Press releases 2009

 It is the marriage of two top candidates for the electronics of the future, both excentric and extremely interesting: Graphene, one of the partners, is an extremely thin fellow and besides, very young. Not until 2004 was it possible to specifically produce and investigate the single layer of carbon atoms. Its electronic properties are remarkable, because, among other things, its electrons...

You imagine a clock to be different - yet the optical table with its many complicated set-ups really is one. Optical clocks like the strontium clock in the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig could be the atomic clocks of the future; some of them though are already ten times more precise and stable than the best primary caesium atomic clocks. Now they might also become...

It can strike anyone: Rheumatism occurs just as often as diabetes, arteriosclerosis and cancer combined - approx. 1 % of the population is stricken with the disease, which in exact medical terminology is called "rheumatoid arthritis". Mostly it begins with initial inflammation in the finger joints. If it is discovered in time and a treatment is begun, the chances are good that the dreaded...

From the motion sensor to the computer chip - in many products of daily life components are used whose functioning is based on smallest structures of the size of thousandths - or even millionths - of millimetres. These micro and nano structures must be manufactured and assembled with the highest precision so that in the end, the overall system will function smoothly. Thereby, details are...

Bei der Strahlentherapie versuchen die Ärzte, die Dosis im Tumor so hoch wie möglich zu halten, damit möglichst viele Krebszellen zerstört werden. Um zu vermeiden, dass dabei gesundes Gewebe geschädigt wird, ist es wichtig, die genaue Höhe der Dosis zu überprüfen. Die Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) hat dafür ein Messsystem entwickelt, bei dem die Aminosäure Alanin, deren...

Joint press release issued by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and the Excellence Cluster "QUEST"

They are masters at working with light: the scientists at the newly founded QUEST Institute at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig. And they want to work on some of the most exciting questions relating to physics today: on unimaginably precise methods of ...

Since Galileo Galilei and Newton, the assumption is valid that inert and heavy mass are equivalent. This is, however, questioned by new physical theories such as the String theory. Now, the equivalence principle is put to test with so far unachieved accuracy within the scope of the "Microscope" space project - a German-French cooperation. PTB has developed the manufacturing and measuring...

Probably, the first German offshore wind facility will be put into operation yet in 2009. Then, 12 giant wind turbines out at the North Sea will turn near the isle of Borkum, each one generating 5 megawatts of power, the largest worldwide. The electrical current they will produce will be conveyed over a distance of 45 km past Norderney to the mainland, at a depth of two to three meters buried...

Illegally transported, conventional explosives and nuclearly relevant or radioactive ma-terials can enable international terror organizations to transport hazardous materials for attacks to any place in the world. For improved protection against such hazardous freight, scientists of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and an Israeli research center have developed a cargo...

If the guilt of the accused cannot be proven directly, then evidence can help. Experts of accurate measurement also must similarly proceed indirectly more and more often: If it is not possible to measure a measurand directly, then other quantities must be measured and the actual quantity of interest extrapolated with the aid of intelligent computer programmes. Scientists of the...