HZB Newsroom

  • Neutron experiment at BER II reveals new spin phase in quantum materials
    Science Highlight
    18.03.2024
    Neutron experiment at BER II reveals new spin phase in quantum materials
    New states of order can arise in quantum magnetic materials under magnetic fields. An international team has now gained new insights into these special states of matter through experiments at the Berlin neutron source BER II and its High-Field Magnet. BER II served science until the end of 2019 and has since been shut down. Results from data at BER II are still being published.

  • Where quantum computers can score
    Science Highlight
    15.03.2024
    Where quantum computers can score
    The travelling salesman problem is considered a prime example of a combinatorial optimisation problem. Now a Berlin team led by theoretical physicist Prof. Dr. Jens Eisert of Freie Universität Berlin and HZB has shown that a certain class of such problems can actually be solved better and much faster with quantum computers than with conventional methods.
  • Unconventional piezoelectricity in ferroelectric hafnia
    Science Highlight
    26.02.2024
    Unconventional piezoelectricity in ferroelectric hafnia
    Hafnium oxide thin films are a fascinating class of materials with robust ferroelectric properties in the nanometre range. While their ferroelectric behaviour is extensively studied, results on piezoelectric effects have so far remained mysterious. A new study now shows that the piezoelectricity in ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 thin films can be dynamically changed by electric field cycling. Another ground-breaking result is a possible occurrence of an intrinsic non-piezoelectric ferroelectric compound. These unconventional features in hafnia offer new options for use in microelectronics and information technology.
  • Higher measurement accuracy opens new window to the quantum world
    Science Highlight
    17.01.2024
    Higher measurement accuracy opens new window to the quantum world
    A team at HZB has developed a new measurement method that, for the first time, accurately detects tiny temperature differences in the range of 100 microkelvin in the thermal Hall effect. Previously, these temperature differences could not be measured quantitatively due to thermal noise. Using the well-known terbium titanate as an example, the team demonstrated that the method delivers highly reliable results. The thermal Hall effect provides information about coherent multi-particle states in quantum materials, based on their interaction with lattice vibrations (phonons).
  • Spintronics: X-ray microscopy unravels the nature of domain walls
    Science Highlight
    28.08.2023
    Spintronics: X-ray microscopy unravels the nature of domain walls
    Magnetic skyrmions are tiny vortices of magnetic spin textures. In principle, materials with skyrmions could be used as spintronic devices, for example as very fast and energy-efficient data storage devices. But at the moment it is still difficult to control and manipulate skyrmions at room temperature. A new study at BESSY II analyses the formation of skyrmions in ferrimagnetic thin films of dysprosium and cobalt in real time and with high spatial resolution. This is an important step towards characterising suitable materials with skyrmions more precisely in the future.
  • BESSY II: Experimental verification of an exotic quantum phase in Au2Pb
    Science Highlight
    15.06.2023
    BESSY II: Experimental verification of an exotic quantum phase in Au2Pb
    A team of HZB has investigated the electronic structure of  Au2Pb at BESSY II by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy across a wide temperature range: The results are in accordance with the electronic structure of a three-dimensional topological Dirac semimetal, in agreement with theoretical calculations.
  • Spintronics at BESSY II: Domain walls in magnetic nanowires
    Science Highlight
    02.06.2023
    Spintronics at BESSY II: Domain walls in magnetic nanowires
    Magnetic domains walls are known to be a source of electrical resistance due to the difficulty for transport electron spins to follow their magnetic texture. This phenomenon holds potential for utilization in spintronic devices, where the electrical resistance can vary based on the presence or absence of a domain wall. A particularly intriguing class of materials are half metals such as La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 (LSMO) which present full spin polarization, allowing their exploitation in spintronic devices. Still the resistance of a single domain wall in half metals remained unknown. Now a team from Spain, France and Germany has generated a single domain wall on a LSMO nanowire and measured resistance changes 20 times larger than for a normal ferromagnet such as Cobalt.
  • Fractons as information storage: Not yet quite tangible, but close
    Science Highlight
    26.05.2023
    Fractons as information storage: Not yet quite tangible, but close
    A new quasiparticle with interesting properties has appeared in solid-state physics - but so far only in the theoretical modelling of solids with certain magnetic properties. An international team from HZB and Freie Universität Berlin has now shown that, contrary to expectations, quantum fluctuations do not make the quasiparticle appear more clearly, but rather blur its signature.
  • Graphene on titanium carbide triggers a novel phase transition
    Science Highlight
    25.05.2023
    Graphene on titanium carbide triggers a novel phase transition
    Researchers have discovered a Lifshitz-transition in TiC, driven by a graphene overlayer, at the photon source BESSY II. Their study sheds light on the exciting potential of 2D materials such as graphene and the effects they can have on neighboring materials through proximity interactions.
  • Calculating the carbon footprint of publications
    Interview
    15.05.2023
    Calculating the carbon footprint of publications
    Prof. Dr. Jens Eisert heads the Quantum Computation and Simulation research group, which is jointly funded by Freie Universität Berlin and HZB. The theoretical physicist recently received an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council ERC for his research project "DebuQC". But Eisert is not only an award-winning scientist, he is also concerned about global warming. Last year, on the initiative of Ryan Sweke, he and his team published a proposal that deserves attention: scientific publications on theoretical physics or chemistry could include a simple table listing the greenhouse gases emitted during the research. This would raise awareness of the fact that research is not climate neutral.
  • Quantum physicist Jens Eisert receives ERC Advanced Grant
    News
    30.03.2023
    Quantum physicist Jens Eisert receives ERC Advanced Grant
    Prof. Dr. Jens Eisert conducts research at the Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems at Freie Universität Berlin and heads the joint research group with HZB for quantum computing and simulation. With his award-winning research project "DebuQC", he wants to explore the metaphorical boundary of the classical and quantum worlds. It is already his third ERC grant that Jens Eisert has received. The professor of theoretical quantum physics and his team want to clarify essential research questions about quantum technology and also explore the limits of this promising technology.
  • Scientists Develop New Technique to Image Fluctuations in Materials
    Science Highlight
    18.01.2023
    Scientists Develop New Technique to Image Fluctuations in Materials
    A team of scientists, led by researchers from the Max Born Institute in Berlin and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin in Germany and from Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States has developed a revolutionary new method for capturing high-resolution images of fluctuations in materials at the nanoscale using powerful X-ray sources. The technique, which they call Coherent Correlation Imaging (CCI), allows for the creation of sharp, detailed movies without damaging the sample by excessive radiation. By using an algorithm to detect patterns in underexposed images, CCI opens paths to previously inaccessible information. The team demonstrated CCI on samples made of thin magnetic layers, and their results have been published in Nature.
  • New monochromator optics for tender X-rays
    Science Highlight
    30.11.2022
    New monochromator optics for tender X-rays
    Until now, it has been extremely tedious to perform measurements with high sensitivity and high spatial resolution using X-ray light in the tender energy range of 1.5 - 5.0 keV. Yet this X-ray light is ideal for investigating energy materials such as batteries or catalysts, but also biological systems. A team from HZB has now solved this problem: The newly developed monochromator optics increase the photon flux in the tender energy range by a factor of 100 and thus enable highly precise measurements of nanostructured systems. The method was successfully tested for the first time on catalytically active nanoparticles and microchips.
  • Quantum algorithms save time in the calculation of electron dynamics
    Science Highlight
    22.11.2022
    Quantum algorithms save time in the calculation of electron dynamics
    Quantum computers promise significantly shorter computing times for complex problems. But there are still only a few quantum computers worldwide with a limited number of so-called qubits. However, quantum computer algorithms can already run on conventional servers that simulate a quantum computer. A team at HZB has succeeded to calculate the electron orbitals and their dynamic development on the example of a small molecule after a laser pulse excitation. In principle, the method is also suitable for investigating larger molecules that cannot be calculated using conventional methods.
  • Spintronics: A new tool at BESSY II for chirality investigations
    Science Highlight
    24.10.2022
    Spintronics: A new tool at BESSY II for chirality investigations
    Information on complex magnetic structures is crucial to understand and develop spintronic materials. Now, a new instrument named ALICE II is available at BESSY II. It allows magnetic X-ray scattering in reciprocal space using a new large area detector. A team at HZB and Technical University Munich has demonstrated the performance of ALICE II by analysing helical and conical magnetic states of an archetypal single crystal skyrmion host. ALICE II is now available for guest users at BESSY II.
  • Dynamics in one-dimensional spin chains newly elucidated
    Science Highlight
    03.10.2022
    Dynamics in one-dimensional spin chains newly elucidated
    Neutron scattering is considered the method of choice for investigating magnetic structures and excitations in quantum materials. Now, for the first time, the evaluation of measurement data from the 2000s with new methods has provided much deeper insights into a model system – the 1D Heisenberg spin chains. A new toolbox is available for elucidating future quantum materials has been achieved.
  • BESSY II: Localisation of d-electrons determined
    Science Highlight
    02.10.2022
    BESSY II: Localisation of d-electrons determined
    Transition metals have many applications in engineering, electrochemistry and catalysis. To understand their properties, the interplay between atomic localisation and delocalisation of the outer electrons in the d orbitals is crucial. This insight is now provided by a special end station at BESSY II with highest precision, as demonstrated by a study of copper, nickel and cobalt with interesting quantitative results. The Royal Society of Chemistry has selected the paper as a HOT Article 2022.
  • Rhombohedral graphite as a model for quantum magnetism
    Science Highlight
    27.09.2022
    Rhombohedral graphite as a model for quantum magnetism
    Graphene is an extremely exciting material. Now a graphene variant shows another talent: rhombohedral graphite made of several layers slightly offset from each other could enlighten the hidden physics in quantum magnets.
  • 40 years of research with synchrotron light in Berlin
    News
    14.09.2022
    40 years of research with synchrotron light in Berlin
    Press release _ Berlin, 14 September: For decades, science in Berlin has been an important driver of innovation and progress. Creative, talented people from all over the world come together here and develop new ideas from which we all benefit as a society. Many discoveries – from fundamental insights to marketable products – are made by doing research with synchrotron light. Researchers have had access to this intense light in Berlin for 40 years. It inspires many scientific disciplines and is an advantage for Germany.

