Our latest press releases and news

Foto: Farewell Symposium “Terahertz Physics and 2D Materials” for Manfred Helm ©Copyright: HZDR / A.Wirsig

Abschied mit Perspektive: Farewell-Symposium für Manfred Helm

News of 13.04.2026

Ein besonderer Anlass im Großen Hörsaal des HZDR: Mit einem Symposium wurde Prof. Manfred Helm, bisher Direktor am Institut für Ionenstrahlphysik und Materialforschung, am 20. März 2026 in den Ruhestand verabschiedet. Kolleg*innen aus dem In- und Ausland blickten auf gemeinsame wissenschaftliche Wegmarken in der Terahertz-Physik und der Forschung zu 2D-Materialien zurück. Im Anschluss an die Veranstaltung haben wir mit Manfred Helm über prägende Momente am HZDR und seine Pläne für die kommende Zeit gesprochen.

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Foto: The image combines a model derived from a scanning electron microscopy image (left) with a snippet of the underlying crystal structure of a studied MXene featuring precisely controlled surface terminations. REF_3_2 ©Copyright: B. Schröder/HZDR

New route into 2D materials: Research team produces ultra-clean MXenes with outstanding electrical performance

Press Release of 09.02.2026

An international team of researchers from TU Dresden, Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics Halle, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and partner institutions across Europe has developed a breakthrough method for producing MXenes – an important family of two-dimensional materials – with unprecedented purity and control. The new “gas-liquid-solid” process enables the synthesis of pure MXenes with uniformly distributed halogen atoms on the surface and a precisely tunable surface composition.

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Foto: Artistic illustration of Floquet-engineered magnons: Using time as a resource, a static magnetic vortex evolves into a periodically driven state whose gyration generates a magnon frequency comb. REF_3_2 ©Copyright: Katrin Schultheiß, Helmut Schultheiß

Team discovers unexpected oscillation states in magnetic vortices: Magnon frequency combs could enable coupling across different physical systems

Press Release of 08.01.2026

Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have uncovered previously unobserved oscillation states – so-called Floquet states – in tiny magnetic vortices. Unlike earlier experiments, which required energy-intensive laser pulses to create such states, the team in Dresden discovered that a subtle excitation with magnetic waves is sufficient.

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Foto: Localized vertical spins through geometric confinement_REF_3_2 ©Copyright: Sander Münster/HZDR

Nanomagnets with a special twist: New production process makes technology better and less expensive

Press Release of 09.12.2025

Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have partnered with NTNU, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, and the Institute of Nuclear Physics in the Polish Academy of Sciences to develop a method that facilitates the manufacture of particularly efficient magnetic nanomaterials in a relatively simple process based on inexpensive raw materials.

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Foto: Giant mosaic of the Crab Nebula made of Hubble images ©Copyright: NASA/ESA/J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State Univ.)

Neue Podcast-Folge auf detektor.fm: Woher kommt der Sternenstaub?

News of 05.12.2025

In einer neuen Podcast-Folge des detektor.fm-Forschungsquartetts spricht Prof. Anton Wallner vom Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) über die Spuren vergangener Supernova-Explosionen und darüber, wie sich diese kosmischen Ereignisse noch heute auf der Erde nachweisen lassen.

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Foto: At the TELBE terahertz source, Tatiana Aureliia Uaman Svetikova investigates how ultrathin Dirac materials can convert radio signals into much higher terahertz frequencies at room temperature. ©Copyright: Oliver Killig/HZDR

A direct leap into terahertz: Dirac materials enable efficient signal conversion at room temperature

Press Release of 04.12.2025

Highspeed Internet, autonomous driving, the Internet of Things: data streams are proliferating at enormous speed. But classic radio technology is reaching its limits: the higher the data rate, the faster the signals need to be transmitted. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have now demonstrated (DOI: 10.1038/s42005-025-02273-0) that weak radio signals can be efficiently converted into significantly higher frequencies using this material that is just several tens of nanometers thick.

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Foto: Electron spins or magnons are capable of transferring energy and information via magnetic interactions. ©Copyright: Juniks

Towards energy-efficient artificial intelligence (AI): New platform for magnet-based AI hardware under development at HZDR

Press Release of 23.10.2025

The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has achieved double success in the EU Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding call “InfraProNet” conducted by the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism (SMWK). With the two projects MagKI and Magnon4KI, the HZDR is further strengthening its leading position in magnetic AI research. Combined, the projects will receive around €3.75 million in funding from the EU and the Free State of Saxony. Their aim is to lay the groundwork for a novel and highly energy-efficient hardware platform for artificial intelligence – a technology designed to operate more sustainably than today’s AI systems.

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Foto: COSMO Science Forum Dresden with exhibition “Mensch, Roboter!” ©Copyright: Toni Kretschmer / NewPic Photography

„Mensch, Roboter!“ New COSMO exhibition showcases robotics research from Dresden

News of 06.10.2025

Starting October 2, 2025, the COSMO Science Forum will present the exhibition “Mensch, Roboter! – Robotics from Dresden science.” Until February 27, 2026, visitors can explore how robotics is being researched in Dresden – and how it is already part of everyday life. The HZDR is participating in the exhibition together with five other research institutions.

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Foto: Artistic depiction of a single erbium ion being implanted into a silicon-based optical nanocavity. REF_3_2 ©Copyright: B. Schröder/HZDR

From single photons to storage: New project aims to integrate quantum light sources with quantum memories

Press Release of 11.06.2025

A Danish-German research collaboration with participation of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) aims to develop new quantum light sources and technology for scalable quantum networks based on the rare-earth element erbium. The project EQUAL (Erbium-based silicon quantum light sources) is funded by the Innovation Fund Denmark with 40 million Danish crowns (about 5.3 million euros). It started in May of 2025 and will run for five years.

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