Research buildings

The CFEL is an internationally unique hub for cutting-edge research on light sources. The center was founded for optimal use of the full potential of DESY and European XFEL. Researchers from various disciplines are observing ultrafast processes in the nanocosm using different tools for practical and theoretical research. They aim to build new basic knowledge for developing prospective materials and drugs as well as for information and energy technology.

The CHyN provides a structural framework for successful and closely linked interdisciplinary research in physics, biology, chemistry, and nanosciences on the Science City Hamburg-Bahrenfeld campus. One of the main goals of CHyN research is to analyze properties of solids and biomaterials at the nanoscale. A successful combination of semiconductor nanostructures and biological material offers a wide range of potential applications such as replacing destroyed human receptor cells with tiny bioelectronic implants.

The HARBOR research building is an interdisciplinary center for a range of theoretical studies, from basic aspects of molecular properties and dynamics to protein structure applications. HARBOR includes the Cluster of Excellence: CUI Advanced Imaging of Matter, as well as various institutes in Physics and Chemistry. The central research aim is to develop tools and technologies that enable time-resolved structural studies to understand how biomacromolecular systems work. This is the basis for developing new medications, sensors, and environmentally conscious industrial processes.

What is dark matter and how did it emerge? Researchers of the Cluster of Excellence Quantum Universe focus on research questions like this. The new HAFUN building will be their future research home base. Among them are 8 experimental physics professors who in 2012 contributed to the basic research that led to the discovery of the Higgs boson particle, and who will conduct research in particle, astro- and mathematical physics at the HAFUN. Comparable to CERN researchers, they aim to develop improved particle detectors at accelerators and so-called gravitational-wave detectors, which only recently enabled researchers to verify Albert Einsteins’s prediction of spacetime curvature from 100 years ago.