Third-Party Funded Projects
Supported through the Helmholtz Association’s Initiative and Networking Fund as a “Strategic future field of research”:
Plasma accelerator research project
Building on the “Matter and Technologies” programme, the research project “Plasma accelerators” will focus the expertise of leading Helmholtz Centers, and strengthen the topic “Accelerator Research and Development.”
Funding period: 2017 through 2019
Supported through the Helmholtz Association’s Initiative and Networking Fund:
Promoting strategic partnerships
The establishment and strengthening of sustainable partnerships between the Helmholtz Association’s Centers and universities is a core issue of the Initiative and Networking Fund.
Funding period: 2018 through 2020
Supported through the Helmholtz Association’s Initiative and Networking Fund:
Helmholtz Young Investigator Group
Within its program to support internationally outstanding postdoctoral researchers, the Helmholtz Association is funding a Helmholtz Young Investigator Group on “Theoretical and computational relativistic laser plasma and x-ray generation physics”.
Funding period: 2014 through 2019
Supported through the Helmholtz Association’s Initiative and Networking Fund:
Helmholtz Postdoctoral Researcher Position
Within its effort to support postdoctoral researchers, the Helmholtz Association is funding a Helmholtz Postdoctoral Researcher position on “Time evolution of electrodynamical quantum fields at highest intensities”.
Funding period: 2016 through 2019
Supported through the Helmholtz Association’s Initiative and Networking Fund:
Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration project “HELIPORT”
With the Helmholtz Scientific Project Workflow Platform (HELIPORT), the Helmholtz Association is funding the development of a software platform for the comprehensive representation of scientific projects. The system will guide researchers through the project workflow and archive all processes according to metadata standards, keeping the project transparent, traceable and citable. In the project, scientists from the Helmholtz Institute are collaborating with teams from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and the Forschungszentrum Jülich.
Funding period: 2021 through 2023
Supported through the Helmholtz Association’s Initiative and Networking Fund:
Helmholtz “Information & Data Science” Pilot Project “Ptychography 4.0”
Within the Pilot Project “Ptychography 4.0”, the Helmholtz Association is funding an approach to combine different imaging modalities with the aim of establishing ptychographic imaging as a routine imaging method. For this, expertise in microscopy is fused with expertise in data science.
Funding period: 12/01/2019 through 011/30/2022
Supported through the Helmholtz Association’s Initiative and Networking Fund:
Helmholtz Imaging Platform Project “AsoftXm”
Within the framework of the collaboration with Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and Helmholtz Zentrum München Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt, lensless X-ray microscopy will be brought to application maturity. The project brings together experts in X-ray imaging, nanostructure synthesis and the development of numerical reconstruction algorithms.
Funding period: 05/01/2021 through 04/30/2024
Two devices for the HI Jena research infrastructure
The Helmholtz Institute Jena receives support for the acquisition of a high-power laser system (2016 FGI 0015, “Coherent High-Flux XUV Source”), and a liquid helium cryostat for an ultra-low-temperature detector (2016 FGI 0017 and 2016 FGI 0037, “Compact high-resolution micro-calorimeter for broadband spectroscopy of XUV and X-ray radiation”).
Funding period: 02/17/2017 through 01/14/2020
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia with funds from the European Regional Development Fund:
Research Infrastructure for 4D XUV Imaging at HI Jena
A novel 4D imaging infrastructure will be realized at HI Jena, including noninvasive, nanoscale 3D imaging as well as opportunities for temporally and spectrally resolved observations.
Funding period: 11/01/2018 through 10/31/2020
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia with funds from the European Regional Development Fund:
HPC and data management IT infrastructure for the HI Jena
The project (2019 FGI 0013) will extend the computing capabilities at HI Jena with high-power computer systems for the simulation of fiber lasers, the numeric investigation of complex problems of plasma particle acceleration and the performant realization of digital XUV imaging. Additionally, a scalable storage server system will be installed to handle the research data acquired.
Funding period: 01/01/2020 through 12/31/2021
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia with funds from the European Regional Development Fund:
Infrastructure for laser particle acceleration research at HI Jena
The project (2019 FGI 0029) supports the installation of a vacuum chamber for novel experiments on the interaction of intense laser radiation with matter. This will help maintain the institute’s leading position in laser particle acceleration research.
Funding period: 01/01/2020 through 12/31/2022
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia with funds from the European Regional Development Fund:
Infrastructure for flexible shaping of high power laser beams
The project (2022 FGI 0005) supports procurement of a laser beam shaping unit for HI Jena. This will allow flexible beam guidance and control of the pulses of both high-power laser systems at the institute, so that the experimental possibilities of the combined JETi–POLARIS target area can be exploited optimally. This will open up new research fields for the institute and its partners in basic research as well as in the generation of ultrashort radiation pulses.
Funding period: 11/11/2022 through 10/31/2025
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia with funds from the European Regional Development Fund:
Infrastructure for femtosecond synchronization of high-power laser pulses
The project (2022 FGI 0008) supports the installation of a system for high-precision synchronization of the pulses provided by the complementary laser systems POLARIS and JETi in the new target chamber. This infrastructure, which is almost unique in the world, provides a variety of innovative experimental possibilities to the institute, and further strengthens its prominent position in the development and application of high-power lasers.
Funding period: 12/16/2022 through 10/31/2025
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia with funds from the European Regional Development Fund:
Artificial intelligence for high-power lasers at the Helmholtz Institute Jena
The Helmholtz Institute Jena operates high-power lasers with internationally-leading capabilities. There are currently two lasers – JETi and POLARIS – with complementary properties. The synchronized use of these two systems with a control system based on artificial intelligence would represent a globally unique research system. To achieve this goal, the project (2023 FGI 0022) aims to develop AI-compatible control software and hardware for experiments with femtosecond resolution.
