30 March 2025
New ways of optimising energy materials
Those who understand down to the atomic level what happens when energy is converted in solar cells—switching elements of computer chips or reactors for the production of hydrogen—can optimally improve them so that they function as quickly, economically, and for as long as possible. This requires methods to observe the processes at the atomic and even subatomic level on timescales of picoseconds or even ...30 March 2025
Protein fireworks can lead to identification of their structures
A team led by Carl Caleman, a scientist at the Center for Free Electron Science at DESY, has developed a method of elucidating protein structures when they are similar. The technique uses the remnants of protein molecules exploded by X-ray laser pulses produced by facilities such as FLASH and the European XFEL. If one such exploded protein structure is known, then a second similar one will leave a respectively ...10 March 2025
X-ray snapshot: How light bends an active substance
With the help of the world's most powerful X-ray laser, European XFEL, a research team led by Goethe University Frankfurt and the research centre DESY has achieved an important breakthrough: Using the example of the pharmaceutically active substance 2-thiouracil, they applied a long-established imaging technique to complex molecules for the first time. Although 2-thiouracil is no longer applied therapeutically, it ...04 February 2025
Femtosecond insights into laser-assisted photoemission from metal surfaces
The recent advancements in high-intensity ultrafast X-ray science have paved the way for a new era of time-resolved pump-probe experiments: They have the potential to reveal previously inaccessible information about the interactions of photons with surfaces and the electronic dynamics they induce. This study presents an innovative investigation of the laser-assisted photoelectric effect (LAPE) from metallic ...28 January 2025
A Global Vision for Helical X-Ray-Laser Pulses to Unveil Life’s Fastest Movements
Over the past years, scientists worldwide have collaborated extensively to develop cutting-edge approaches with helical free-electron laser (FEL) pulses. These advancements aim to capture some of the fastest motions in nature, exploring them at the level of specific elements with a special ‘twist’. In Physical Review Research, leading experts from institutions such as the University of Hamburg, DESY, European ...