02|14 Newsletter of the Research Centre DESY

Focus on crystals 2014 is the United Nations International Year of Crystallography

Diversity: biomolecules crystallise in very different shapes. Image: IUCr

Aircraft turbines, medication, memory “This year marks the centenary of the chips – we are surrounded by achieve- birth of modern crystallography,” said “Google maps for the body” 3 ments of a field of science that is largely UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. CSSB founding director Matthias Wilmanns unknown to the general public: crystallo­ “We celebrate 100 years of ground- graphy. Investigating the inner structure breaking advances.” Counting light particles 7 of solid matter paves the way for modern The birth of crystallography took place ALPS II precision detector materials like extremely heat-resistant in a cellar of the university of Munich. “A ceramics, more efficient solar cells ­and century ago, Max von Laue in Germany Higgs for couch potatoes 8 tailor-made medication. realised that crystals diffract,” said Pay an online visit to DESY’s “Teilchenzoo” “How many people realise when they ­Gautam Desiraju, President of the Inter- board a plane or take medication that national Union of Crystallography (IUCr), these products are the fruit of a long which jointly hosts this science year Bragg received the Nobel Prize in process that began with crystallo­ with the UNESCO. “And this discovery ­Physics in 1915. graphy?,” asked Irina Bokova, Director- was harnessed by William Henry Bragg This new method opened up completely General of the United Nations ­Educational, and William Lawrence Bragg in the UK new possibilities for many fields of Scientific and Cultural Organization to obtain the internal structure of solids ­science because with the knowledge of ­UNESCO. “Even though it permeates our in terms of where atoms, ions and the inner structure it was not only lives, crystallography ­remains largely ­molecules are situated with respect to ­possible to explore materials properties unknown.” For this ­reason, the United one another.” For his discovery, von ­Nations (UN) has declareded 2014 the Laue was awarded the 1914 Nobel Prize ­International Year of Crystallography. in Physics and both father and son continued on page 2 DireCtor’s Corner

Dear colleagues,

“Our successful cooperation benefits from the diverse personalities who ­illustrated by the new ALPS sensor with an area of merely 25x25 micro- work together at DESY, and from their different nationalities and variety metres and a thickness of 20 nanometres. The sensor is a central part of of educational backgrounds.” the ­experiment and another example of DESY promoting technologies.

You can find this sentence in the chapter “Joint operations” of our Guiding Among the honoured personalities at DESY are the Bjørn H. Wiik Prize Principles. It is the personalities that coin DESY and make our research winners, Kerstin Tackmann for 2012, and Ralf Röhlsberger for 2013. centre unique. One of these personalities is Hans Grabosch, who shaped Benjamin Lutz received the CMS Achievement Award, Martin Pohl was the development and contributed to the success of DESY in Zeuthen as elected APS Fellow and Ingmar Hartl Fellow of the Optical Society. deputy head from 1998 on. Now he goes into his well-earned retirement. Moreover, after the Consolidator Grant for Jochen Küpper, DESY scientists Hans Grabosch gained great respect for his serenity and his detailed have been successful for the second time at the European Research knowledge and he kept the institute navigating in calm waters, as one Council ERC with the Synergy Grant for Franz Kärtner, Henry Chapman, would say in Hamburg. We will miss him much. However, we are glad Ralph Aßmann and Petra Fromme. Congratulations to the prize winners that his successor Heidrun ­Bojahr has already energetically assumed and to all who contributed to these projects. office. These achievements show that DESY is a place of top-level research, One successful example of cooperation between many people and pro- due to the close collaboration of many exceptional people. fessions is the DESY “Teilchenzoo” (particle zoo) exhibition at the Uni- versum science centre in Bremen which attracts the interest of many May our sucessful cooperation continue to prosper! visitors and is very popular particularly among school classes. Yours, Sometimes, it is a very small item that needs the concentrated mind Christian Stegmann power and manpower of many to bring about great science – this is

