Lichtgedanken 05

Rubrik 11 05 | LICHT GEDANKEN Using light to create high-energy chemicals The German Research Foundation is funding the new transregional collaborative research centre »CataLight« at the universities in Ulm and Jena which is about to investigate sustainable energy converters based on those found in nature. The consortium, which also includes the University of Vienna, the Max Planck Institute for Poly- mer Research in Mainz, and the Leibniz Institute for Photonic Technologies e. V. in Jena, is to receive around ten million euros of funding over the next four years. Junior teams are revolutionizing microscopy The work of two research units at the Institute of Applied Physics has led to innovative ideas in microscopic imaging. Together with their colleagues from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Enginee- ring, they are conducting basic research into quantum technology and are gauging its potential for the field of microscopy. News The aim of the multilocational research group is to investigate the basic functioning of innovative photocatalytically active materials. The researchers from the fields of chemistry, ma- terials science, and physics are interested in utilizing light to produce high-energy chemicals as well as in the ability to de- sign specific new materials for sustainable energy conversion. »CataLight« stands for light-driven molecular catalysts in hie- rarchically structured materials—synthesis and mechanistis studies. The researchers in the project use natural photosynthesis as a model. They want to develop molecular catalyst systems for the light-controlled production of hydrogen and oxygen from water. The focus of the work is on the interplay between molecular photocatalysts and their polymer-based environ- ment. The long-term goal of the research is to produce arti- ficial »chloroplasts«, i.e. cell organella in which photosynthe- sis takes place in plants. Before this is possible, a lot of basic research needs to be conducted in the chemical process itself. The new findings about this process should be available by the end of the first phase of funding.   AB Led by Prof. Dr Falk Eilenberger, the group known as »NanoScopeFutur-2D« has been awarded funding from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research amounting to the value of 2.5 million euros over the next five years. The funds were granted for examining transition me- tal dichalcogenides. These can have a very strong interaction with light and nd can, for example, collect light in a volume that is significantly less than the wavelength of the light. Quantum technological applications that take advantage of these properties can, for example, be used to help microscopes better penetrate the nanorange of a sample. Light sources can also be developed that can be used instead of dyes in fluore- scence microscopy. They can be used to observe the processes that take place within a cell. The »FOQUOS« group, which is coordinated by Dr Frank Setzpfandt, consists of researchers from the University of Jena and the Technical University Ilmenau, and has been given 700,000 euros for the next three years by the Thuringian state investment bank. The focus is on research into quantum light imagery. As quantum-mechanically entangled photons always occur in pairs, a sample can be illuminated with a photon light and the entangled, second photon can be detected. This informa- tion can then be correlated to establish an image of the sample, without the need for a camera to observe the actual sample. Thus, recordings can be made in the infrared range, which is, in turn, relevant for the investigation of biological and chemi- cal processes.  sh Fluorescent Rylene dyes are used as light-collecting units »CataLight«.