Funding period: 11/01/2023 through 10/31/2026
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia with funds from the European Regional Development Fund:
Infrastructure to increase the peak intensity of the high-power laser systems at HI Jena
The project (2023 FGI 0023) aims to improve the peak intensities of the POLARIS and JETI laser pulses at HI Jena by orders of magnitude through the procurement of special optical components. This will allow the institute to continue to carry out research on laser-based particle and secondary radiation sources at a world-class level at the research location in the future and to provide important impulses for the Thuringian (optics) industry.
Funding period: 11/01/2023 through 10/31/2026
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia with funds from the European Regional Development Fund:
Precision cut-off grinding machine for X-ray optics
The infrastructure of the HI Jena for the development and production of X-ray optics will be modernized and improved through the project (2024 FGI 0014) by procuring a precision cut-off grinding machine equipped with X-ray diagnostics. The machine enables the cutting of hard and brittle materials and can also be used in a variety of ways beyond the production of X-ray optics. This enables the production of unique X-ray optics, which are indispensable for research in the field of quantum electrodynamics as well as in energy and materials research at the most brilliant X-ray sources.
Funding period: 11/01/2024 through 10/31/2026
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia with funds from the European Regional Development Fund:
fs laser system for innovative coating technology and ultrafast spectroscopy
As part of this project 2024 FGI 0015, a femtosecond laser system is to be installed at HI Jena in order to produce innovative thin-film systems with atomically smooth interfaces by means of laser deposition and to investigate them using extreme ultraviolet (XUV) spectroscopy. This will bring together basic research and applications in coating technology at a world-class level, which will also provide important impetus for the Thuringian (optics) industry.
Funding period: 11/01/2024 through 10/31/2027
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia with funds from the European Social Fund:
XUV technologies and methods for nanometer-resolution imaging
In a collaboration of four working groups from the Helmholtz Institute Jena and the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, a joint research group (2015 FGR 0094, “XUV Technologies and Methods for nanometer-resolution imaging”) strives to bring two imaging methods – Coherent Diffraction Imaging (CDI) and XUV Coherence Tomography (XCT) – to deployability, with the ultimate aim of merging them into a combined method for cross-section imaging with three-dimensional, nanometer resolution. Furthermore, these methods will be complemented by tailored laser-based XUV sources and cryogenic detectors, allowing healthcare and industry laboratories, as well as research institutes and universities, to harness this novel imaging technology without requiring access to large-scale facilities such as synchrotrons.
Funding period: 05/01/2016 through 04/30/2019
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia with funds from the European Social Fund:
Innovative methods for high-resolution X-ray imaging
Imaging in the high-energy X-ray regime has become indispensable for many modern commercial and healthcare applications, with current advancements mainly realized at large-scale synchrotron facilities. However, the limited availability of these installations hampers the development of X-ray imaging in commercial environments. The research group 2017 FGR 0074 investigates the feasibility of laser-driven X-ray sources to bridge the gap between novel technological breakthroughs and diagnostic systems tailored for both industry as well as medical applications.
Funding period: 04/01/2018 through 03/31/2021
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia with funds from the European Social Fund:
Technologies and methods for water-window imaging and spectroscopy
The water window and the soft X-ray regime is of immense importance for such diverse fields as bioscience, precision spectroscopy, solid-state physics and materials science. To advance new applictions and analysis methods, novel approaches to X-ray generation and detection are called for. The research group 2018 FGR 0080 aims to establish water window XUV sources as well innovative XUV spectroscopy methods.
Funding period: 04/01/2019 through 03/31/2022
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia and through funding from the European Social Fund Plus:
Multimodal nanoscale XUV imaging (Multi-XUV)
Due to its short wavelengths, the XUV spectral range has become increasingly important for both the production and imaging of the smallest structures in the nanometer range. Based on a series of breakthroughs in the generation and application of spatially coherent XUV radiation achieved in Jena in recent years, the research group 2023 FGR 0053 will develop and realize additional imaging modalities, in particular for applications in biology and materials science, and also open up the spectral range of soft X-ray radiation.
Funding period: 01/01/2024 through 12/31/2026
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia:
Quantum Hub Thüringen
Second-generation quantum technologies are on the verge of fundamentally changing the technological basis on which our society operates. The Quantum Hub Thüringen (QHubTh) sets out to shape this technological upheaval into a perspective for the future. By utilizing the strengths of industry and science in the Thuringia, important contributions can be made to this global transformation process. In this framework, a lighthouse project on quantum imaging sees a team of scientists from the Helmholtz Institute Friedrich Schiller University Jena, together with researchers from other Thuringian universities and research institutions, developing novel technologies for XUV ghost imaging.
Funding period: 05/01/2021 through 12/31/2023
Supported by the Federal State of Thuringia:
Digital Innovation Hub Photonics+
The Digital Innovation Hub Photonics (DIHP) is a project of the state of Thuringia – supported by the Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Science and Digital Society – which aims to promote start-ups in the field of optics and photonics at the Beutenberg research campus in Jena. It is located at the Center of Excellence in Photonics of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF and the Institute for Applied Physics IAP of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, and also includes the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology HKI, the Leibniz Institute for Photonic Technologies IPHT, and the Helmholtz Institute Jena.
Funding period: 09/01/2021 through 12/31/2023