Tag: new

Britta Redlich takes over as Photon Science Director at DESY

Britta Redlich takes over as Photon Science Director at DESY

Former director of the Dutch research facility HFML-FELIX comes to Hamburg

Britta Redlich will take over the lead of the Photon Science research division at DESY on 1 January 2025. The Professor of experimental physics was previously Director of the FELIX free-electron laser and the HFML high-field magnetic laboratory at Radboud University in Nijmegen (Netherlands).

Helmut Dosch, Chairman of the DESY Board of Directors, is looking forward to working together with her: “Britta Redlich´s experience and passion for research are an enrichment for DESY. With her appointment, DESY has gained a personality who shares and will drive forward our vision of cutting-edge research and technological innovation. I am convinced that she will provide decisive momentum for the future of Photon Science at DESY, in Europe and worldwide.”

Britta Redlich received her doctorate in chemistry from the University of Hanover in 1998 and initially worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Münster. In 2000, she went to the FOM Institute Rijnhuizen in the Netherlands with an Emmy Noether Programme from the German Research Foundation. She conducted research with the FELIX (Free-Electron Lasers for Infrared eXperiment) free-electron laser and was in charge of its operation from 2003. After the laser was transferred to Radboud University Nijmegen in 2013, she took on the role of Chairwoman in 2015, became Director of FELIX in 2018 and also Director of HFML (High Field Magnet Laboratory) in 2023.

Britta Redlich is a Senator of the Helmholtz Association for the Research Field Matter and a member of international consortia such as LEAPS, LaserLab Europe and FELs of Europe. Collaboration in these networks has expanded her expertise in the development and utilisation of state-of-the-art light sources.

Read more on DESY website

Image: Chemist and Professor of experimental physics Britta Redlich will head the Photon Science research division at DESY from January 2025.

Credit: DESY, Jörg Müller

Ryszard Sobierajski new Council vice-chair

Ryszard Sobierajski new Council vice-chair

At the recent meeting of the European XFEL Council, Dr hab. Ryszard Henryk Sobierajski was elected as new vice-chair of the European XFEL’s highest governing body. He will follow by the end of the year Prof. Dr James (Jim) Henderson Naismith.

“We thank Jim for many years of inspiring contributions as European XFEL’s vice-chair,” says Thomas Feurer, Managing Director and Chair of the Management Board of European XFEL. “And we heartily welcome our well-known colleague Ryszard.”

“Ryszard is a profound expert of research with synchrotron light and free electron-lasers, and an experienced science manager,” adds Federico Boscherini, Chair of the European XFEL Council.

Sobierajski takes up his office with effect from 1 January 2025 and for a period of two years. He is Associate Professor at the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, Poland and since January 2020 one of the Polish delegates to the European XFEL council. Additionally, he is an expert on the Proposal Review Panel for the HED instrument at European XFEL–most of the time as its chair.

Read more on XFEL website

Image: The coming vice-chair of the European XFEL Council, Ryszard Sobierajski

Jean Daillant starts as new DG of the ESRF

Jean Daillant starts as new DG of the ESRF

As the ESRF celebrates 30 years of science, the European synchrotron welcomes a new Director General: Jean Daillant. Appointed by the ESRF International Council, which brings together the 20 ESRF partner countries, Jean Daillant took up his new role of DG on 1st September.

Jean Daillant is a widely recognised expert on synchrotron radiation. A soft matter physicist, his expertise focuses on soft matter physics and liquid interface dynamics, delving into their intermolecular interactions and surface phenomena. Utilising advanced techniques like synchrotron X-ray and atomic force microscopy, he has analysed these systems at the nanoscale. His interest also extends to practical applications, particularly in nanomaterials synthesis through self-assembly.

Jean Daillant was Director General of the SOLEIL synchrotron over the last thirteen years, during which time it has become a leading facility among the medium-energy synchrotron radiation sources. After serving as Chair, he is now Vice-Chair of LEAPs, the League of European Accelerator-based Photon Sources, which aims to promote scientific excellence and strengthen the cooperation between synchrotron and X-ray free electron laser facilities to support an innovative and sustainable European Research Area.

He was a member of the ESRF Science Advisory Committee over the period 2003-2009 and headed SOLEIL’s Scientific Council between 2006 and 2010. After graduating in Physics at the École Normale Supérieure de St-Cloud, he joined the CEA in 1989, where he subsequently became Head of the Soft Matter and Interfaces Group before becoming joint director of LURE, the French national synchrotron light source in Orsay, from 1999 to 2003. In 2004, he became Head of the CEA-CNRS Laboratory LIONS for Interdisciplinary Research on Nanometric and Supramolecular Organisation, until 2011, at which time he took up the role of Director General at SOLEIL.

“The ESRF can be happy that in Jean Daillant we have a new Director General that brings both the science perspective of a user and, as the previous DG of SOLEIL, the strategic and management views that are needed to fully exploit the EBS”, says Elias Vlieg, chair of the ESRF Council. “The Council is looking forward to a fruitful collaboration with him and the other members of the management team in the coming years.”

Read more on ESRF website

New Linear Accelerator

New Linear Accelerator

Investment will ensure continued world-leading discovery, innovation

The Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan is replacing its linear accelerator (linac), the device that speeds up electrons to produce a beam of light researchers use to study materials at a molecular or cellular level. This critical replacement will ensure the CLS continues to deliver high-quality, stable and reliable light to the over 1,000 scientists from across Canada and around the world who use the CLS each year for research related to health, agriculture, environment and advanced materials.

Starting May 27th, 2024, the CLS will begin a six-month project to remove the existing linac and replace it with a new unit that will improve the efficiency and reliability of the light beam. For the latest updates, check back on this page or follow us @canlightsource on social media for #newLINAC posts.

The latest news…

June 6: With the old linac equipment removed from our basement, our health and safety staff needed to scan these pieces for radiation before they could be recycled or donated. They have now checked over 175 items! Next, we cleaned the linac hallways and started giving them a fresh coat of paint. Our staff also fully dismantled our modulator room. Klystrons, modulators, and other infrastructure were removed, making way for the mechanical and electrical service installation that is now ongoing. We have new modulators and klystrons waiting on our experimental floor. This equipment will provide the radiofrequency energy that is used to accelerate electrons through our linac before they produce synchrotron light for research. 

Read more on CLS website