First atomic structure of an intact virus deciphered with an X-ray laser

21-Jun-2017

An international team of scientists has for the first time used an X-ray free-electron laser to unravel the structure of an intact virus particle on the atomic level. The method used dramatically reduces the amount of virus material required, while also allowing the investigations to be carried ...

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New method can enhance beam quality of plasma cells

29-May-2017

Scientists in Hamburg have come up with an ingenious way of improving so-called plasma accelerators, which are considered promising candidates to become the particle accelerators of the future. The quality of the electron beam produced by these innovative particle accelerators can be ...

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Scientists synthesise first sample of transparent silicon nitride

24-Mar-2017

Scientists have synthesised the first transparent sample of a popular industrial ceramic at DESY. The result is a super-hard window made of cubic silicon nitride that can potentially be used under extreme conditions like in engines, as the Japanese-German team writes in the journal Scientific ...

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Double flow concept widens spectrum for protein crystallography

21-Mar-2017

Thanks to an innovative nozzle, scientists can now analyse more types of proteins while using fewer of the hard-to-get protein crystals. The nozzle can reduce protein consumption eightfold in serial X-ray crystallography experiments, as the team of inventors, headed by DESY scientist Saša Bajt ...

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X-ray study throws light on key process for production

25-Jan-2017

A Swedish-German team of researchers has cleared up a key process for the artificial production of silk. With the help of the intense X-rays from DESY's research light source PETRA III, the scientists could watch just how small protein pieces, called nanofibrils, lock together to form a fibre. ...

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Terahertz technology has the potential to enable new applications

23-Nov-2016

In a multi-national effort, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from DESY and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has built a new kind of electron gun that is just about the size of a matchbox. Electron guns are used in science to generate high-quality beams of electrons for the ...

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Scientists X-ray the most abundant mineral of Earth

21-Jul-2016

Using DESY's bright X-ray light source PETRA III, a team of scientists has discovered unexpected facts about the most abundant mineral on Earth. The mineral bridgmanite makes up roughly one third of Earth’s entire volume and is the major component of Earth’s lower mantle. Thus, its physical ...

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Imaging nanoscale dynamics with unparalleled detail and speed

08-Feb-2016

Using a super X-ray microscope, an international research team has “filmed” the explosion of single nanoparticles. The team led by Tais Gorkhover from Technische Universität Berlin, currently working at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the U.S. as a fellow of the Volkswagen Foundation, ...

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Novel approach to unveil the structure of challenging biomolecules

22-Jan-2016

Scientists from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory EMBL have teamed up with experts from DESY and the U.S. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to X-ray protein crystals naturally produced within biological cells. The study at the world's currently most powerful X-ray laser LCLS at SLAC ...

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Analysis of chrome based colors at DESY

22-Oct-2015

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) is famous for his use of bright yellow colours. The Dutch painter used so-called chrome yellows, a class of compounds consisting of lead, chromium and oxygen. "There are different shades of the pigment, and not all of them are photochemically stable over time," ...

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