Photon and Particle Spectroscopy

One of the core issues of the research conducted at Helmholtz Institute Jena is the theoretical and experimental investigation of effects of relativity and quantum electrodynamics at extreme field strengths, as they occur in heavy ions and intense laser fields.

On the experimental side, this notably encompasses the development of techniques to accurately detect high-energy particle and photon radiation. At precision spectroscopy, the Helmholtz Institute profits from its vicinity to Jena University, which possesses decades of experise in the field of crystal spectroscopy. Additionally, novel calorimeter systems for high-precision experiments in a wide range of photon energies will be at the Helmholtz Institute’s disposal in the future.

Apart from the investigation of X-ray radiation, the institute develops techniques for polarization-resolved measurements. For example, the linear polarization of hard X-ray radiation is investigated using novel efficient Compton polarimeters.

Spectroscopy at intense laser sources, with its extremely intense and short radiation pulses, poses a particular challenge. Here, too, new possibilites of X-ray diagnosis are researched and tested at the laser systems available.

Future facilities for laser and heavy ion research will offer new opportunities to investigate the interaction of radiation and matter in extreme fields. For these, theoretical groundwork regarding relativistic effects and QED contributions, for example to ionization processes, will have to be laid. Furthermore, the possibility to investigate parity violation in atomic transitions is examined theoretically.