but also to tailor materials with the ­ingredients at the molecular level,” said for tailor-made medication. This strategy ­desired properties. The first crystals DESY Director Helmut Dosch. to combat­ infectious diseases­ is in the ­decoded by the Braggs were table salt DESY offers outstanding possibilities ­focus of research at the new Centre for and diamonds, which have simple inner for modern crystallography. At DESY’s Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) on structures. The more complicated a facilities scientists can watch ­catalysts the DESY campus. crystal is structured, the more complex at work, simulate the conditions in the is the diffraction pattern which it produces interior of the earth and observe in real in the X-ray light. time the degradation of solar cells. And However, today, sophisticated experi- at ­DESY’s X-ray source PETRA III, mental and computing methods even whose large experimental hall is named allow structure investigations of bio­ after Max von Laue, scientists have just molecules with millions of atoms, as for paved the way for a new procedure that example the ribosome, the protein allows decoding the structure of biological ­factory of biological cells, which was microcrystals using only a few dozen 2 decoded with the help of DESY ­facilities. specimens. This is especially interesting “Today, scientists investigate complex for bio­molecules which are notoriously structures with ultra-modern analysis difficult to ­crystallise because crystallis- methods using synchrotron radiation ing is incompatible with their ­natural Official website: and X-ray lasers to understand the function. The structural analysis of bio- http://www.iycr2014.org ­behaviour of materials and active molecules offers promising ­approaches “Google maps for the human body” The Centre for Structural Systems Biology CSSB picks up speed

Matthias Wilmanns, founding director of the CSSB. Photos: Heiner Müller-Elsner

The new Centre for Structural Systems Biology and this way learn something about its ­probe ­biological samples for the first CSSB on the DESY campus in Hamburg gathers function? time. ­Since then, radiation sources have pace. The programme for the current year is ­undergone a rapid development. And, extensive, says Matthias Wilmanns, head of Yes, this is exactly the way it works. And of course, it is nice to see that today­ the Hamburg branch of the European Molecu- it has applications too. For example, we ­Hamburg, with DESY’s ­storage ring lar Biology Laboratory EMBL, who was recently try to explore new territory in the area of ­PETRA III, is in the vanguard. appointed founding director of CSSB. drugs ­design. However, we have to be realistic. We will not solve all problems And this development is not yet finished. Mr. Wilmanns, when will the excavators of drugs ­development overnight, since start rolling for the new building? many diseases are very complicated,­ The next revolution with regard to particularly infectious diseases, which ­radiation are X-ray lasers like the Euro­ Construction will start end of March. are my field of research. Most of the time pean XFEL. Looking at these lasers, However, the centre is already working; there is not only one molecule involved; which currently only exist in Stanford, for example, we have had our first board often, there are hundreds of molecules ­California, and in Japan, and seeing what meetings. Until completion of the new that interact and lead to an illness. they can do, demonstrates that we are building, our office will have a prelimi- able to reach completely new dimensions nary home. ­Several of the future nine X-ray crystallography, which is now with them. research groups ­already reside on the used to decode many of these biolo- campus. Others are still working in other gical ­structures, is no new technology. Which role does CSSB play in this districts of the city, at our partner institu- Why does structural biology develop so ­development? tions like the Bernhard Nocht Institute or ­rapidly only ­today? the University Medical Center Hamburg- When we met for the first time in Eppendorf (UKE). The new building will The method as such – crystallography – 2004, there was the basic idea: we are be finished in 2016. has been known for a century. However, ­having these ­fantastic infrastructures we didn’t have the neccessary com- in ­Hamburg which we would like to What is the task of structural biology? puters for a long period of time – it is ­complement by recruiting top-­level as simple as that. We did not have the ­scientists here, on the premises. It is We all know Google maps and similar necessary tools to evaluate the data in ­logical for me that top-level research in tools. At CSSB, we will operate a kind all its complexity to carry out ­structural the field of structural biology also takes of Google maps for the human body. biology. place at sites that have these infrastruc- Mankind is deeply interested in zooming tures, and in Germany this is Hamburg. into the body as precisely as possible. You mean, the rapid development of Our goal is to ­cooperate on a par with A hundred years ago, we made use of computer technology paved the way for the world’s leading ­research institutions light microscopy, today of X-ray structu- structural ­biology? in this field. And the­combination CSSB, ral analysis. With this method, we are PETRA III and European XFEL is unique 3 able to see single atoms. This is a major Synchrotron radiation too was a gre- worldwide. (tim) ­milestone. at revolution. At the end of the sixties and beginning of the seventies, Ken With the help of X-ray light, you decode Holmes and Hugh Huxley used syn- the atomic structures of a biomolecule chrotron ­radiation at the DESY ring to Salty surprise What’s on at DESY With high-pressure experiments at PETRA III, scientists have produced new chemical compounds which should not exist according to the textbook rules of chemistry. In table salt or sodium chloride (NaCl), one sodium atom (Na) and one chlorine atom (Cl) form the cubic salt lattice. Under extreme pressure, “forbidden” compounds like February NaCl3 turned up whose electron distribution is graphically displayed here. Figure: Artem Oganov/Stony Brook University 12 Public Lecture Futuristisch in jeder Hinsicht: Das Center for Free-Electron Laser Science und seine Forschung Robin Santra, DESY, Hamburg, 19:00 h