  • New road towards spin-polarised currents
    Science Highlight
    08.09.2022
    New road towards spin-polarised currents
    The transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) series are a family of promising candidate materials for spintronics. A study at lightsource BESSY II has unveiled that in one of those materials even simple linear polarised light is sufficient to selectively manipulate spins of different orientations. This result provides an entirely new route for the generation of spin-polarised currents and is a milestone for the development of spintronic and opto-spintronic devices.
  • Humboldt Fellow Alexander Gray comes to HZB
    News
    12.08.2022
    Humboldt Fellow Alexander Gray comes to HZB
    Alexander Gray from Temple University in Philadelphia, USA, is working with HZB physicist Florian Kronast to investigate novel 2D quantum materials at BESSY II. With the fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, he can now deepen this cooperation. At BESSY II, he wants to further develop depth-resolved X-ray microscopic and spectroscopic methods in order to investigate 2D quantum materials and devices for new information technologies even more thoroughly.
  • Buckyballs on gold are less exotic than graphene
    Science Highlight
    21.07.2022
    Buckyballs on gold are less exotic than graphene
    C60 molecules on a gold substrate appear more complex than their graphene counterparts, but have much more ordinary electronic properties. This is now shown by measurements with ARPES at BESSY II and detailed calculations.
  • Spintronics: Giant Rashba semiconductors show unconventional dynamics with potential applications
    Science Highlight
    06.07.2022
    Spintronics: Giant Rashba semiconductors show unconventional dynamics with potential applications
    Germanium telluride is a strong candidate for use in functional spintronic devices due to its giant Rashba-effect. Now, scientists at HZB have discovered another intriguing phenomenon in GeTe by studying the electronic response to thermal excitation of the samples. To their surprise, the subsequent relaxation proceeded fundamentally different to that of conventional semimetals. By delicately controlling the fine details of the underlying electronic structure, new functionalities of this class of materials could be conceived. 

