News of June 5, 2025

HZDR Awards 2024: Recognition for outstanding research, transfer, and young talent

Whether it's novel materials or inertial fusion, research into warm dense matter promises many useful applications. However, investigating this state of matter is challenging, partly due to the high temperatures and pressures involved and the extremely short time for which it can currently be produced experimentally. A research team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) presented a mathematical solution that significantly simplifies the experiments. For this breakthrough, the team led by Dr. Tobias Dornheim, Dr. Maximilian Böhme, Dr. Zhandos Moldabekov, and Dr. Jan Vorberger was honored with the HZDR Research Award on June 5, 2025. During the ceremony, the HZDR Executive Board also presented awards in the categories of technology, transfer, promotion, and communication.

The four scientists are receiving the research award, which is presented once a year at the HZDR for outstanding work, primarily for the enormous progress their computational approach has made in experiments with warm dense matter (WDM). This state of matter, which occurs naturally in massive celestial bodies such as stars and planets, can only be produced on Earth in special laboratories with the aid of powerful laser flashes for fractions of a second. Until now, the evaluation of this very short time interval has been carried out using complicated simulations on high-performance computers. Thanks to the new method, which is based on the mathematical process of Laplace transformation, it can now be derived directly from the measurement. This reduces the effort required for the experiments many times over.

Large experimental facilities such as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US and European XFEL in Schenefeld near Hamburg are already using the method. The high value of the research is also evident from the other awards the team has received: Tobias Dornheim won one of the coveted Starting Grants from the European Research Council (ERC) and was honored by the Wrocław University of Science and Technology with its Stanisław Lem European Science Prize. Prof. Thomas Kühne, Director of the Center for Advanced Systems Understanding (CASUS) at HZDR, acknowledged all of this in his laudatory speech. The success is also the result of close cooperation between researchers at CASUS and the HZDR Institute of Radiation Physics.

Award-winning applications: Functional polymers and innovative resource exploration

Dr. Rui Xu, Dr. Denys Makarov, Dr. Tetiana Voitsekhivska, and Lin Guo from the Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research were delighted to receive the HZDR Technology Award. The team at the Helmholtz Innovation Lab FlexiSens has developed an electrically conductive polymer for medical prostheses that allows touchscreens on cell phones and other mobile devices to be operated without any problems. This was not previously possible with conventional prostheses. The technology has been patented and successfully transferred into application. At various trade fairs, FlexiSens succeeded in convincing potential industrial partners of the benefits of the electrically conductive material.

TheiaX GmbH, which was awarded the HZDR Transfer Award, is another example of successful research transfer from idea to final product. Founded four years ago at the HZDR, the start-up offers services related to the environmentally friendly exploration of natural resources that are urgently needed for the energy transition. It uses highly sensitive hyperspectral cameras that enable non-invasive remote exploration. The company is now profitable and has created twelve jobs at its Freiberg location. The award was accepted by Dr. Richard Gloaguen, Dr. Sandra Lorenz, Dr. Laura Tusa, Dr. Isabel Cecilia Contreras Acosta, and Christian Christesen (all from the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology and TheiaX GmbH).

Best doctoral theses from resource ecology, radiopharmacy, and materials research

• Dr. Stephan Hilpmann from the Institute for Resource Ecology for his doctoral thesis Wechselwirkung eines tongesteinsrelevanten Mikroorganismus mit Uran und Europium
• Dr. Santiago Andrés Brühlmann from the Institute for Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Research for his doctoral thesis on Process Engineering and Radiochemical Development of the Cyclotron-based Production of Theranostic Radiometals
• Dr. Satayam Kar from the Institute for Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research for his doctoral thesis on Size Effects in Epitaxially Grown Ni-Mn-Ga-based Films

The HZDR Communication Award, donated by the Sponsors' Association of the HZDR, went to Dr. Max Sieger from the Institute of Fluid Dynamics. Sieger has made a special contribution to introducing school students to careers in science. He actively promoted science and technology education in schools in the region and also supervised several internships in the “Jugend forscht” competition, including a first prize in the regional competition and a special prize from the Society for Non-Destructive Testing. He also won the “Best Supervision Award” from “Jugend forscht” for the HZDR.

As part of the award ceremony, a graduation ceremony was held once again to honor all young scientists who completed their doctorates at the HZDR last year. In addition to a certificate and a doctoral cap in the HZDR style, the graduates were pleased to receive congratulations from Prof. Klaus-Dieter Barbknecht, Rector of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, who gave the welcoming address. Other guests of honor included Prof. Ingo Gestring (HTW Dresden) and Prof. Michael Hübner (BTU Cottbus). The afternoon ended with an atmospheric get-together on the Rossendorf campus, accompanied by music from the duo “Jack & Queen” playing Irish folk.

Image gallery