13 Event (http://mint.desy.de) MINT day for girls DESY, Hamburg

20-21 Meeting ICFA & LCB Meeting DESY, Hamburg

20-21 Event Jugend forscht – Regional Competition DESY, Hamburg

22 Public Event (www.kurzundkalt.de) kurz & kalt – Best of the Antarctic Film Festival – short films DESY, Hamburg, DESY auditorium, 17:00 h

25 Staff assembly DESY, Zeuthen, SR 1-3, 14:00 h

26 Science Café DESY (http://sciencecafe.desy.de) Das Fliegenhirn – Ein Parallelcomputer auf kleinstem Raum Alexander Borst, DESY, Hamburg, DESY Bistro, 17:00 h

March

17-21 Meeting H.E.S.S. Collaboration Meeting Universität Potsdam

21-25 Event (http://masterclasses.desy.de) International Masterclasses DESY, Hamburg and Zeuthen, and HU Berlin

26 Science Café DESY (http://sciencecafe.desy.de) Things we see everyday in nature, and what these things tell us – An excursion through resonance, rainbows and radiation Scott Mandry, DESY, Hamburg, DESY Bistro, 17:00 h

27 Event (http://betriebsrat-hamburg.desy.de) Girls’ Day DESY, Hamburg

27 Event (www.zukunftstagbrandenburg.de) Zukunftstag für Mädchen und Jungen in Brandenburg DESY, Zeuthen

27 Lecture series: Staying Healthy Venengesundheit Dr. med. Guido Bruning, Head physician of the Centre for Venous and Dermatologic ­Surgery of the hospital Tabea, Hamburg-Blankenese DESY, Hamburg, seminar room 2, bldg. 2a, 16:00 h

All current events: www.desy.de/veranstaltungen Hans Grabosch leaves the DESY stage Successor Heidrun Bojahr assumes office

Hans-Jürgen Grabosch will go into man of the Zeuthen management and ­retirement at the end of February. He is became head of the technical division the person with the complete overview of and deputy head of DESY in Zeuthen. how everything works in Zeuthen. He Since that time, construction plans, knows about the current finances, build- ­financial tables and project planning ing ­projects and the latest research have been part of his day-to-day business. ­results. As deputy head of DESY in However, he still collaborated in ex­ Zeuthen, he is a member of the division periments, for example in the Photo In- deputy directors group and therefore one jector Test facility in Zeuthen PITZ. He of the main information carriers between commissioned ­diagnostic components, DESY in Hamburg and in Zeuthen. did shift work in the control room and In 1979, Grabosch began to work as a ­supervised ­diploma students. Over a physicist at the Institute of High-Energy period of many years, he was able to Physics IFH in Zeuthen. He did his PhD gather a ­tremendous wealth of ex­ thesis in the field of experimental perience. Hence, many discussions on ­neutrino physics at the bubble chamber all sorts of topics often end with people experiment SCAT. From 1986, he Hans Grabosch in front of a statue of Max Planck. saying “we better ask Hans Grabosch…” worked for five years at the neutrino- Photo: Christine Iezzi Hans-Jürgen Grabosch goes into a calorimeter experiment­ at IHEP in well-earned retirement. Fortunately, he ­Protvino, in the ­former Soviet Union. In the HERA accelerator. He significantly did not forget to pass on his knowledge, 1992, the IFH became the second DESY ­participated in the construction of the already for the benefit of his successor site. As an experimental physicist, presampler for the ZEUS calorimeter. Heidrun Bojahr. (ub) ­Grabosch joined the ZEUS collaboration at Since 1995 he has been the right-hand

Bjørn H. Wiik Prizes 2012 and 2013 Particle physicist Kerstin Tackmann and Photon Science researcher Ralf Röhlsberger awarded

In January, not only one but two Bjørn Photon scientist Ralf Röhlsberger was platinum cavity with the size of one H. Wiik Prizes were awarded in Hamburg. awarded the Wiik Prize 2013 for his ­nanometre to induce single iron atoms The award worth 3000 € commemorates to cooperative emission, and he made the lifetime achievements of DESY use of experimental methods deriving ­Director Bjørn Wiik (1937-1999) and is from Mössbauer spectroscopy. The handed out every two to three years to novel measuring procedure opens up young scientists and engineers who many possibilities for additional ex­ ­notably advanced projects at DESY with periments, for instance in quantum in- their research or technical developments. formation technology. (tz)