  • Atomic displacements in High-Entropy Alloys examined
    Science Highlight
    27.06.2022
    Atomic displacements in High-Entropy Alloys examined
    High-entropy alloys of 3d metals have intriguing properties that are interesting for applications in the energy sector. An international team at BESSY II has now investigated the local order on an atomic scale in a so-called high-entropy Cantor alloy of chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt and nickel. The results from combined spectroscopic studies and statistical simulations expand the understanding of this group of materials.
  • Thermal insulation for quantum technologies
    Science Highlight
    19.05.2022
    Thermal insulation for quantum technologies
    New energy-efficient IT components often only operate stably at extremely low temperatures. Therefore, very good thermal insulation of such elements is crucial, which requires the development of materials with extremely low thermal conductivity. A team at HZB has now used a novel sintering process to produce nanoporous silicon aluminium samples in which pores and nanocrystallites impede the transport of heat and thus drastically reduce thermal conductivity. The researchers have developed a model for predicting the thermal conductivity, which was confirmed using experimental data on the microstructure of the samples and their thermal conductivity. Thus, for the first time, a method is available for the targeted development of complex porous materials with ultra-low thermal conductivity.
  • HZB hosts Humboldt Research Award Winner Alexei Gruverman
    News
    05.05.2022
    HZB hosts Humboldt Research Award Winner Alexei Gruverman
    Professor Alexei Gruverman was granted a Humboldt Research Award in October 2020.  Due to the COVID pandemic, he could not travel until this year. For a few months he is now hosted by Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin at the Institute “Functional oxides for energy efficient information technology”. 

  • Quantum complexity grows linearly for an exponentially long time
    Science Highlight
    28.03.2022
    Quantum complexity grows linearly for an exponentially long time
    Physicists know about the huge chasm between quantum physics and the theory of gravity. However, in recent decades, theoretical physics has provided some plausible conjecture to bridge this gap and to describe the behaviour of complex quantum many-body systems, for example black holes and wormholes in the universe. Now, a theory group at Freie Universität Berlin and HZB, together with Harvard University, USA, has proven a mathematical conjecture about the behaviour of complexity in such systems, increasing the viability of this bridge. The work is published in Nature Physics.
  • Fermi Arcs in an Antiferromagnet detected at BESSY II
    Science Highlight
    23.03.2022
    Fermi Arcs in an Antiferromagnet detected at BESSY II
    An international cooperation has analysed samples of NdBi crystals which display interesting magnetic properties. In their experiments including measurements at BESSY II they could find evidence for so called Fermi arcs in the antiferromagnetic state of the sample at low temperatures. This observation is not yet explained by existing theoretical ideas and opens up exciting possibilities to make use of these kind of materials for innovative information technologies based on the electron spin rather than the charge.
  • Unravelling tautomeric mixtures: RIXS at BESSY II allows to see clearly
    Science Highlight
    17.03.2022
    Unravelling tautomeric mixtures: RIXS at BESSY II allows to see clearly
    A team at HZB has developed a method of experimentally unravelling tautomeric mixtures. Based on resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) at BESSY II, not only proportions of the tautomers can be deduced, but the properties of each individual tautomer can be studied selectively. This method could yield to detailed information on the properties of molecules and their biological function. In the present study, now advertised on the cover of “The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters” the technique was applied to the prototypical keto-enol equilibrium.
  • "We can be proud that it worked out": BESSY and the Transregio-SFB on ultrafast spin dynamics
    Interview
    14.03.2022
    "We can be proud that it worked out": BESSY and the Transregio-SFB on ultrafast spin dynamics

    Collaborative Research projects as “Sonderforschungsbereiche” funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft enable universities to build up their own research capacities. In the Transregio Sonderforschungsbereich 227 Ultrafast Spin Dynamic, the Freie Universität Berlin and the University in Halle-Wittenberg have also included HZB as a partner. The slicing facility of BESSY II plays a central role in this collaboration. With excellent results from the first phase, the Transregio-SFB 227 has completed its first interim review and is now preparing for the challenges ahead. A conversation with the two HZB physicists Niko Pontius and Christian Schüßler-Langeheine about the importance of such funding programmes for the research field.

  • From Dublin to Berlin as a Humboldt Research Fellow
    News
    10.03.2022
    From Dublin to Berlin as a Humboldt Research Fellow
    Dr. Katarzyna Siewierska joins the group of Prof. Alexander Föhlisch as a postdoctoral Humboldt Research fellow. She has earned her PhD at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and plans in the next two years to explore the electronic structure and spin dynamics of half-metallic thin films at BESSY II.  Understanding these spintronic materials better may pave the way for more energy efficient data storage technologies.
  • Green information technologies: Superconductivity meets Spintronics
    Science Highlight
    02.12.2021
    Green information technologies: Superconductivity meets Spintronics
    Superconducting coupling between two regions separated by a one micron wide ferromagnetic compound has been proved by an international team. This macroscopic quantum effect, known as Josephson effect, generates an electrical current within the ferromagnetic compound made of superconducting Cooper-pairs. Magnetic imaging of the ferromagnetic region at BESSY II has contributed to demonstrate that the spin of the electrons forming the Cooper pairs are equal. These results pave the way for low-power consumption superconducting spintronic-applications where spin-polarized currents can be protected by quantum coherence.

  • Neutron data help to reveal “spooky” entanglement in quantum magnets
    Science Highlight
    25.11.2021
    Neutron data help to reveal “spooky” entanglement in quantum magnets
    Using data from the British neutron source ISIS from the year 2000, research teams have now demonstrated the viability of a “quantum entanglement witness” capable of proving the presence of entanglement between magnetic particles, or spins, in a quantum material. A team from HZB led by Prof. Bella Lake was also involved in the analysis.
  • Walter-Schottky-Award for Felix Büttner
    News
    18.11.2021
    Walter-Schottky-Award for Felix Büttner
    The Walter Schottky Prize honours outstanding work by young physicists in solid-state research. For 2022, the award goes to HZB physicist Dr Felix Büttner for his groundbreaking achievements in the field of magnetic skyrmions.

