Method found for analysing complex, tiny crystals

15-Feb-2023 - The atomic structure of solid substances can often be analysed quickly, easily and very precisely using X-rays. However, this requires that crystals of the corresponding substances exist. Chemist Professor Oliver Oeckler from Leipzig University and his team are developing methods to make this ...

Ultra-fast switching of helicity of circularly polarized light pulses

The ultra-fast change of light helicity is particularly interesting to observe processes in magnetic materials

03-Apr-2020 - At the BESSY II storage ring, a joint team of accelerator physicists, undulator experts and experimenters has shown how the helicity of circularly polarized synchrotron radiation can be switched faster - up to a million times faster than before. They used an elliptical double-undulator developed ...

New X-ray spectroscopy explores hydrogen-generating catalyst

23-Nov-2017 - Using a newly developed technique, researchers from Japan, Germany and the U.S. have identified a key step in production of hydrogen gas by a bacterial enzyme. Understanding these reactions could be important in developing a clean-fuel economy powered by hydrogen. The team studied hydrogenases - ...

New technique provides detailed views of metals’ crystal structure

Method uses readily available tools to quickly determine materials’ properties.

12-Jul-2016 - Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have developed a new combination of methods that can provide detailed information about the microstructure of polycrystalline metals. Such materials — composed of a random matrix of multiple small crystals rather than one single large crystal — are widely used for ...

Towards decommissioning Fukushima

'Seeing' boron distribution in molten debris

19-May-2016 - Decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant just got one step closer. Japanese researchers have mapped the distribution of boron compounds in a model control rod, paving the way for determining re-criticality risk within the reactor. To this day the precise situation inside the Fukushima ...

Successful real-time observation of atomic motion with sub-nanometer resolution

24-Feb-2016 - Associate Professor Muneaki Hase of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences of the University of Tsukuba, Dr. Paul Fons, Chief Researcher in the Nanoelectronics Division of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Lecturer Toru Shimada of Hirosaki University, Dr. ...

A close-up view of materials as they stretch or compress

10-Sep-2015 - Materials scientists are busy developing advanced materials, while also working to squeeze every bit of performance out of existing materials. This is particularly true in the aerospace industry, where small advantages in weight or extreme temperature tolerance quickly translate into tremendous ...

Novel superconducting undulator provides first X-ray light at ANKA

Successful installation and testing of high-performance superconducting undulator SCU15

12-May-2015 - Synchrotron radiation facilities provide insights into the world of very small structures like microbes, viruses or nanomaterials and rely on dedicated magnet technology, which is optimized to produce highest intensity beams. The ANKA synchrotron radiation facility at KIT and Babcock Noell GmbH ...

SACLA laser sets new record

Next-generation facility up and running with powerful new X-ray laser

14-Jun-2011 - RIKEN and the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) have successfully produced a first beam of X-ray laser light with a wavelength of 1.2 Angstroms. This light was created using SACLA, a cutting-edge X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) facility unveiled by RIKEN in February 2011 in ...

New synchrotron technique could see hidden building blocks of life

31-May-2011 - Scientists from Finland and France have developed a new synchrotron X-ray technique that may revolutionize the chemical analysis of rare materials like meteoric rock samples or fossils. The results have been published in Nature Materials.Life, as we know it, is based on the chemistry of carbon ...