All BESSY II instruments reconnected to the network
© HZB / D. Laubner
Thirteen months ago, HZB fell victim to a criminal cyberattack that also took BESSY II light source and the instruments in the experimental hall out of operation. BESSY II was up and running again after just three weeks and the instruments were gradually put back into operation. Now HZB can report some good news: All experimental stations are again integrated into the new IT networks and can record data.
In a task force led by Andreas Jankowiak and Jens Viefhaus, a team led by Ruslan Ovsyannikov succeeded in implementing a new IT infrastructure and a resilient network architecture. This project is now to be firmly established and perpetuated at HZB. The aim is to achieve the full functionality of the BESSY-II user service, to establish new possibilities for remote experiments and better data management.
The project also benefits from the successes of an international cooperation that is developing a new basis for experimental data management at light sources and small labs called Bluesky. With Bluesky, a new type of experimental data acquisition system is being introduced throughout BESSY II (under the leadership of HZB employees William Smith and Simone Vadilonga). It is already in operation at several BESSY beamlines. The introduction of Bluesky at BESSY II is a milestone and has attracted much attention in the scientific community. Several European accelerators are interested in the novel data control system.
HZB is also participating in the Helmholtz project ROCK-IT (Remote, Operando Controlled, Knowledge-driven, and IT-based) to meet the future challenges of data management and the IT structures of large-scale scientific research facilities. The aim is to develop all necessary tools for the automation and remote access of in-situ and operando experiments at synchrotrons. Simplified access to the experiments is a central concern of the user community.
- Perovskite solar cells: New Young Investigator Group funded by BMBF at HZBIn the COMET-PV project, Dr Artem Musiienko aims to significantly accelerate the development of perovskite solar cells. He is using robotics and AI to analyse the many variations in the material composition of tin-based perovskites. The physicist will set up a Young Investigator Group at HZB. He will also have an affiliation with Humboldt University in Berlin, where he will gain teaching experience in preparation for a future professorship.
- Innovative battery electrode made from tin foamMetal-based electrodes in lithium-ion batteries promise significantly higher capacities than conventional graphite electrodes. Unfortunately, they degrade due to mechanical stress during charging and discharging cycles. A team at HZB has now shown that a highly porous tin foam is much better at absorbing mechanical stress during charging cycles. This makes tin foam an interesting material for lithium batteries.
- BESSY II: Building block of the catalyst for oxygen formation in photosynthesis reproducedIn a small manganese oxide cluster, teams from HZB and HU Berlin have discovered a particularly exciting compound: two high spin manganese centres in two very different oxidation states and. This complex is the simplest model of a catalyst that occurs as a slightly larger cluster in natural photosynthesis, where it enables the formation of molecular oxygen. The discovery is considered an important step towards a complete understanding of photosynthesis.