  • 20 Years Russian-German Joint Laboratory at BESSY II
    News
    12.11.2021
    20 Years Russian-German Joint Laboratory at BESSY II
    To mark its 20th anniversary, the Russian-German Laboratory at the BESSY II storage ring for synchrotron radiation in Berlin is organising an online workshop on 18 and 19 November. Scientists will discuss the future perspectives of Russian-German cooperation as well as innovative projects and new goals of the laboratory.

  • Spintronics: Exotic ferromagnetic order in two-dimensions
    Science Highlight
    29.10.2021
    Spintronics: Exotic ferromagnetic order in two-dimensions
    An international team has detected at HZB's vector magnet facility VEKMAG an unusual ferromagnetic property in a two-dimensional system, known as “easy-plane anisotropy”. This could foster new energy efficient information technologies based on spintronics for data storage, among other things. The team has published its results in the renowned journal Science.

  • Ultrafast magnetism: heating magnets, freezing time
    Science Highlight
    15.10.2021
    Ultrafast magnetism: heating magnets, freezing time
    Magnetic solids can be demagnetized quickly with a short laser pulse, and there are already so-called HAMR (Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording) memories on the market that function according to this principle. However, the microscopic mechanisms of ultrafast demagnetization remain unclear. Now, a team at HZB has developed a new method at BESSY II to quantify one of these mechanisms and applied it to the rare-earth element Gadolinium, whose magnetic properties are caused by electrons on both the 4f and the 5d shells. This study is completing a series of experiments done by the team on Nickel, Iron-Nickel Alloys. Understanding these mechanisms is useful for developing ultrafast data storage devices.

  • A sharp look into tiny ferroelectric crystals
    Science Highlight
    06.10.2021
    A sharp look into tiny ferroelectric crystals
    What happens to ferroelectric materials when their dimensions are greatly reduced? A team of researchers at HZB has now been able to show how this question can be answered in a detailed way.

  • Disorder brings out quantum physical talents
    Science Highlight
    01.09.2021
    Disorder brings out quantum physical talents
    Quantum effects are most noticeable at extremely low temperatures, which limits their usefulness for technical applications. Thin films of MnSb2Te4, however, show new talents due to a small excess of manganese. Apparently, the resulting disorder provides spectacular properties: The material proves to be a topological insulator and is ferromagnetic up to comparatively high temperatures of 50 Kelvin, measurements at BESSY II show.  This makes this class of material suitable for quantum bits, but also for spintronics in general or applications in high-precision metrology.

  • Review: X-ray scattering methods with synchrotron radiation
    News
    18.08.2021
    Review: X-ray scattering methods with synchrotron radiation
    Synchrotron light sources provide brilliant light with a focus on the X-ray region and have enormously expanded the possibilities for characterising materials. In the Reviews of Modern Physics, an international team now gives an overview of elastic and inelastic X-ray scattering processes, explains the theoretical background and sheds light on what insights these methods provide in physics, chemistry as well as bio- and energy related themes.

  • When vibrations increase on cooling: Anti-freezing observed
    Science Highlight
    04.08.2021
    When vibrations increase on cooling: Anti-freezing observed
    An international team has observed an amazing phenomenon in a nickel oxide material during cooling: Instead of freezing, certain fluctuations actually increase as the temperature drops. Nickel oxide is a model system that is structurally similar to high-temperature superconductors. The experiment shows once again that the behaviour of this class of materials still holds surprises.

  • Water as a metal - detected at BESSY II
    Science Highlight
    28.07.2021
    Water as a metal - detected at BESSY II
    Under normal conditions, pure water is an almost perfect insulator. Water only develops metallic properties under extreme pressure, such as exists deep inside of large planets. Now, an international collaboration has used a completely different approach to produce metallic water and documented the phase transition at BESSY II. The study is published now in Nature.

  • Future information technologies: Topological materials for ultrafast spintronics
    Science Highlight
    16.07.2021
    Future information technologies: Topological materials for ultrafast spintronics
    A team led by HZB physicist Dr. Jaime Sánchez-Barriga has gained new insights into the ultrafast response of topological states of matter to femtosecond laser excitation. Using time- and spin-resolved methods at BESSY II, the physicists explored how, after optical excitation, the complex interplay in the behavior of excited electrons in the bulk and on the surface results in unusual spin dynamics. The work is an important step on the way to spintronic devices based on topological materials for ultrafast information processing.

  • How quantum dots can "talk" to each other
    Science Highlight
    03.06.2021
    How quantum dots can "talk" to each other

    A group at HZB has worked out theoretically how the communication between two quantum dots can be influenced with light.  The team led by Annika Bande also shows ways to control the transfer of information or energy from one quantum dot to another. To this end, the researchers calculated the electronic structure of two nanocrystals, which act as quantum dots. With the results, the movement of electrons in quantum dots can be simulated in real time.

  • New skills of Graphene: Tunable lattice vibrations
    Science Highlight
    01.03.2021
    New skills of Graphene: Tunable lattice vibrations
    Technological innovation in the last century was mainly based on the control of electrons or photons. Now, in the emerging research field of phononics, phonons or vibrations of the crystal lattice attract attention. A team at Freie Universität Berlin and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin showed a graphene-based phononic crystal whose resonant frequency can be tuned over a broad range and has used a helium-ion microscope to produce such a crystal. This is a real breakthrough in the field of phononics, now published in Nano Letters.

  • World's first video recording of a space-time crystal
    Science Highlight
    10.02.2021
    World's first video recording of a space-time crystal
    A German-Polish research team has succeeded in creating a micrometer-sized space-time crystal consisting of magnons at room temperature. With the help of the scanning transmission X-ray microscope MAXYMUS at Bessy II at Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, they were able to film the recurring periodic magnetization structure in a crystal. The research project was a collaboration between scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Stuttgart, Germany, the Adam Mickiewicz University and the Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznań in Poland.

