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News in brief
News in brief
Bioeconomy
Double advantage
Ensuring the supply of electricity and food at the same time – this is what Food & Energy plants are intended to do in Africa. Solar roofs over fruit and vegetable fields generate electricity, which flows into the local supply network. The land underneath the photovoltaic systems can be cultivated in “open greenhouses”. This combination is intended to reduce land use conflicts between agriculture and energy production. Experts from Nigeria, Benin and Germany are involved in both the production and the conservation of field crops, for example in modern drying plants. The aim is to cure fruit and vegetable surpluses from the harvest period for longer storage, thus ensuring a constant supply. Jülich coordinates the project.
– Institute of Energy and Climate Research/Institute of Bio- and Geosciences –
1million euros . . .
... is the amount that the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia provide to the battery cell production research facility “Forschungsfertigung Batteriezelle” in Münster, in which the Helmholtz Institute Münster is involved, a branch of Forschungszentrum Jülich. The facility is to prepare Germany’s entry into series production of large battery cells.
– Helmholtz Institute Münster –
Quantum computing
Schrödinger’s cat with 20 atoms
In the famous thought experiment of the physicist Erwin Schrödinger dating back to 1935, a cat in a closed box is simultaneously alive and dead according to the rules of quantum mechanics. This superposed state does not end until someone checks. With the aid of smartly applied lasers, an international team with Jülich participation has succeeded in putting 20 atoms into one such superposed “cat state”. The previous maximum value was 14 superposed atoms. The new record is a further step on the way to a quantum computer that could far surpass classical computers in solving certain tasks.
– Peter Grünberg Institute –
Biophysics
Full speed ahead
The Jülich physicist Dr. Benedikt Sabass has received a “Starting Grant” from the European Research Council in the amount of around € 1.5 million. The young scientist wants to investigate the mechanical forces of bacteria, for example of hospital germs. These forces affect how cells behave.
– Institute of Complex Systems –
Puzzle with atoms
Energy-saving data storage from individual atoms is still a long way off. One reason for this is their lack of magnetic stability. Researchers from Hamburg, Jülich and Leiden in the Netherlands have discovered that this can be improved by a certain symmetrical arrangement of the atoms. They had systematically investigated different positions of three to nine iron atoms on one surface.
– Peter Grünberg Institute –
Materials research
On the national roadmap
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has included the planned Ernst Ruska-Centre 2.0 on the Jülich campus in the national roadmap for large research infrastructures. Starting in 2022, the centre will use next-generation electron microscopes, which are unique in the world, to study, for example, materials for energy transition or biologically active molecules. The German contribution to the European Aerosols, Clouds and Trace gases Research Infrastructure (ACTRIS-D), in which Jülich climate researchers are also involved, was included as well.
– Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons/Institute of Energy and Climate Research –
Information technology
Unusual magnetic structures
An international research team with Jülich participation has discovered a new way in which the smallest magnetic elements in a material – the electron spins – interact. This leads to the spins forming structures across many material layers that differ from each other like the left and right hand. This chiral (“manual”) arrangement of spins is interesting for the development of future data storage devices.
– Peter Grünberg Institute –
Interview with Dr. Jan-Philipp Hanke
www.fz-juelich.de
INQUIRED
Faster to the breakthrough
Forschungszentrum Jülich and Google will conduct joint research on quantum computers in the future. Prof. Kristel Michielsen, head of the Quantum Information Processing research group at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, explains the background.
Mrs Michielsen, why is Google an interesting partner?
Since 2011, Google has been working on its own quantum computer. The cooperation gives us access to hardware and know-how from Google. “OpenSuperQ”, a sub-project of the European flagship for quantum technology in which Jülich is involved, benefits from this, albeit indirectly.What does Jülich contribute to the cooperation?
Our supercomputer infrastructure as well as our software and hardware know-how. I myself test algorithms on supercomputers that could run on quantum computers. In addition to the scientific exchange, we want to support each other in the training of specialists. However, Google is not the only partner.Who else is on board?
We are collaborating with D-Wave and engaging in talks with IBM. We need to network more closely to help quantum computers achieve their breakthrough more quickly.Christian Hohlfeld asked the questions.
Read more about this topic in the cover story of
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Photos: Forschungszentrum Jülich/Sascha Kreklau, Forschungszentrum Jülich/Ralf-Uwe Limbach, Forschungszentrum Jülich/Tobias Schlößer, SUNfarming GmbH, DariaRen/Shutterstock.com