IRIS beamline at BESSY II extended with nanomicroscopy
Infrared image of the nucleolus in the nucleus of a fibroblast cell. The scale bar corresponds to 500 nanometres. © HZB
The IRIS infrared beamline at the BESSY II storage ring now offers a fourth option for characterising materials, cells and even molecules on different length scales. The team has extended the IRIS beamline with an end station for nanospectroscopy and nanoimaging that enables spatial resolutions down to below 30 nanometres. The instrument is also available to external user groups.
The infrared beamline IRIS at the BESSY II storage ring is the only infrared beamline in Germany that is also available to external user groups and is therefore in great demand. Dr Ulrich Schade, in charge of the beamline, and his team continue to develop the instruments to enable unique, state-of-the-art experimental techniques in IR spectroscopy.
As part of a recent major upgrade to the beamline, the team, together with the Institute of Chemistry at Humboldt University Berlin, has built an additional infrared near-field microscope.
"With the nanoscope, we can resolve structures smaller than a thousandth of the diameter of a human hair and thus reach the innermost structures of biological systems, catalysts, polymers and quantum materials," says Dr Alexander Veber, who led this extension.
The new nanospectroscopy end station is based on a scanning optical microscope and enables imaging and spectroscopy with infrared light with a spatial resolution of more than 30 nm. To demonstrate the performance of the new end station, Veber analysed individual cellulose microfibrils and imaged cell structures. All end stations are available to national and international user groups.
Funding information: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung [grant No. project 05K19KH1 (SyMS)]; Germany's Excellence Strategy (grant No. EXC 2008-390540038 – UniSysCat).
arö
https://www.helmholtz-berlin.de/pubbin/news_seite?nid=26746;sprache=en
- Copy link
-
Optical innovations for solar modules - which are the most promising?
In 2023, photovoltaic systems generated more than 5% of the world’s electrical energy and the installed capacity doubles every two to three years. Optical technologies can further increase the efficiency of solar modules and open up new applications, such as coloured solar modules for facades. Now, 27 experts provide a comprehensive overview of the state of research and assess the most promising innovations. The report, which is also of interest to stakeholders in funding and science management, was coordinated by HZB scientists Prof. Christiane Becker and Dr. Klaus Jäger.
-
Catalysis research with the X-ray microscope at BESSY II
Contrary to what we learned at school, some catalysts do change during the reaction: for example, certain electrocatalysts can change their structure and composition during the reaction when an electric field is applied. The X-ray microscope TXM at BESSY II in Berlin is a unique tool for studying such changes in detail. The results help to develop innovative catalysts for a wide range of applications. One example was recently published in Nature Materials. It involved the synthesis of ammonia from waste nitrates.
-
BESSY II: Magnetic ‘microflowers’ enhance magnetic fields locally
A flower-shaped structure only a few micrometres in size made of a nickel-iron alloy can concentrate and locally enhance magnetic fields. The size of the effect can be controlled by varying the geometry and number of 'petals'. This magnetic metamaterial developed by Dr Anna Palau's group at the Institut de Ciencia de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB) in collaboration with her partners of the CHIST-ERA MetaMagIC project, has now been studied at BESSY II in collaboration with Dr Sergio Valencia. Such a device can be used to increase the sensitivity of magnetic sensors, to reduce the energy required for creating local magnetic fields, but also, at the PEEM experimental station, to study samples under much higher magnetic fields than currently possible.