  • An efficient tool to link X-ray experiments and ab initio theory
    Science Highlight
    28.01.2021
    An efficient tool to link X-ray experiments and ab initio theory
    The electronic structure of complex molecules and their chemical reactivity can be assessed by the method of resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) at BESSY II. However, the evaluation of RIXS data has so far required very long computing times. A team at BESSY II has now developed a new simulation method that greatly accelerates this evaluation. The results can even be calculated during the experiment. Guest users could use the procedure like a black box.

  • How complex oscillations in a quantum system simplify with time
    Science Highlight
    25.01.2021
    How complex oscillations in a quantum system simplify with time
    With a clever experiment, physicists have shown that in a one-dimensional quantum system, the initially complex distribution of vibrations or phonons can change over time into a simple Gaussian bell curve. The experiment took place at the Vienna University of Technology, while the theoretical considerations were carried out by a joint research group from the Freie Universität Berlin and HZB.

  • Modelling shows which quantum systems are suitable for quantum simulations
    Science Highlight
    27.10.2020
    Modelling shows which quantum systems are suitable for quantum simulations
    A joint research group led by Prof. Jens Eisert of Freie Universität Berlin and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) has shown a way to simulate the quantum physical properties of complex solid state systems. This is done with the help of complex solid state systems that can be studied experimentally. The study was published in the renowned journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).
  • HZB & IKZ bundle their competencies In crystalline energy and quantum materials
    News
    29.09.2020
    HZB & IKZ bundle their competencies In crystalline energy and quantum materials
    On September 11, 2020, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the Leibniz-Institut für Kristallzüchtung (IKZ) signed a cooperation agreement to advance joint research on energy and quantum materials. As part of the cooperation, new types of X-ray optics for synchrotron radiation sources are also being developed.
  • Molecular architecture: New class of materials for tomorrow's energy storage
    Science Highlight
    26.08.2020
    Molecular architecture: New class of materials for tomorrow's energy storage
    Researchers at the Technische Universität Berlin (TUB) have created a new family of semiconductors, the properties of which were investigated by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB). The researchers christened the first member “TUB75”. The material belongs to the class called metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs for short, and could open up new opportunities for energy storage. The work was published in Advanced Materials.
  • Mathematical tool helps calculate properties of quantum materials more quickly
    Science Highlight
    14.08.2020
    Mathematical tool helps calculate properties of quantum materials more quickly
    Many quantum materials have been nearly impossible to simulate mathematically because the computing time required is too long. Now a joint research group at Freie Universität Berlin and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) has demonstrated a way to considerably reduce the computing time. This could accelerate the development of materials for energy-efficient IT technologies of the future.

  • Robust high-performance data storage through magnetic anisotropy
    Science Highlight
    10.07.2020
    Robust high-performance data storage through magnetic anisotropy
    The latest generation of magnetic hard drives is made of magnetic thin films, which are invar materials. They allow extremely robust and high data storage density by local heating of ultrasmall nano-domains with a laser, so called heat assisted magnetic recording or HAMR. The volume in such invar materials hardly expands despite heating. A technologically relevant material for such HAMR data memories are thin films of iron-platinum nanograins. An international team led by the joint research group of Prof. Dr. Matias Bargheer at HZB and the University of Potsdam has now observed experimentally for the first time how a special spin-lattice interaction in these iron-platinum thin films cancels out the thermal expansion of the crystal lattice. The study has been published in Science Advances.

  • Future information technologies: 3D Quantum Spin Liquid revealed
    Science Highlight
    11.05.2020
    Future information technologies: 3D Quantum Spin Liquid revealed
    Quantum Spin Liquids are candidates for potential use in future information technologies. So far, Quantum Spin Liquids have usually only been found in one or two dimensional magnetic systems only. Now an international team led by HZB scientists has investigated crystals of PbCuTe2O6 with neutron experiments at ISIS, NIST and ILL. They found spin liquid behaviour in 3D, due to a so called hyper hyperkagome lattice. The experimental data fit extremely well to theoretical simulations also done at HZB.
  • Freie Universität Berlin appointed Johannes Reuther as W2 professor
    News
    22.04.2020
    Freie Universität Berlin appointed Johannes Reuther as W2 professor

    On April 6, 2020 Freie Universität Berlin appointed Johannes Reuther to the joint W2 professorship "Theory of Novel Quantum Materials”. The physicist will conduct research at both Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and Freie Universität Berlin. The joint appointment will build a bridge between experimental and theoretical physics.

