The future of BESSY
This is what the successor source BESSY III could look like in the future. © Rendering: HZB
At the end of February 2024, a team at HZB published an article in Synchrotron Radiation News (SRN). They describe the next development goals for the light source as well as the BESSY II+ upgrade programme and the successor source BESSY III.
In autumn 2023, HZB celebrated 25 years of research at the BESSY II light source in Berlin-Adlershof. To continue offering scientists from all over the world the best research opportunities in the coming decades, it is important to have a vision for BESSY II. In addition, many light sources around the world are currently being modernised or even newly built to keep up with the latest research questions and contribute with state-of-the art research infrastructures.
The article "Material Discovery at BESSY" shows the relevance of BESSY light source for the research questions of the future. The HZB team describes the goals of the BESSY II+ upgrade programme. Among other things, the programme aims to expand operando techniques that are of great benefit in developing materials for the energy transition.
BESSY II+ is a bridge between BESSY II and the successor source BESSY III, which is scheduled to go into operation in the mid-2030s. It is set to become the "materials discovery machine": a combination of the extremely bright, soft 4th generation light source, the integrated research campus in Berlin-Adlershof and the quantitative measurement capabilities of the national metrology institute (PTB, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt) from synchrotron research.
The article has been published in open access and can be read in the journal SRN, which specialises in synchrotron research.
- BESSY II: Magnetic ‘microflowers’ enhance local magnetic fieldsA flower-shaped structure only a few micrometres in size made of a nickel-iron alloy can concentrate and locally enhance magnetic fields. The size of the effect can be controlled by varying the geometry and number of 'petals'. This magnetic metamaterial developed by Dr Anna Palau's group at the Institut de Ciencia de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB) in collaboration with her partners of the CHIST-ERA MetaMagIC project, has now been studied at BESSY II in collaboration with Dr Sergio Valencia. Such a device can be used to increase the sensitivity of magnetic sensors, to reduce the energy required for creating local magnetic fields, but also, at the PEEM experimental station, to study samples under much higher magnetic fields than currently possible.
- The future of energy: recommendations from science to politicsExperts from HZB have contributed their expertise to the position papers briefly presented here. The topics include the development of innovative materials for a sustainable energy supply and the circular economy. Experts from different areas have jointly formulated solutions and recommendations for action.
- New material for efficient separation of Deuterium at elevated TemperaturesA novel porous material capable of separating deuterium (D2) from hydrogen (H2) at a temperature of 120 K has been introduced. Notably, this temperature exceeds the liquefaction point of natural gas, thus facilitating large-scale industrial applications. This advancement presents an attractive pathway for the economical production of D2 by leveraging the existing infrastructure of liquefied natural gas (LNG) production pipelines. The research conducted by Ulsan National Institute of Science & Technology (UNIST), Korea, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Heinz Maier Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ), and Soongsil University, Korea, has been published in Nature Communications.