HZB-magazine lichtblick - the new issue is out!
In the cover story we introduce Astrid Brandt. She is Head of User Coordination at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. She and her team keep constant track of applications, measurement times and publications of the 1000 guest researchers who come to BESSY II each year.
She has always been fascinated by science. But she has also never let go of her other passion, which is music.
Click here for the online issue (English)
Topics include:
- p. 8: Modernisation of BESSY II light source
- p. 12: Evaluation of the mobility survey
- p. 14: Shaping corporate culture together
- p. 18: Artifical intelligence at HZB
- p. 22: Interview with the new Head of the People Operations department
- p. 25: New radiotherapy
- p. 26: 20 years of the School Lab
- p. 30: Behind the scenes: Tino Müller
- p. 32: Prizes and Personalia
- p. 34: Riddle
- p. 35: Recipe
We hope you enjoy reading this issue! As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions for topics.
Your editorial team
- 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.
- Electrocatalysts: New model for charge separation at the solid-liquid interfaceHydrogen is at the heart of the transition to carbon neutrality, as both an energy carrier and a reagent for green chemistry. However, large-scale production of hydrogen via electrolysis, as well as the production of many other chemical products, requires significantly cheaper and more efficient catalysts. A precise understanding of the electrochemical processes that take place at the interface between the solid catalyst and the liquid medium is highly useful for developing better electrocatalysts. In the journal Nature Communications, an European team has now presented a powerful model that determines charge separation at the interface, the formation of the electric double layer and local electric potential variations, and the resulting influence on the catalytic activity.
- AI-driven Catalyst Discovery: €30 million funding for German consortiumSix partners from research and industry, including Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), the Fritz-Haber-Institute of the Max Planck Society (FHI), BASF, Dunia Innovations, Siemens Energy, and the Technical University Berlin are launching a joint project to accelerate the catalyst discovery. The German Federal Ministry for Science, Technology and Space (BMFTR) is providing €30 million in funding for ASCEND (Accelerated Solutions for Catalysis using Emerging Nanotechnology and Digital Innovation). The research initiative targets the defossilisation of energy-intensive industries while safeguarding industrial competitiveness, with a focus on the chemical sector. The five-year project will start on 1st April 2026.