  • Neutron research: Magnetic monopoles detected in Kagome spin ice systems
    Science Highlight
    07.04.2020
    Neutron research: Magnetic monopoles detected in Kagome spin ice systems
    Magnetic monopoles are actually impossible. At low temperatures, however, certain crystals can contain so-called quasi-particles that behave like magnetic monopoles. Now an international cooperation has proven that such monopoles also occur in a Kagome spin ice system. Decisive factors were, among others, measurements with inelastic neutron scattering at the NEAT instrument of the Berlin neutron source BER II*. The results have been published in the journal Science.
  • Condensed Matter Physics: Long-standing prediction of quantum physics experimentally proven
    Science Highlight
    06.04.2020
    Condensed Matter Physics: Long-standing prediction of quantum physics experimentally proven
    90 years ago, the physicist Hans Bethe postulated that unusual patterns, so-called Bethe strings, appear in certain magnetic solids. Now an international team has succeeded in experimentally detecting such Bethe strings for the first time. They used neutron scattering experiments at various neutron facilities including the unique high-field magnet of BER II* at HZB. The experimental data are in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction of Bethe and prove once again the power of quantum physics.
  • New Helmholtz Young Investigator Group at HZB
    News
    28.02.2020
    New Helmholtz Young Investigator Group at HZB
    Dr. Felix Büttner will establish a Helmholtz Young Investigator Group (YIG) on topological solitons at the HZB beginning in March 2020. Topological solitons occur in magnetic quantum materials and can contribute to extremely energy-efficient switching processes. Büttner wants to develop a new imaging technique at BESSY II to study these quasi-particles.
  • Not everything is ferromagnetic in high magnetic fields
    Science Highlight
    10.02.2020
    Not everything is ferromagnetic in high magnetic fields
    High magnetic fields have a potential to modify the microscopic arrangement of magnetic moments because they overcome interactions existing in zero field. Usually, high fields exceeding a certain critical value force the moments to align in the same direction as the field leading to ferromagnetic arrangement. However, a recent study showed that this is not always the case. The experiments took place at the high-field magnet at HZB's neutron source BER II, which generates a constant magnetic field of up to 26 Tesla. This is about 500,000 times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field. Further experiments with pulsed magnetic fields up to 45 Tesla were performed at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR). 
  • Topological materials for information technology offer lossless transmission of signals
    Science Highlight
    18.12.2019
    Topological materials for information technology offer lossless transmission of signals
    New experiments with magnetically doped topological insulators at BESSY II have revealed possible ways of lossless signal transmission that involve a surprising self-organisation phenomenon. In the future, it might be possible to develop materials that display this phenomenon at room temperature and can be used as processing units in a quantum computer, for example. The study has been published in the renowned journal Nature.
  • New instrument at BESSY II commences user operation
    News
    28.10.2019
    New instrument at BESSY II commences user operation
    A new instrument became available to the users of BESSY II on Oct. 28, 2019. The new beamline and apparatus for spin- and angular-resolved photoemission in the Russian-German Laboratory at BESSY II have successfully completed their test phase. They facilitate precise measurements of the electron band structure and spin of different material classes such as topological insulators and magnetic sandwich structures, as well as novel perovskite-based solar-cell materials. A photoelectron microscope has also been developed which is particularly important for nanoscopic structures.

