Inauguration of the PTB's synchrotron radiation laboratory at the BESSY II electron storage ring in Berlin Adlershof on March 29, 1999
19.03.1999
On March 29, 1999, at 5.00 p.m., the synchrotron radiation laboratory of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt at the BESSY II electron storage ring will be officially put into service on the Berlin-Adlershof site, an environment for business and scientific work. PTB has invested funds to the amount of more than 20 million DM into the establishment of the laboratory. A calculable amount of synchrotron radiation in the light and X-ray range is emitted by electrons which circulate in the storage ring's vacuum tube at almost light velocity. The PTB makes use of it for radiation measurements and for other optical and X-ray optical measuring methods of high accuracy. The laboratory is inaugurated 100 years after the "invention" of radiometry (radiation measurement technique) at the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt, the PTB's predecessor. In connection with the laboratory inauguration, on March 30, 1999 the PTB holds an international Hermann-von-Helmholtz radiometry seminar at its traditional site in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Both events remind of the fact that 100 years ago scientists of the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (PTR) created the bases of radiometry: The PTR work group (Holborn, Kurlbaum, Lummer, Pringsheim and Wien), in 1899, was the first to precisely measure the spectrum of a so-called black-body radiator at high temperatures. These measurements stimulated Planck to derive the radiation law on the basis of the quantum hypothesis with which he laid the basis for quantum physics in 1900. Both, Wien (1911) and Planck (1918) were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work in connection with the radiation law. PTB has been using the synchrotron radiation of the BESSY I storage ring in Berlin-Wilmersdorf for radiometry purposes for 15 years already. Detectors, radiation sources and optical components for industry and research are characterized and calibrated in the BESSY I radiometry laboratory which has developed into a European radiometry center used by institutions from all over the world. Focal points in the past years were, among other things, work concerning the Sun's physics and X-ray astronomy in cooperation with the ESA and NASA Space Agencies. The new laboratory at BESSY II will enable the PTB to meet present and future demands in optical and X-ray optical metrology. This will include work to support German industry in the development of high-performance lenses for microlithography and in the development of novel quantitative analytical methods for the quality control of highly pure semiconductor materials. Utilizing the higher intensity, greater brilliance and better spectral resolution of the radiation available at BESSY II, the PTB will also work in the field of radiometry in the X-ray region and carry out fundamental investigations concerning radiation protection. Prior to the laboratory inauguration, the PTB invites interested journalists to a press meeting in the seminar room at BESSY II on March 29, 1999 at 3.00 p.m. Prof.Dr. B. Wende, Dr. G. Ulm and Dr. J. Seidel from the Berlin "Temperature and Synchrotron Radiation" department, Dr. J. Simon from the PTB's Press and Information Office and, as a guest, Dr. M.C.E. Huber, head of the Space Science Department of the European Space Agency ESA will be available for discussions. Participants in the discussions have the opportunity to visit the laboratory before it is officially commissioned. BESSY II is situated at the corner of Magnusstrasse/Einsteinstrasse on the WISTA site in Berlin-Adlershof, Rudower Chaussee 5, suburban train station 'Adlershof'. Additional information can be obtained from: |