CFI group at the German electron synchrotron (DESY)
30/06/2020
A group of three PhD students from Cranfield Forensic Institute finished a four day visit to DESY, the German electron synchrotron in Hamburg. The group was led by Marleen Vetter, whose PhD project explores novel aspects of polymers under stress. This was this first time the scientists at DESY had used their state of the art X-ray Raman system to look at this sort of material, and they were very interested to see how it would perform.
DESY was founded 60 years ago as the German national accelerator facility to understand the building blocks of the universe. Its impressive history includes world firsts such as, the creation of the antiproton shortly after it opened, and the discovery of the gluon in 1979. Extremely high intensity X-rays were produced as a by-product of these early experiments and scientists noticed that these were far brighter than could be created in the laboratory. They soon realised that these X-rays could be used for the advanced and highly precise analysis of materials. The PETRA III accelerator at DESY is now the brightest X-ray source of its kind anywhere in the world, and has a suite of techniques to analyse a wide range of materials. Many of these techniques can be thought of as ‘high end’ versions of the instruments you would see in many forensic laboratories.
Marleen was joined by two former Forensic Programme students, Emily Arnold (Forensic Engineering and Science) and Sammie Davies (Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology), and the three of them and their supervisors including myself (Prof David Lane) and Dr Matthew Healy had to work in shifts around the clock to get everything done.
Marleen has worked really hard and has managed every aspect of this trip, from writing the successful grant application and constructing the test samples, to planning work schedules. Once the scientists at DESY had trained Marleen, Emily and Sammie on the equipment they were left in charge of it to collect Marleen’s data.
Marleen said “It was great to be able to use the system, the team here at DESY has been really helpful, and I’d like to thank them for this opportunity”. The group visited Hamburg in mid-March immediately before the laboratory postponed all further visits due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
My Apprenticeship Journey – Broadening Horizons
Laura, Senior Systems Engineer at a leading aircraft manufacturing company, joined Cranfield on the Systems Engineering Master’s Apprenticeship after initially considering taking a year off from her role to complete an MSc. Apprenticeship over MSc? ...
The Library app is back!
The Library app is back! It's exactly the same as before (although it will get a fresh look in a few months) and if you hadn't removed it from an existing device it should just ...
PhD researcher at the IF Oxford Science and Ideas Festival
IF Oxford is a science and ideas Festival packed with inspiring, entertaining and immersive events for people all ages. PhD researcher, Zahra attended the festival. Here she shares what motivated her to get involved. ...
What leadership skills are required to meet the demands of digitalisation?
Digital ecosystems are shifting the dynamics of the world as we know it. With digitalisation being a norm in the software industry, there is currently a rapid rise in its translation ...
My PhD experience within the Centre for Air Transport at Cranfield University
Mengyuan began her PhD in the Centre for Air Transport in October 2022. She recently shared what she is working on and how she has found studying at Cranfield University so ...
In the tyre tracks of the Edwardian geologists
In April 1905 a group of amateur geologists loaded their cumbersome bicycles on to a north-bound train at a London rail station and set off for Bedfordshire on a field excursion. In March 2024 a ...