  • Joint research group for quantum computing and simulation
    Interview
    10.10.2019
    Joint research group for quantum computing and simulation
    Freie Universität Berlin and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) are now strengthening their cooperation in the field of quantum computing with a new research group. Quantum materials exhibit very interesting properties, which researchers want to use to make data processing significantly faster and more efficient than is currently possible. They can study these materials excellently at synchrotron radiation sources such as BESSY II. It has proven especially promising to predict the material properties in quantum simulations before running the experiments. Taking this approach allows such experiments to be conducted more targetedly.
  • Save time using maths: analytical tool designs corkscrew-shaped nano-antennae
    Science Highlight
    23.08.2019
    Save time using maths: analytical tool designs corkscrew-shaped nano-antennae
    For the first time, an HZB team has derived analytically how corkscrew-shaped nano-antennas interact with light. The mathematical tool can be used to calculate the geometry that a nano-antenna must have for specific applications in sensor technology or information technology.
  • Utrafast magnetism: electron-phonon interactions examined at BESSY II
    Science Highlight
    28.06.2019
    Utrafast magnetism: electron-phonon interactions examined at BESSY II
    How fast can a magnet switch its orientation and what are the microscopic mechanisms at play ? These questions are of first importance for the development of data storage and computer chips. Now, an HZB team at BESSY II has for the first time been able to experimentally assess the principal microscopic process of ultra-fast magnetism. The methodology developed for this purpose can also be used to investigate interactions between spins and lattice oscillations in graphene, superconductors or other (quantum) materials.
  • Organic electronics: a new semiconductor in the carbon-nitride family
    Science Highlight
    05.06.2019
    Organic electronics: a new semiconductor in the carbon-nitride family
    Teams from Humboldt-Universität and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin have explored a new material in the carbon-nitride family. Triazine-based graphitic carbon nitride (TGCN) is a semiconductor that should be highly suitable for applications in optoelectronics. Its structure is two-dimensional and reminiscent of graphene. Unlike graphene, however, the conductivity in the direction perpendicular to its 2D planes is 65 times higher than along the planes themselves.
  • Laser-driven Spin Dynamics in Ferrimagnets: How does the Angular Momentum flow?
    Science Highlight
    10.05.2019
    Laser-driven Spin Dynamics in Ferrimagnets: How does the Angular Momentum flow?
    When exposed to intense laser pulses, the magnetization of a material can be manipulated very fast. Fundamentally, magnetization is connected to the angular momentum of the electrons in the material. A team of researchers led by scientists from the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy (MBI) has now been able to follow the flow of angular momentum during ultrafast optical demagnetization in a ferrimagnetic iron-gadolinium alloy at the femtoslicing facility of BESSY II. Their results are helpful to understand the fundamental processes and their speed limits. The study is published in Physical Review Letters.
  • Graphene on the way to superconductivity
    Science Highlight
    10.11.2018
    Graphene on the way to superconductivity
    Scientists at HZB have found evidence that double layers of graphene have a property that may let them conduct current completely without resistance. They probed the bandstructure at BESSY II with extremely high resolution ARPES and could identify a flat area at a surprising location.
  • Neutrons scan magnetic fields inside samples
    Science Highlight
    02.10.2018
    Neutrons scan magnetic fields inside samples
    With a newly developed neutron tomography technique, an HZB team has been able to map for the first time magnetic field lines inside materials at the BER II research reactor. Tensorial neutron tomography promises new insights into superconductors, battery electrodes, and other energy-related materials.
  • User research at BER II: New insights into high-temperature superconductors
    Science Highlight
    09.02.2018
    User research at BER II: New insights into high-temperature superconductors
    After 30 years of research, there are still many unsolved puzzles about high-temperature superconductors - among them is the magnetic “stripe order” found in some cuprate superconductors. A Danish research team has taken a closer look at these stripes, using high-resolution neutron scattering at the spectrometers FLEXX (HZB) and ThALES (ILL, Grenoble). Their results, now published in Physical Review Letters, challenge the common understanding of stripe order, and may contribute to unveil the true nature  of high-temperature superconductivity.
  • New at Campus Wannsee: CoreLab Quantum Materials
    News
    19.06.2017
    New at Campus Wannsee: CoreLab Quantum Materials
    Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin has expanded its series of CoreLabs for energy materials research. In addition to the five established CoreLabs, it has now set up a CoreLab for Quantum Materials. A research team from the HZB Institute for Quantum Phenomena in New Materials is responsible for the CoreLab and its modern equipment. The CoreLab is also open to experimenters from other research institutes. 
  • Future Information Technologies: New combinations of materials for producing magnetic monopoles
    Science Highlight
    10.10.2016
    Future Information Technologies: New combinations of materials for producing magnetic monopoles
    An international collaboration at BESSY II has discovered a new method to inscribe exotic magnetic patterns such as magnetic monopoles into thin ferromagnetic films. Such unconventional orientation of magnetic domains might open a new path for the design of energy efficient data storage. The new materials system consists of regular arrays of superconducting YBaCuO-dots covered with an extremely thin permalloy film. A shortly applied external magnetic field leads to the creation of supercurrents within the superconducting dots. These currents produce a complex magnetic field pattern, which is inscribed into the permalloy film above. The results are published in Advanced Science.
  • Eine lange Nacht geballtes Wissen tanken
    Nachricht
    11.06.2015
    Eine lange Nacht geballtes Wissen tanken
    Führungen an der Neutronenquelle, Experimente zur Energie für Groß und Klein, Licht-Show und vieles mehr
  • Universality of charge order in cuprate superconductors
    Science Highlight
    22.12.2014
    Universality of charge order in cuprate superconductors
    Charge order has been established in another class of cuprate superconductors, highlighting the importance of the phenomenon as a general property of these high-Tc materials.
  • Hochfeldmagnet sucht Neutronenleiter
    Nachricht
    18.12.2014
    Hochfeldmagnet sucht Neutronenleiter
    Am Freitag, den 12. Dezember 2014 fand der Umzug des Hochfeldmagneten an seinen endgültigen Aufstellungsort in der Neutronenleiterhalle statt. Eine Spezialfirma für Maschinentransporte bugsierte den über 25 Tonnen schweren Stahlkoloss aus dem HFM-Technikum heraus und setzte ihn in Bewegung.
  • Leading scientists on topological insulators met in Berlin
    News
    01.09.2014
    Leading scientists on topological insulators met in Berlin
    From July 7-10, 150 researchers met in Berlin to discuss recent findings in the field of topological insulators.
  • High-Field Magnet crossed the finish line at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin
    News
    23.01.2014
    High-Field Magnet crossed the finish line at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin
    The High-Field Magnet (HFM) for diffracting neutrons entered the gates of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin in Wannsee on 23 January 2014 at 9am, where the project team headed by Dr. Peter Smeibidl enthusiastically accepted delivery. The journey for the roughly 20-tonne scientific device began in the Italian city of Chivasso near Turin two days prior on 21 January. It traversed its 1200 kilometre route without incident, which led through Milan, the Gotthard Tunnel, Zürich, and Stuttgart to Berlin.
  • Charge Order competes with superconductivity
    Science Highlight
    19.12.2013
    Charge Order competes with superconductivity
    Today in Science Express: Charge carriers in cuprate high-Tc superconductors form nanostripes that suppress superconductivity, as shown by guest researchers from Princeton and Vancouver using synchrotron radiation at BESSY II
  • High field magnet for neutron scattering has made its way to Italy
    News
    10.10.2013
    High field magnet for neutron scattering has made its way to Italy
    After five years of manufacture, the superconducting spool for the new high field magnet for neutron scattering finally took off from Atlanta, USA, inside the belly of an MD-11F Lufthansa cargo plane on October 9, 2013, at 3:00 am EST. The plane landed in the cargo area at Frankfurt Airport promptly at 6:21 pm that same day. Following German customs clearance, the magnet was subsequently transferred to Italy by truck where, on Friday, October 11, it arrived in Chivasso/Turin.
  • Tiefer Röntgenblick zeigt: Supraleiter sind komplizierter als gedacht - Rätselhaft verschwindende Streifenstruktur
    Nachricht
    29.08.2012
    Tiefer Röntgenblick zeigt: Supraleiter sind komplizierter als gedacht - Rätselhaft verschwindende Streifenstruktur
    Keramische Supraleiter sind komplizierter als gedacht. Das zeigt eine Untersuchung sogenannter Lanthan-Cuprate mit den Röntgenquellen BESSY II am Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) und DORIS III bei DESY in Hamburg. Die elektrischen Strukturen, die sich in dem Material ausbilden, können demnach in der Nähe der Oberfläche ganz anders sein als in der Tiefe. Dieses Wissen ist wichtig für das Verständnis der komplizierten Vorgänge in den widerstandsfreien Stromleitern und kann der Konstruktion neuer Supraleiter mit maßgeschneiderten Eigenschaften helfen. Allerdings bedeutet sie auch, dass eine Reihe von Untersuchungen unter Umständen ergänzt werden müssen, wie das internationale Team um HZB-Forscher Christian Schüßler-Langeheine im Fachjournal "Nature Communications" berichtet.
  • Physiker beobachten, wie ein Elektron im Festkörper in neuartige Quasiteilchen zerfällt
    Nachricht
    18.04.2012
    Physiker beobachten, wie ein Elektron im Festkörper in neuartige Quasiteilchen zerfällt
    Physiker eines internationalen Forschungsteams haben erstmals beobachtet, wie sich ein Elektron in zwei voneinander getrennte Teile aufspaltet, die jeweils eine bestimmte Eigenschaft des Elektrons tragen: Das sogenannte «Spinon» trägt dann den Spin des Elektrons, also seine Eigenrotation. Diese lässt das Elektron zu einer winzigen Kompassnadel werden. Das «Orbiton» ist der Träger des orbitalen Moments – das ist die Bewegung um den Atomkern. Diese neu hergestellten Teilchen können das Material, in dem sie erzeugt wurden, nicht verlassen. Justine Schlappa vom Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin hat diese Ergebnisse jetzt zusammen mit ihren Kollegen in der Fachzeitschrift Nature veröffentlicht (DOI: 10.1038/nature10974). Die Ergebnisse wurden an der Synchrotronquelle SLS des schweizerischen Paul Scherrer Instituts erzielt, wo Justine Schlappa zu Beginn des Projekts beschäftigt war.
  • Wichtiger Schritt Richtung BERLinPro: Erster Elektronenstrahl aus SRF Quellinjektor
    Nachricht
    28.04.2011
    Wichtiger Schritt Richtung BERLinPro: Erster Elektronenstrahl aus SRF Quellinjektor
    Am 21. April 2011 hat das HZB mit einer supraleitenden Elektronenquelle (SRF Gun) die ersten Photoelektronen erzeugt und beschleunigt. Dies ist ein Meilenstein für das Projekt BERLinPro, und es ist zugleich weltweit das erste Mal, dass mit einem supraleitenden Hochfrequenz-Photoinjektor aus einer supraleitenden Photokathode ein Elektronenstrahl erzeugt worden ist.
  • News
    19.10.2009
    New material provides a key to explaining superconductivity

