40 Years of Metrology with Synchrotron Radiation at PTB
It all began with a publication on PTB's radiometry laboratory at the former Berlin storage ring BESSY I from 1983 and became a success story
On November 14, 2023, the 322nd PTB Seminar on VUV and EUV Metrology hosted a commemorative event on "40 years of metrology with synchrotron radiation". The occasion was the first publication on PTB's radiometry laboratory at the former Berlin storage ring BESSY I from 1983 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0167508783911572).
The 120 participants of the seminar were joined by about 40 invited guests, including the four authors of the publication, Prof. Dr. Burkhard Wende, the later head of PTB's Berlin Institute, Dr. Erich Tegeler, the later head of PTB's laboratory "Thermometry", Prof. Dr. Fritz Riehle, the later head of PTB's "Optics" division, Prof. Dr. Michael Kühne, the later director of the "Bureau International des Poids et Mesures" (BIPM), as well as many other alumni.
At the beginning of the event, Prof. Dr. Cornelia Denz, President of PTB, also welcomed her two predecessors, Prof. Dr. Ernst Otto Göbel and Prof. Dr. Joachim Ullrich, currently President of the German Physical Society (DPG), as well as the former directors of BESSY GmbH, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Gudat and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Eberhardt, and the current directors of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), Thomas Frederking and Prof. Dr. Bernd Rech.
Four decades of strategic partnership between PTB and BESSY/HZB are the guarantee for a success story which began with a few pioneers at BESSY I and which has taken a unique development with a worldwide leading position in the field of metrology with synchrotron radiation. This was emphasized by Prof. Dr. Mathias Richter, head of PTB's "Temperature and Synchrotron Radiation" division and designated chairman of the Berlin Physical Society (PGzB), in his outline of "40 years of metrology with synchrotron radiation in 40 minutes".
Today, around 80 scientists, engineers, technicians, doctoral candidates and students, more than half of them financed by third-party funds, work in the PTB laboratories at BESSY II and PTB's own Metrology Light Source (MLS), both of which are operated by HZB in Berlin-Adlershof. Synchrotron radiation is used for the fundamentals of metrology/radiometry, metrology for industry/EUV lithography, research and development for optical technologies/space instruments or materials metrology/nanometrology.
Prof. Dr. Bernd Rech from HZB then spoke about the future of research with synchrotron radiation in Berlin ("Towards A Materials Discovery Facility BESSY III"), outlining the path via BESSY II+ to a fourth-generation synchrotron radiation source in Berlin-Adlershof. These two projects, which build on each other, have already received extremely positive reviews over the course of the year. In this context, the close collaboration with PTB and its cooperation partners was of strategic importance, especially from industry, who were represented by Dr. Hartmut Enkisch from Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH and Dr. Mark van de Kerkhof, Director of EUV Research at ASML, among others.
At the reception afterwards, as well as during the two days of the seminar, the many cooperation partners from applied research and industry made it very clear that they are counting on a future of research and metrology with synchrotron radiation with PTB and HZB in Berlin. In addition to semiconductor development, the focus is also on other very current topics of applied materials research and analysis, such as photovoltaics, battery, climate or atmospheric research.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Mathias Richter
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (National Metrology Institute of Germany)
Div. 7 Temperature and Synchrotron Radiation
+49 30 3481-7312
mathias.richter(at)ptb.de
Credit: PTB news, 13 December 2023