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ePaper created 2014-12-22, 09:34:33 | version 1.34.00
the design of new materials for the energy sector. A further goal is to improve the molecular structure of active sub- stances and thus their properties. International research groups and collaborating partners are given access to photon, neutron and ion sources, high magnetic field labo- ratories and high-performance lasers. This research infra- structure includes ANKA, BER II, BESSY II, ELBE, FLASH, GEMS, HLD, IBC, JCNS and PETRA III, as well as international facilities in which the Helmholtz Association is involved such as the European XFEL and the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR). PROGRAMMES IN THE COMING FUNDING PERIOD 2015–2019 36 Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht Centre for Materials and Coastal Research (HZG) Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) ALIGNED DNA WIRES FOR NANOELECTRONICS HZDR scientists have developed a simple technique for the controlled arrangement of DNA nanostructures on sil- icon wafers. They irradiated the silicon with ions in order to produce regular wavelike nanopatterns on its surface. They then deposited nanotubes manufactured using the DNA origami technique onto the silicon. As a result of electrostatic interactions, these nanotubes independently aligned themselves along the waves. The next step will be to assemble the nanotubes into electronic circuits that can be used to con- struct smaller and more effi- cient electronic components. MATERIALS PROCESSING – NEW SOLUTIONS FOR OLD PROBLEMS Materials processing began with the first hand axe. Since then it has become ever more sophisticated and the matching of material, designated use and cutting method has become ever more complex. Together with partners from universities and industry, HZG is using high-energy X-rays to investigate what actually happens when a component made of a particular material is being processed and what goes on at the cutting surface: the tensions that are generated, the way grains reorient themselves, and the new phases that emerge. The results of this work are facilitating the optimisation of these extremely important industrial processes. It may look like a landscape of sand dunes, but it is actually smaller than a single grain of sand. As a result of electrostatic interactions, DNA nanotubes align with prefabricated patterns. Image: A. Keller/HZDR The processes that take place during the cutting of specific materials are investi- gated using X-ray beams generated by PETRA III. Image: HZG PULSE PICKING AT BESSY II HZB physicists have developed a new method for “picking” individual pulses out of X-ray light generat- ed using particle accelerators. “Materials scientists need such pulses to investigate quantum materials, superconductors and catalytic surface processes,” explains Karsten Holldack. The new “pulse picking” technique is based on the excitation of certain oscil- lations in a specific electron bunch and represents a significant step in the development of the planned BESSY-VSR, which will provide researchers with customised variable X-ray pulses. Some experiments require X-ray pulses with a specific time structure. At BESSY II such pulses are now available to users. Image: K. Holldack/HZB