Science

Seit 1. Juni 2022 arbeiten das BRICS, ein Forschungszentrum der TU Braunschweig, und die Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig auf einem weiteren Gebiet offiziell zusammen. Bei der jetzt vertraglich vereinbarten Kooperation steht die Standardisierung im biomedizinischen Bereich im Mittelpunkt: Erforscht werden sollen weltweit geltende, objektive Maßstäbe für quantitative Messungen in der Biomedizin, also Einheiten, Grenzwerte und Messmethoden, die möglichst auf das internationale Einheitensystem SI rückgeführt werden können. Wichtig ist das zum Beispiel bei der Verabreichung von Medikamenten wie bei der Insulintherapie und bei der Cholesterin-Diagnose.

The new Walther Meissner Building was officially dedicated at PTB’s site in Berlin-Charlottenburg on 22 April 2022. Work will be carried out on quantum and cryosensors, cryo- and primary thermometry and photonic pressure measurements in this research building. One focus is the development, manufacturing and application of PTB’s world leading highly sensitive superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). (Contact: Frank Melchert, +49 30 3481-7446, frank.melchert(at)ptb.de)

The nationwide joint project titled QSolid intends to develop a collaboration platform for a quantum computer based on superconducting circuits within the next five years. It is also planned that a demonstrator system will be set up within this context. For this project, PTB’s work will include developing particularly low-noise, next-generation superconducting and methods to improve the control over superconducting qubits.. Building on this, calibration services are to be created that can be utilized by industry partners at PTB’s Quantum Technology Competence Center. A total of 25 partners are involved in the QSolid project which is being coordinated by Forschungszentrum Jülich. The project budget amounts to 76.3 million euros; 89.8 % of the funding is being provided by the BMBF. (Contact: Lukas Grünhaupt, +49 531 592-9453, lukas.gruenhaupt(at)ptb.de)

The former President of PTB, Prof. Dr. Joachim Ullrich, passed the baton to Prof. Dr. Cornelia Denz on 1 May 2022. She is the first female president in PTB’s more than 135-year history. Before taking on this post, Cornelia Denz headed the Institute of Applied Physics at the Westfälische Wilhelms- Universität Münster for seven years. Because she has been a member of the “Kuratorium” (Advisory Board) for many years, she is already very familiar with PTB. After leading PTB for ten years, Joachim Ullrich will take up a new position as the president of the German Physical Society (DPG).

A novel procedure for determining surface topographies includes an interferometer as its core element.

German government planning foresees the installation of one million public charging stations for electric vehicles in Germany by 2030. Whereas the correct metering and billing of fuel is reliable and a matter of course at conventional filling stations, the measurement technology used in particular for fast charging stations is still new and constantly being improved. A mobile measuring system allows those charging stations already in place to be checked in the field.

Due to their higher reference frequency, optical clocks enable measurements that are even more accurate than those of conventional atomic clocks. Until now, however, optical clocks could only be operated by experts in special laboratories. Within the scope of Opticlock, an industry-led pilot project for quantum technologies, a demonstrator of an optical clock has been built. This demonstrator makes the advantages of modern quantum technologies available to end-users in the form of a user- friendly device.

The highly accurate form measurement of optical aspheres and free-form surfaces represents a great challenge in metrology. A new method uses artificial intelligence (AI) – i.e., deep neural networks – to reconstruct optical surfaces from the measurement data of a tilted-wave interferometer. In addition, this method quantifies the uncertainty of the prediction.

In conventional gear and screw thread metrology, measurements for evaluating the quality of components are performed only pointwise or linewise in selected transverse and axial sections, respectively. In light of tighter manufacturing tolerances and new challenges brought on by modern production processes, this procedure is not sufficient. At PTB, a universal procedure has been developed to conduct areal measurements of helical machine elements and to evaluate them holistically by means of a parameterized 3D model.