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First seeding at FLASH (May 2012)
There is a worldwide search of methods for initiating the process of producing laser light in free-electron lasers (FEL) with a well-defined radiation pulse, generated by an external laser source and superimposed to the electron bunch at the undulator entrance ("seeding"). Seeding promises an FEL pulse which is more stable and better reproducible in both pulse duration and ...

Flower still life by Vincent van Gogh rediscovered thanks to new research technique at DORIS III (Mar. 2012)
After lengthy research the Kröller-Müller Museum has another Van Gogh painting to its name: Still life with meadow flowers and roses. Its authenticity had been in doubt ever since it was added to the collection in 1974, due to the unusual size of the canvas and the anomalous signature among other things. The work was dismissed in 2003 and has been listed as “artist: ...

Snapshots of Firework in Nanoparticles at FLASH: Beyond Conventional Ultrafast Spectroscopy (Mar.2012)
A Holy Grail of ultrafast science and technology is to image the changing structure of matter at the nanoscale during the interaction with light. An international collaboration including DESY photon scientists led by Thomas Möller of the Technical University Berlin and Christoph Bostedt of SLAC at Stanford (formerly Technical University Berlin) used intense laser pulses ...

Scientists make iron transparent at PETRA III (Feb 2012)
At the high-brilliance synchrotron light source PETRA III, a team of DESY scientists headed by Dr. Ralf Röhlsberger has succeeded in making atomic nuclei transparent with the help of X-ray light. At the same time they have also discovered a new way to realize an optically controlled light switch that can be used to manipulate light with light, an important ingredient for ...