    [Translate to Englisch:] Forscher des Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) stellen in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Zeitschrift Nature Materials neue Ergebnisse vor, die einen alten Streit um die richtige Theorie lösen könnten.

  • More than 300 Scientists at SRF 2009 in Berlin
    News
    02.10.2009
    More than 300 Scientists at SRF 2009 in Berlin
    International Conference on RF-Superconductivity and Accelerator Physics was a great success! 
  • Orbital 2009 - internationaler Workshop am HZB
    Nachricht
    01.10.2009
    Orbital 2009 - internationaler Workshop am HZB
    Am 7. und 8. Oktober 2009 findet am Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin am Standort Adlershof der Workshop "Orbital 2009" mit 95 Teilnehmern aus aller Welt statt.
  • Nachricht
    15.05.2009
    Supraleiter unter Druck gesetzt und damit Geheimnisse entlockt

    Wissenschaftler des Helmholtz-Zentrums Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) gewinnen neue, überraschende Einblicke in das Phänomen der Supraleitung. In Kooperation mit mehreren internationalen Forschergruppen berichten sie dies in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Zeitschrift Nature Materials, die eine Online-Version als Highlight-Beitrag vorab veröffentlicht.

  • Dreidimensionale Bildgebung- erstmalige Einblicke in Magnetfelder
    Nachricht
    30.08.2008
    Dreidimensionale Bildgebung- erstmalige Einblicke in Magnetfelder
    3D-Bilder werden nicht nur in der Medizin erzeugt, etwa mithilfe der Röntgen- oder Kernspinresonanztomographie. Auch Materialwissenschaftler blicken gern ins Innere eines Körpers. Forschern des Berliner Hahn-Meitner-Instituts (HMI) ist es nun in Kooperation mit der Technischen Fachhochschule Berlin (TFH) erstmals gelungen, Magnetfelder im Inneren von massiven, nicht transparenten Materialien dreidimensional darzustellen. Das berichten Nikolay Kardjilov und Kollegen in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Zeitschrift Nature Physics, die eine Online-Version als Highlight-Beitrag in dieser Woche vorab veröffentlicht.
  • Der weltweit stärkste Magnet für Neutronenexperimente wird in Berlin errichtet
    Nachricht
    29.03.2007
    Der weltweit stärkste Magnet für Neutronenexperimente wird in Berlin errichtet
    Der Kooperationsvertrag zwischen dem Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin (HMI) und dem National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) Tallahassee (Florida State University) zum Bau eines neuen Hochfeldmagneten ist unterzeichnet worden. Er wird der weltweit stärkste Magnet für Neutronenstreuexperimente. Von den Experimenten an dem Magneten erwarten Forscher neue Erkenntnisse zu Fragen aus der Physik, Chemie, Biologie und den Materialwissenschaften, unter anderem Beiträge zum Verständnis der Hochtemperatursupraleitung.
  • Nanomuster bringen Strom unter Kontrolle: Natriumkobaltoxid als perfektes Material für Laptop-Batterien, als Kühlmittel oder Supraleiter
    Nachricht
    06.02.2007
    Nanomuster bringen Strom unter Kontrolle: Natriumkobaltoxid als perfektes Material für Laptop-Batterien, als Kühlmittel oder Supraleiter
    Regelmäßige Muster aus Natriumatomen mit Strukturen im Nanometerbereich machen Natriumkobaltoxid zu einem perfekten Material für Laptop-Batterien, effiziente Kühlmittel oder Supraleiter – das berichten Wissenschaftler des Berliner Hahn-Meitner-Instituts, des CEA-Forschungszentrums in Saclay bei Paris und der Universität Liverpool in der neuesten Ausgabe des Wissenschaftsmagazins Nature. Dabei bestimmt die genaue Anordnung der Natriumatome die Eigenschaften des Materials, wobei das jeweilige Natriummuster sehr empfindlich von der Dichte an Natriumatomen abhängt. Diese ist mit chemischen Methoden leicht veränderbar, und man kann so aus einem anfangs metallischen Material einen Isolator und dann einen Supraleiter machen. Man bringt dazu das Material in eine elektrochemische Zelle und ändert die Spannung.
  • Nachricht
    01.05.2003
    Bose-Einstein-Kondensat: Magnetfelder erzeugen ungewöhnlichen Materiezustand

    In einem Experiment am Hahn-Meitner-Institut in Berlin wurden zum ersten Mal die magnetischen Eigenschaften eines Kristalls für die Erzeugung eines Bose-Einstein-Kondensats genutzt. Dieser ungewöhnliche Materiezustand entstand, als der Kristall in ein starkes Magnetfeld von 14 Tesla gebracht wurde und konnte mit Hilfe von Neutronen aus dem Forschungsreaktor des Hahn-Meitner-Instituts nachgewiesen werden. Mit Magnetfeldern von bis zu 17 Tesla (mehr als das 200.000-fache des Erdmagnetfelds) bei Experimenten mit Neutronen stehen in Berlin weltweit einzigartige Forschungsmöglichkeiten zur Verfügung, die Voraussetzung für Erzeugung und Nachweis des Kondensats waren.