Logo of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt

Temperature and Synchrotron Radiation

Division 7

Warm or cold, light or dark: thermodynamic and radiation physics issues are the focus of Division 7.

Tasks

The main tasks of the approximately 100 employees of Division 7 on the Berlin-Charlottenburg campus are thermometry, thermal energy, cryosensorics, optical radiometry and vacuum metrology.

Metrology with synchrotron radiation, on the other hand, is the field of activity of the approximately 75 employees of Division 7 at the Berlin-Adlershof site with the synchrotron radiation sources BESSY II and Metrology Light Source (MLS).

With its research and development work, Division 7 is involved in the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR), in the future metrological topics of quantum technology, environment and climate, energy, digitization and medicine as well as in the field of nanometrology.

News

Golden spherical particles in an antique glass vial resting on a table, antique pharmacy equipment in the background

Innovative materials based on nanoscale and submicrometre particles are playing an increasingly important role in the development of new products across many fields. Applications range from battery electrodes to nanomedicine to quantum dots, which recently gained attention through the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 which was awarded for their discovery and synthesis...

[ more ]

Metrology, fundamental research and applications in the spectral range of the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV): For 40 years, PTB has been conducting research and measurements using synchrotron radiation as part of collaborations and services for science and industry. For the seventh time, PTB organised a workshop from 13 to 15 November 2023 under the umbrella of the...

[ more ]

A new beamline for radiometry in the vacuum ultraviolet spectral range (VUVR) was successfully commissioned at the Metrology Light Source (MLS). By quickly redirecting the radiation to three different measuring stations, the availability for different measuring tasks is significantly increased...

[ more ]
More news

Annual Report 2022

The year 2022 was again very successful for Division 7. Third-party funding, publications, and academic degrees on the one hand, and calibrations, reviews, and committee work on the other, remained at a high level with slightly lower staffing. Accordingly, the feedback on the work and task planning by the presidium was consistently positive....

[ more ]

Head of Division

Prof. Dr. Mathias Richter

  • Head of Division 7 Temperature and Synchrotron Radiation since 2019
  • Associate Professor of Experimental Physics at the Technical University Berlin since 2004
  • Member of the board of the Freundeskreis Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin e.V. since 2004
  • Member of the board of the Initiativgemeinschaft Außeruniversitärer Forschungseinrichtungen in Adlershof e. V. (IGAFA) since 2021
  • Member of the board of the Physical Society of Berlin (PGzB) since 2020
  • Member of the council of the German Physical Society (DPG) since 2021

  • Joined the PTB in August 1995
  • Habilitation in experimental physics at the Technical University Berlin (1990 to 1996)
  • Postdoc at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg and at the Université Paris-Sud XI (1988 to 1990)
  • Doctorate in physics at the University of Hamburg (1984 to 1988)
  • Diploma in physics at the University of Hamburg (1984)
  • Abitur in Marburg a. d. Lahn (1978)

  • Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation 2011
  • https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/207737

DepartmentsDepartments