Annual Report 2009: Junior Staff

Three new young investigators’ groups

At the FZD, qualified young postdocs have the opportunity to become head of a young investigators’ group with an own budget at their disposal. The groups are expected to finish their work within five years, with evaluations after three and five years conducted by a commission of FZD scientists.

In November, the work of the first young investigators’ groups established at the FZD was evaluated. The groups conducting research in materials physics with highly charged ions (head: Dr. Stefan Facsko) and neutron induced processes (head: Dr. Arnd Junghans) were finished after five years work; they now continue with their research at their institutes. Evaluation was also carried out for the groups working on CFD development (head: Dr. Thomas Höhne) and nano spintronics (head: Dr. Heidemarie Schmidt). Both groups carry on with their work.

Besides, three new young investigators’ groups were founded last year. A group around Dr. Artur Erbe investigates the prerequisites for producing ever smaller electronic circuits in the size range of less than 10 nanometers. Another group, led by Dr. Reik Löser, aims at developing new radioactive substances for cancer research. Dr. Dominik Stehr heads a group that uses Terahertz sources to investigate and manipulate fundamental solid state processes.

Currently, there are six young investigators’ groups at the FZD:

  • „Transportphänomene in Nanostrukturen“ (Leiter: Dr. Artur Erbe)
  • „Nano-Spintronics“ (Dr. Heidemarie Schmidt)
  • „Terahertz-Quantendynamik“ (Dr. Dominik Stehr)
  • „Tumorspezifische PET-Radiotracer“ (Dr. Reik Löser)
  • „Nanoskalige Biokompositmaterialien / NanoBio“ (Dr. Katrin Pollmann)
  • „CFD-Entwicklung“ (Dr. Thomas Höhne)

High number of PhD students

Given the about 800 people working at the FZD, there is quite a high number of PhD students (around 120). In order to increase contact between them, the students themselves organize an annual seminar with presentations, a poster session, workshops and enough opportunities for socializing and joint leisure time activities.
link to FZD web page for prospective PhD students

Each year the best dissertation is awarded the FZD Young Researcher Award. Last year’s award went to Dr. René Heller for his investigations into the interactions of highly charged ions with material surfaces. Last year, 18 PhD students concluded their papers (E = external dissertation):

Dissertations 2009

Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research

  • Dr. Markus Berndt: Phase separation in carbon: transition metal nanocomposite thin films (advisor: Prof. Dr. Wolfhard Möller)
  • Dr. Volkhard Beyer: Nanocrystals for nanodot memories: ion-beam synthesis and electrical studies (Prof. Dr. Karl R. Hofmann/Leibniz Universität Hannover) E
  • Dr. Dominik Güttler: An investigation of target poisoning during reactive magnetron sputtering (Dr. Rainer Grötzschel, Prof. Dr. Wolfhard Möller)
  • Dr. René Heller: Wechselwirkung langsamer hochgeladener Ionen mit der Oberfläche von Ionenkristallen (Dr. Stefan Facsko, Prof. Dr. Wolfhard Möller)
  • Dr. Adrian Keller: Evolution of ion-induced ripple patterns - anisotropy, nonlinearity and sealing (Dr. Stefan Facsko, Prof. Dr. Wolfhard Möller)
  • Dr. Xin Ou: Defect engineering in SIMOX processing (Dr. Reinhard Kögler, Prof. Dr. Wolfhard Möller) E
  • Dr. Jaroslava Potfajova: Silicon based microcavity enhanced light emitting diodes (Prof. Dr. Manfred Helm)

Institute of Radiation Physics

  • Dr. Daniela Kunath: Integration von PET/CT in die Strahlentherapie mit harten Photonen (Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Enghardt)
  • Dr. Chithra Nair: Photodisintegration studies of astrophysically relevant p-nuclei (Dr. Andreas Wagner, Prof. Dr. Eckart Grosse)
  • Dr. Georgy Shakirin: System solution for in-beam Positron Emission Tomography monitoring of radiation therapy (Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Enghardt)
  • Dr. Ronny Thomas: In-medium QCD sum rules for omega meson, nucleon and D meson (Prof. Dr. Burkhard Kämpfer)

Institute of Radiopharmacy

  • Dr. Susan Hoppmann: 18F-markierte S100-Proteine als potentielle Radioliganden für die funktionelle Charakterisierung des Rezeptors für advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE) (PD Dr. Jens Pietzsch)
  • Dr. Jens Langner: Listmode-Bewegungskorrektur in der PET: Entwicklung und Validierung eines routinefähigen Verfahrens (Prof. Dr. Jörg van den Hoff)
  • Dr. Anika Röhrich: Synthese und Charakterisierung Cyclam-basierter Multimere als Basis für Radiopharmaka (Dr. Holger Stephan, Prof. Dr. Jörg Steinbach)

Institute of Radiochemistry

  • Dr. Sineej Madathil: Conformational control of protein recognition domains (Dr. Karim Fahmy, Prof. Dr. Gert Bernhard)

Institute of Safety Research

  • Dr. Martina Bieberle: Bildrekonstruktion für die ultraschnelle Limited-Angle-Röntgen-Computertomographie von Zweiphasenströmungen (PD Dr. Uwe Hampel)
  • Dr. Christian Cierpka: Zeitaufgelöste PIV Untersuchungen zur Strömungskontrolle mittels periodischer elektromagnetischer Kräfte in schwach leitfähigen Fluiden (Dr. Gunter Gerbeth, Prof. Dr. Frank-Peter Weiß)
  • Dr. Emil Fridman: Fertile free fuel in LWRs-core physics and cycle options (Prof. Dr. Frank-Peter Weiß)

Ten years of successful vocational training

Awards are a visible sign of success, but they cannot be given for every single good achievement. Nearly all of the trainees who finished their vocational training at the FZD last year achieved good or excellent results. But only one of them can gain the title of the FZD’s best trainee or even get to the top of all trainees in the city of Dresden or even in the whole of Saxony. Due to our highly motivated trainees and committed staff who enjoy passing on their knowledge and experience, FZD trainees indeed managed to be among the best of each year during the past decade.

In October, the Dresden Chamber of Industry and Commerce honored the excellent achievements of the FZD research center and its trainees over the past ten years, awarding an honorary certificate which attests the FZD to be one of the two best places out of 3,300 training companies for young people in Dresden.

Manja Kiebler (physics laboratory assistant) and Dirk Biehle (electronic technician) were able to continue the prize-winning achievements of FZD trainees, being awarded by the Chambers of Industry and Commerce as best trainees in Dresden and the Free State of Saxony. Manja Kiebler gained the title of the FZD’s best trainee in 2009.

Von Ardenne Physics Awards

The competition seeking talented young physics students at grammar schools in the Free State of Saxony, which is organized by the FZD, managed to attract a new sponsor last year: Von ARDENNE Anlagentechnik GmbH. The competition took place for the ninth time.