Our latest press releases and news

Magnetic field sensors are found in automobiles, smartphones and security systems. But many of these components are made of materials that are neither health- nor environment-friendly and are complex to produce. In Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-71077-9), an international team led by researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has now presented a sustainable alternative: printed sensors composed of iron, iron oxide and bio-based materials like cellulose and starch.

How do gas bubbles behave in turbulent liquids? To answer this question – which is important, for example, for the design of industrial plants – scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have significantly refined and applied an experimental method. For this work, they were awarded the HZDR Research Prize on May 21, 2026. At the award ceremony, the research center also honored its employees in the categories of Technology, Transfer, Communication and PhD.

Our Solar System is currently passing through the Local Interstellar Cloud, a region of highly diluted gas and dust between the stars. On its path, Earth continuously accumulates iron-60, a rare radioactive isotope of iron produced in stellar explosions. This has now been confirmed by an international research team led by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) through the analysis of Antarctic ice tens of thousands of years old.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.