Particle physicist Kerstin Tackmann ­received the 2012 Prize for her contribu- tions to the Higgs particle discovery in the ATLAS detector at the LHC. With her analysis of the Higgs particle decay Laureate Kerstin Tackmann. Photo: Lars Berg into two photons, she played a decisive role in the identification of this particle. She had previously considerably refined 6 the photon detection methods in the ­fundamental quantum-mechanical ex­ ATLAS detector. The resulting increase periments with X-rays, which he mainly of the detection sensitivity made the ­carried out at the world’s most brilliant rapid discovery of the Higgs boson synchrotron radiation source PETRA III. ­possible, which was announced on To observe for example electromagneti- 4 July 2012. cally induced transparency, he used a Laureate Ralf Röhlsberger. Photo: Lars Berg Counting light particles NEWS ALPS experiment puts extremely sensitive transition-edge detector into operation ERC grant for “super slow motion” To trace and understand chemical and bio- logical processes taking place in just some quintillionths of a second with full atomic ­detail – for this ambitious research project, Franz Kärtner (Center for Free-Electron ­Laser Science CFEL, DESY and University of Hamburg), Henry Chapman (CFEL, DESY and University of Hamburg), Ralph Aßmann (DESY) and Petra Fromme (Arizona State ­University) were granted a total of 14 million euros from the European Research Council ERC. Among others, this will fund a new ­research facility at DESY.

The 25x25 micron-sized midget is sitting in the middle of the green circle at the lower edge. Photo: ALPS

There is plenty of cryogenic engineering operated at the transition between Martin Pohl appointed APS Fellow at DESY – kilometre-long accelerators ­superconductivity and normal conductivity. The renowned American Physical Society have been and are in operation at four When a photon hits the detector, this has elected Martin Pohl, astrophysicist at DESY in Zeuthen, as Fellow. With this or two Kelvin (-271 degrees centigrade). causes a minimal temperature increase, ­distinction, the APS recognises his outstand- Recently, a small experiment in the HERA which brings about a precisely measur- ing contributions to the theory of ­cosmic hall west has become a strong contender able change of the electrical resistance. rays, including modelling of cosmic ray to become the coldest place of the re- The novel detector was implemented at propagation and electron acceleration in search centre when the ALPS scientists DESY by PhD student Jan Dreyling-Esch- ­supernova remnants. put into operation a new detector which weiler in cooperation with international counts single photons with very high metrology institutes. First tests are prom- precision. With an operating temperature ising: “The transition-edge sensor is not of only 80 thousandths of a degree above only able to detect single infrared photons Ingmar Hartl honoured as OSA Fellow absolute zero, even the universe would be but also to measure their energy with an The Optical Society (OSA) has made DESY much too warm for this detector. Starting accuracy of 10 per cent,” says Friederike scientist Ingmar Hartl an OSA Fellow Member. Hartl is being recognised for outstanding at the end of the year, the scientists will Januschek from the five-member detector contributions to femtosecond fibre lasers use this detector to test if there are very team of Hamburg University and DESY. and frequency combs across the optical light particles hidden in our universe. The inherent noise of the ALPS sensor ­spectrum. The mission of the Washington- Let’s recap: ALPS, a “light shining through is smaller than just a single signal within based OSA is the “generation, dissemination, a wall” experiment whose acronym stands three hours; the arrival time of a photon application, and archiving of knowledge in optics and photonics.” A total of 71 members for Any Light Particle Search, used a can be measured with an accuracy of were elected fellows at the end of December converted replacement magnet of the one millionth of a second. These prop- 2013 because they achieved considerable superconducting HERA proton ring to erties allow the ALPS researchers to progress in these fields. search for very light particles, so-called count single photons and determine WISPs (weakly interacting sub-eV their “colour”, even when only a few of ­particles). According to some extensions these photons are produced per hour. CMS Achievement Award for Benjamin Lutz of the Standard Model, these particles In the middle of the year, the test setup for DESY Postdoc Benjamin Lutz receives the could exist in great numbers and should ALPS II will start operation and reach its CMS Achievement Award 2014 for his engage- be generated by the conversion of light full sensitivity by mid 2015. Then the next ment to improve the outer layer of the hadronic particles in a strong magnetic field and extension of the experiment could follow calorimeter in the CMS experiment, for which then reconverted into photons. In 2010, – an about 200-metre-long system with DESY delivered the essential components. the ALPS scientists published the most 20 HERA dipole magnets in the HERA Lutz is acknowledged “for the excellent ­organization of the process of carrying out precise measurements worldwide in this tunnel. There is a lot of hope among the full replacement of hybrid photo detectors to field and immediately planned the sub­ ALPS researchers’ group: “The convincing silicon photo-multipliers”. The CMS collabo- sequent experiment ALPS II, with a factor with regard to the WISPs is that ration presents this prize for extraordinary 3000-fold increase of sensitivity. at one blow they would solve a whole contributions to the experiment. The central part of the new ALPS II detector bunch of existing physics problems and is a transition-edge sensor that the scien- strange observations in astrophysics, in- 7 tists will use to record any light from WISPs cluding the question of dark matter,” said conversions. The high sensitivity of the tiny ALPS spokesman Axel Lindner. “And sensor (it measures 25 by 25 micrometres ­perhaps our detector development would and is 20 nanometres thick), results from also be interesting for other DESY its measuring principle: the detector is ­research activities.” (tz) EU-Russia year of Science

