News
Smartphone rapid test detects microbiologically contaminated water in less than a minute
BAM research team developed a highly sensitive detection method for urobilin:
Microbiologically contaminated water poses a significant health risk worldwide – especially in areas where laboratories are scarce and rapid testing is crucial. Researchers at the Federal Institute for Materials…
Chance encounter in space: JANUS camera captures interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS
ESA's Jupiter probe, JUICE, was unexpectedly perfectly lined up for observations of a comet from deep interstellar space:
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission, en route to Jupiter on a journey lasting over seven years, was not originally scheduled to conduct scientific operations so early in its voyage. Then, in the summer of…
HU researchers develop molecular clamps controlled by light
The molecular photoswitches use light to adjust mechanical strain, enabling on-demand control of chemical reactions:
Controlling exactly when and where chemical reactions take place remains one of the central challenges in modern chemistry. Heat, mixing, or catalysts typically affect entire systems at once, offering little spatial…
Ultrafast laser pulses bring diamond-based quantum internet closer to reality
Researchers from Berlin have demonstrated a new method for generating single photons in a diamond-based quantum system:
The controlled generation of single photons is an essential element of numerous quantum technology applications, such as quantum networks and quantum computing. A research team from the Integrated Quantum Photonics…
Research team has developed an alternative spectral imaging method
Quantum interference makes MIR spectroscopy possible using simple camera technology:
Mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy uses the molecular fingerprints of samples to perform biomedical or environmental analyses without chemical staining or labeling. Highly specific vibrational states of the different…
The research coordinator
Patrick Scheele oversees the scientific direction of Ferdinand-Braun-Institut:
“I wasn’t disappointed,” says Patrick Scheele, looking back on the expectations with which he took up the post of scientific managing director of the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für…
Adlershof Innovation Booster
Thanks to AI, new technologies are emerging on campus that are driving scientific excellence and strengthening technological autonomy:
Artificial intelligence is accelerating research and driving innovation cycles. In Adlershof, this is giving rise to new technologies that not only advance scientific excellence but also strengthen the technological…
New ERDF Project for Oxide and Fluoride Crystals for Photonics and Electronics granted to IKZ
Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth receives millions in EU funding:
Research & Development (R & D) of crystals for photonics & electronics is a crucial precondition to enable economic success for key technologies defined by the “High Tech Agenda Deutschland” (see for details:…
5000th protein structure at BESSY II – Starting point for a COVID drug
HZB team has identified 21 molecules as candidates for the development of antiviral drugs:
Many proteins have a complex architecture that enables biological functions. Molecules can bind to specific sites on a protein and alter its function. A team at HZB has now investigated the Nsp1 protein, which plays a…
Research platform for measurement data from the depths of the universe
Platform developed by HU and DESY makes data stream from the new wide-field telescope at the Vera Rubin Observatory accessible to astrophysicists worldwide:
The universe is full of explosive events – for example, when stars detonate or are torn apart near black holes. Very rarely, about once every hundred years, such events can be observed with the naked eye in the night…
What Zinc concentration in teeth reveals
X-ray methods reveal strong gradients on the Zinc distribution in teeth – these insights could inspire dental medicine:
Teeth are composites of mineral and protein, with a bulk of bony dentin that is highly porous. This structure is allows teeth to be both strong and sensitive. Besides calcium and phosphate, teeth contain trace…
Fascinating archaeological find becomes a source of knowledge
Nördlingen bronze sword examined at Berlin X-ray source BESSY II:
The Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments (BLfD) has sent a rare artefact from the Middle Bronze Age to Berlin for examination using cutting-edge, non-destructive methods. It is a…
MXene for energy storage more versatile than expected
HZB team maps chemical states of Titanium atoms using the X-ray microscope ‘MYSTIIC’ at BESSY II:
MXene materials are promising candidates for a new energy storage technology. However, the processes by which the charge storage takes place were not yet fully understood. A team at HZB has examined, for the first…
VCSEL-Powered NMR Gyroscope Ready for Space Navigation
The QYRO project is developing a compact quantum sensor for precise satellite navigation:
Within the QYRO project, the consortium has successfully qualified 795 nm VCSELs as pump-and-probe laser sources for an NMR gyroscope designed to enable compact and energy-efficient navigation in space. A VCSEL…
Water Window in the Laboratory
Soft X-ray Imaging with Nanometer Depth Resolution Using High Harmonics:
In its NanoMovie Application Laboratory, MBI offers femtosecond (≈10-15 seconds) short soft X-ray pulses produced by High Harmonic Generation (HHG) to users. The HHG radiation extends from 100 to 600 eV, covering the…
Compact electron accelerator for treating PFAS-contaminated water
New approach to breaking down PFAS molecules into harmless components at contamination hotspots using radiolysis:
So-called forever chemicals or PFAS compounds are a growing environmental problem. An innovative approach to treating PFAS-contaminated water and soil now comes from accelerator physics: high-energy electrons can…
Worlds made of ice
How cameras and lasers map Jupiter’s moons:
Far out in the solar system, some 700 million kilometres from Earth, the gas giant Jupiter reigns over an entire army of moons. These are worlds of ice, scarred by kilometre-long cracks and chasms, pockmarked with…
A proving ground for pioneers
Researchers and developers at the Adlershof Technology Park are still making history in the aviation and aerospace sector:
The aviation pioneer Melli Beese died a century ago. In the very place that she once helped shape, researchers and developers are still making history in the aviation and aerospace sector—with excellent technologies…
FBH to present latest advances at Photonics West 2026
From 17 to 22 January, the research institute presents its portfolio in the fields of optics, photonics and microsystems in San Francisco:
The Berlin-based Ferdinand-Braun-Institut develops and manufactures semiconductor-based diode lasers and UV LEDs with the entire process chain in-house. At the trade fair and conferences, the institute will present…
Multi-method approach makes nanomaterials safer
BAM researchers combine modern analytical methods for characterising particle surfaces:
The safe use of nanomaterials and their optimum performance depend largely on their surfaces. However, the reliable characterization of nanomaterial surfaces is still challenging. Two new studies by the Federal…