Jan Lüning heads HZB Institute for Electronic Structure Dynamics
© HG Medien
The HZB Institute for Electronic Structure Dynamics, newly founded on 1 May, develops experimental techniques and infrastructures to investigate the dynamics of elementary microscopic processes in novel material systems. This will help to optimise functional materials for sustainable technologies.
Prof. Dr. Jan Lüning is an internationally recognised expert in research with synchrotron radiation. Before joining HZB in 2018, he was a professor at Sorbonne University in Paris and worked at the French synchrotron SOLEIL.
Three groups belong to the institute: Dr Ulrich Schade's group operates the IRIS infrared beamline at the BESSY II synchrotron radiation source. He examines molecular processes in novel functional materials that enable, for example, energy conversion or catalytic water splitting.
The group "Ultra-Short-Time Laser Spectroscopy" led by Dr. Iain Wilkinson works in the laser laboratories ULLAS and LIDUX and investigates the dynamics of reactions in aqueous solutions and at aqueous interfaces on ultra-short time scales.
The third group, led by Dr. Christian Schüssler-Langeheine and Dr. Niko Pontius, operates the Femtoslicing Facility at BESSY II and conducts research on materials with complex phase transitions that have the potential to make electronic and magnetic devices smaller, faster and more energy efficient.
The institute's research activities are part of the Helmholtz Association's Programme-Oriented Funding (POF IV) in the Research Field Matter.
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- New Method for Absorption Correction to Improve Dental FillingsA research team led by Dr. Ioanna Mantouvalou has developed a method to more accurately depict the elemental distributions in dental materials than previously possible. The used confocal micro-X-ray fluorescence (micro-XRF) analysis provides three-dimensional elemental images that contain distortions. These distortions occur when X-rays pass through materials of different densities and compositions. By utilizing micro-CT data, which provides detailed 3D images of the material structure, and chemical information from X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) experiments conducted in the laboratory (BLiX, TU Berlin) and at the synchrotron light source BESSY II, the researchers have improved the method.
- MXenes for energy storage: Chemical imaging more than just surface deepA new method in spectromicroscopy significantly improves the study of chemical reactions at the nanoscale, both on surfaces and inside layered materials. Scanning X-ray microscopy (SXM) at MAXYMUS beamline of BESSY II enables the investigation of chemical species adsorbed on the top layer (surface) or intercalated within the MXene electrode (bulk) with high chemical sensitivity. The method was developed by a HZB team led by Dr. Tristan Petit. The scientists demonstrated among others first SXM on MXene flakes, a material used as electrode in lithium-ion batteries.