Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download

discovered_01_2013

discovered 01.13 Editorial WWW.Hzdr.DE Dear reader, the focus of this current issue of discovered is ELBE, Saxony's largest research machine. Although unlike in the Elbe river, there isn't any water flowing in the HZDR's ELBE but rather electrons that are racing at 99.9 percent the speed of light through pipes, windows, and apertures. As in a switch yard, these light-weight, electrically charged particles are sent from the accelerator into one of many labs where they power different radiation sources. This allows for the generation of invisible infrared light in the terahertz range, which is so very popular with researchers, as well as X- and gamma rays or neutrons and positrons. The heart of our substantially expanded experimental center is the ELBE accelerator (the acronym stands for Electron Linear Accelerator with High Brilliance and Low Emittance). Cutting-edge high-power lasers are also capable of effectively accelerating electrons and even protons. Over the next several years, the ELBE building will be housing the new petawatt laser system PENELOPE, and existing laser DRACO is currently being upgraded to perform at 500 terawatts. Our new Center for High-Power Radiation Sources unites these different facilities under one roof; to keep things simple, we opted to stick with the former name, ELBE. The stories that were included in this issue - fittingly entitled "Extreme Matter" - are all about large-scale devices and the fact that matter and materials are exposed to extreme conditions of intense radiation, high pressure, low temperatures, or very strong magnetic fields. In the end, however, machines are only ever means to an end, for excellent science is always done by exceptionally talented people. This current issue of discovered introduces you to a few of them at our major user facilities. Meet Liz Green, a young American physicist, who, as the High Magnetic Field Lab's local contact, is in charge of supervising external users like Cedomir Petrovic. Wolfhard Möller, on the other hand, is a highly renowned Professor Emeritus. Read an interview with him about the EU project SPIRIT and how it helped keep the HZDR's Ion Beam Center open for business. Möller's efforts have benefitted Andreas Kolitsch, CEO of HZDR Innovation GmbH, as they have allowed him to offer up unique, ion beam based services to industry. Find out about our liquid sodium research platform DRESDYN and learn that the attribute "extreme" is not an exaggeration when talking about an experiment. An interview with DRESDYN's Frank Stefani and Peter Kaever offers the reader exciting glimpses into the unexpected hurdles and major challenges that must be overcome in the planning and set-up of these types of experiments. Unlike ELBE and the Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory, both of which are currently undergoing substantial expansion as part of our future projects initiative, DRESDYN has to be re-invented, re- calculated, and re-simulated from scratch. All of them tasks that can prompt many a sleepless night. Wishing you a refreshing read Yours, Christine Bohnet Communications and Media Relations COVER IMAGE . LANDED IN A DEFECT: If a positron meets an electron, both particles trigger energy flashes that rapidly spread in different directions in the form of hard radiation. Diagram: AIFilm

Pages