work with spin textures caused by quantum-physical interactions. A Spanish-German collaboration has now studied graphene-cobalt-iridium heterostructures at BESSY II. The results show how two desired quantum-physical effects reinforce each other in these heterostructures. This could lead to new spintronic devices based on these materials.
- Green hydrogen: MXenes shows talent as catalyst for oxygen evolutionThe MXene class of materials has many talents. An international team led by HZB chemist Michelle Browne has now demonstrated that MXenes, properly functionalised, are excellent catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction in electrolytic water splitting. They are more stable and efficient than the best metal oxide catalysts currently available. The team is now extensively characterising these MXene catalysts for water splitting at the Berlin X-ray source BESSY II and Soleil Synchrotron in France.
- Review on ocular particle therapy (OPT) by international expertsA team of leading experts in medical physics, physics and radiotherapy, including HZB physicist Prof. Andrea Denker and Charité medical physicist Dr Jens Heufelder, has published a review article on ocular particle therapy. The article appeared in the Red Journal, one of the most prestigious journals in the field. It outlines the special features of this form of eye therapy, explains the state of the art and current research priorities, provides recommendations for the delivery of radiotherapy and gives an outlook on future developments.