Late 2013 saw the official launch of the EU-Russia Year of Science. This initiative includes numerous workshops, confer- ences and forums taking place in both Russia and the European Union that are supposed to establish new and strengthen existing cooperation. Moreover, there are a number of important political mile- stones pending for the European Union and Russia, e.g. the start of the new EU research programme “Horizon 2020”, the renewal of the EU-Russia Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement and the start of the new Federal Targeted Programme for Research & Development in Russia. The exhibition “Teilchenzoo” at Universum® Bremen is particularly popular with students. Photo: Universum® In a joint venture with the Russian ­Foundation of Basic Research, the Helm- holtz Association will organise a final seminar on their shared programme “Helmholtz-Russia Joint Research Groups”: Higgs for couch potatoes after five bidding rounds, 32 German and Pay an online visit to DESY’s “Teilchenzoo” 32 Russian project partners will present the research results of their three-year cooperation on 3 March in Moscow. The Since the opening in September of last All those who have no time to travel to topics include genetic disposition to year, some 40.000 visitors have seen the Bremen can visit the “Teilchenzoo” at ­tuberculosis, arctic research, the analysis DESY and Science Center Universum® home. On the exhibition’s website you of climate change by taking the example exhibition “Teilchenzoo” (particle zoo) in can find the popular “particl-o-matic” of the Lake Baikal, and particle physics. Bremen (see DESY inForm 9/2013), and ­per­sonality test and entertaining and DESY is participating in a group that measures cosmic radiation in the Siberian the exhibitors obtained a lot of enthusiastic ­informative particle physics films (in Tunka Valley, and another group is work- feedback. Even visitors who came with German) in which TV host Delf Deike ing at DESY’s Photo Injector Test facility tricky questions like “What is behind the probes DESY physicists. The world of in Zeuthen (PITZ). universe?” “How can you determine the particle physics for couch potatoes… (uw) shape of particles?” “How long will the www.helmholtz.de/perspektiven sun continue to shine?” found answers to their questions (if you’re wondering what they are, see http://teilchenzoo.­ desy.de; answers are in German only). The particles, shown as friendly monsters, are quite popular as postcards and INFO Imprint small stamps. Evening events are also a Publisher DESY-PR big pull to visit the “Teilchenzoo”: on 21 The website of the exhibition with an Notkestraße 85 February, Metin Tolan will present fasci- online personality test, particle physics D-22607 Hamburg Contact nating and easy-to-understand science films, answers to visitors’ questions email: [email protected] in his talk “Star Trek – searching for and current events: telephone +49/40/8998-3613 www.desy.de/inform extra-­terrestrial life” (in German). There http://teilchenzoo.desy.de/exhibition (online version + newsletter subscription) are also special events for school classes Editors Gerrit Hörentrup on how scientists ­actually work, how The special exhibition “Teichenzoo” Till Mundzek (editor-in-chief) they investigate things that are invisible in the „SchauBox“ exhibition rooms Barbara Warmbein ® Ute Wilhelmsen or how it is ­possible to bring order into of Universum Bremen will run until Thomas Zoufal the swarm of elementary particles. In a 30 June 2014. The admission fee is Production ® Britta Liebaug (layout) two-and-a-half-hour workshop, pupils included in the Universum admission Veronika Werschner (translation) will go into detail of various fascinating fee (16 Euros, reduced fee 11 Euros). Kopierzentrale DESY (print) ­aspects of the exhibition.