Collaborations of the HZDR on the International Level

As an important member in se­veral European research networks the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf contributes to international research projects like, for example, the Knowledge and Innovation Community EIT Raw Materials. The Center also maintains close contact with the ESRF in Grenoble, France, and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.


ESRF

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At the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility ESRF in Grenoble, France, energy research at the Institute of Resource Ecology benefits from Europe’s most brilliant source of X-ray light. This Institute of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf operates the Rossendorf Beamline (ROBL) at the ESRF, a radiochemical laboratory of particular relevance to research on the permanent disposal of nuclear waste.

Dedicated to molecular actinide sciences, ROBL's two experimental stations offer a variety of X-ray spectroscopic and diffraction tools for studies of fundamental 5f-element chemistry, nuclear waste management, and (mostly mining-related) environmental chemistry.

Beamtime is offered to inhouse and external users upon scientific merit of the submitted proposal, which is evaluated by review pannels of HZDR or ESRF.

Further informatin on how to apply for beamtime


European XFEL

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At the European XFEL, the HZDR is operating – together with DESY – the Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields (HIBEF). This "extreme lab" will be a key addition to the High-Energy Density Science Instrument (HED) at European XFEL.

Geosciences, materials research, astrophysics, and plasma physics as well as structural biology and superfast chemical processes – the ultimate goal being to combine the European XFEL analytic tool with the most powerful magnetic fields currently available or experimental options of optical laser systems is to glean new insights into previously hidden processes within matter and materials. Prof. Thomas Cowan, director of the HZDR Institute of Radiation Physics, is head of the international user consortium.


ChETEC-INFRA

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The EU network ChETEC-INFRA, coordinated by HZDR, aims to facilitate access to specialized research infrastructures in nuclear astrophysics. The networked research facilities range from the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) on the Canary Islands to medium-sized telescopes in the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Bulgaria. In addition, accelerator laboratories that enable the study of element formation by charged particles, neutrons or photon-induced reactions are participating. HZDR contributes the Felsenkeller underground ion accelerator and the DREAMS accelerator mass spectrometry setup. In addition, a powerful computational cluster enables the study of nucleosynthesis taking place in a massive star.

Link to the HZDR press release of May 5, 2021


WHELMI

The Weizmann-Helmholtz Laboratory for Laser Matter Interaction (WHELMI), a new research laboratory designed to bridge basic research with applied research, was inaugurated in the Israeli city of Rehovot in 2017. This joint project between the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science aims to develop high-performance lasers.

Link to the German-language HZDR press release of April 26, 2017


EMFL

Logo EMFLThe four leading high magnetic field laboratories in Europe - the Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory at HZDR and its collaboration partners in Nijmegen, Toulouse & Grenoble - have merged to form the European Magnetic Field Laboratory with the objective of making first-class infrastructures in the sector of high magnetic fields available to scientists from all over the world. The project is included in the ESFRI list (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures).


LEAPS initiative

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16 organizations operating a total of 19 light sources in Europe have joined forces in the LEAPS initiative (League of European Accelerator-based Photon Sources) with the aim of strengthening their cooperation. In addition to promoting a collective strategy at all European institutions, including the development of specializations at individual institutions, LEAPS also aims to play an integrating role for countries with less developed communities and infrastructures for research and innovation in Europe and beyond.


ERF-AISBL

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The European Association of National Research Facilities with open international access (ERF) was initiated in 2007 to promote cooperation between individual European national large-scale research facilities funded by national sources but offering open access and serving every year over 20,000 academic and industrial users from Europe and all over the world. HZDR is one of its members.


RADIATE

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In the EU project RADIATE (Research And Development with Ion Beams - Advancing Technology in Europe), ion beams are used as a tool to specifically modify or analyze material surfaces. 18 partners from science and industry want to provide flexible and easy access to the most important ion beam centers in Europe, including the continent's most powerful ion beam center, which is in operation at HZDR. In addition, software programs are to be developed that are freely available to all interested users. In this way, the partners also want to reach researchers who do not yet have ion beam technologies in their portfolio. In addition, the promotion of young researchers and further education are on the agenda. The HZDR coordinates the project.


ELI – Extreme Light Infrastructure

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The Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) is a European ESFRI project for the investigation of light-matter interactions at highest intensities and shortest time scales. At three sites in Eastern Europe, in Dolny Brezany close to Prague/ Czech Republic, in Szeged/ Hungary and in Magurele close to Bucharest/ Romania, some of the most advanced high-power, high-intensity, and short-pulsed lasers are offering ultra-short pulses of high energy photons, electrons, protons, neutrons, muons and neutrinos in the (sub-)attosecond regimes to the international user community. ELI is operated as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), with the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy and Lithuania as members, and Germany, Bulgaria and, starting from 2024, Romania as observers. HZDR is representing the German research community in the framework of the ERIC.


EIT RawMaterials

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The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) commissioned an international consortium to develop a so-called Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) for the raw materials sector in 2014. Coordination thereof was assumed by the HZDR jointly with the Fraunhofer Association. EIT Raw Materials interconnects more than 100 European facilities from the resource sector and was outsourced in December of 2016, according to plan, as an autonomous organization. The objective here is to assure supply for European industry with urgently-needed raw materials and to improve training, research and innovation in this crucial field.


University of Wrocław

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The Uniwersytet Wrocławski (University of Wroclaw) is one of the important partners of the research center CASUS (Center for Advanced Systems Understanding) in Görlitz. The establishment of CASUS, coordinated by the HZDR, is intended to create a center for digital interdisciplinary systems research in Germany. The Uniwersytet Wrocławski contributes by researching the interaction of autonomous vehicles with their environment. Above all, this concerns networking with the environment and predicting the behaviour of other road users. New algorithms and AI methods will be supportive in this.


ARIEL

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The EURATOM coordination and support project "Accelerator and Research reactor Infrastructures for Education and Learning" (ARIEL) started in 2019 and combines state-of-the-art European neutron beam laboratories using the full range of neutron sources from high-energy proton synchrotrons to research reactors.
Despite Germany´s commitment to a gradual phase-out of nuclear power, reactor safety is still an important issue. Being part in the ongoing international discussion assumes to maintain and to extend the expertise in this field.
For the continued improvement of the safety of current and future nuclear facilities, accurate and precise nuclear data are required. Producing these nuclear data is a complex process, which relies on neutron facilities and on highly trained nuclear physicists. Within ARIEL, 23 partners from 14 European countries are working together for the education and training of a new generation of young scientists and technical staff. Infrastructure-wise, HZDR contributes with its radiation source at the ELBE Center for High-Power Radiation Sources. The portfolio is completed with long-standing experience and knowledge in fission, scattering and total cross- section measurements.


Monash University Melbourne

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The collaboration between scientists from Monash University and the HZDR began in 2007 with the development of copper-labelled radiopharmaceuticals for tumor imaging. The Helmholtz Association supported the progress of the work as the Virtual Institute "NanoTracking", which brought together groups from Australia, Ireland and France, from Heidelberg, Potsdam and the HZDR/OncoRay. Joint research and teaching, publications and the exchange of young scientists form the core of a memorandum of understanding for closer cooperation, which the HZDR signed with Monash University in Melbourne in autumn 2018. The Institute for Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research is also involved: Sensor technologies could become the second pillar of the collaboration, alongside radiopharmacy.
Together with Australian researchers around Prof. Hugh Blackburn, scientists of the Department of Magnetohydrodynamics of the Institute of Fluid Dynamics at HZDR are also involved in the field of numerical simulation of precession-driven flows. This work is part of the future project DRESDYN. The scientists from the Faculty of Engineering at Monash University are developing the code, while their Dresden colleagues are carrying out the application calculations.


Lightsources.org

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Lightsources.org is the result of a collaboration between communicators from light source facilities around the world. This platform groups 22 synchrotrons and 7 free-electron laser (FEL) facilities representing 24 organisations all over the world – including the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, which contributes with:

Lightsources.org provides information and updates about light sources research, as well as opportunities for international collaboration and careers.


Laserlab-Europe AISBL

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Laserlab-Europe AISBL is an international not-for-profit association, bringing together leading European laser research infrastructures. Jointly, they are committed to coordinate operation and R&D efforts in order to facilitate the development of advanced lasers and laser-based technologies. The association promotes the efficient utilization of advanced laser facilities by users from academia and industry. The majority of the members provide open access to their facilities to scientists from all over the world to perform experiments in a large variety of inter-disciplinary research, covering advanced laser science and applications in most domains of research and technology.


University of Latvia

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The HZDR and the Institute of Physics of the University of Latvia have a long-standing cooperation in the field of magnetohydrodynamics. The Riga Dynamo Experiment is one of the large sodium experiments dedicated to the study of magnetic self-excitation in conductive fluids. The experience gained there will be incorporated into the infrastructure project DRESDYN at HZDR. The experimental setup being developed at the Institute of Fluid Dynamics will be used to clarify whether and under which conditions precession is a possible cause of planetary dynamos. The cooperation between the two institutes is supported by the European Research Council.


HESEB

The HESEB beamline was set up as a Helmholtz-SESAME beamline by the Helmholtz centers DESY (coordinator), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the HZDR at the SESAME synchrotron in Jordan. It is the fifth beamline and provides "soft" X-ray light in the energy range between 70 eV and 1800 eV. Among other things, this is suitable for examining surfaces and interfaces, for observing certain chemical and electronic processes and for the non-destructive analysis of art objects.