With a new radio antenna field, Dr. Frank Schröder will search for high-energy photons that accompany the massively charged particles of cosmic rays. The future setup will also measure signals with energies smaller by a factor of 100 as in photons originating from our galaxy. "Within three years, I expect to obtain crucial indications as to where the highest-energy particles of the Milky Way are formed", says the former YIN member who has just taken up an assistant professorship at the University of Delaware, USA. The ERC will fund his project with 1.6 million euro over five years.

The Council for Research and Promotion of Young Scientists (CRYS) rated the Helmholtz group of YIN speaker Kathrin Valerius as "extraordinary success". Her team developed strategies and methods to analyze the data on neutrino mass measured with the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment. At the interface of cosmology and elementary particle physics, neutrinos play a key role in modern astroparticle physics. Starting with the measurement operation on 11 June 2018, the scientists will use the data to search for new physical phenomena.

The joint promotion of young talent, teaching, and innovation are new activities within the HEiKA cooperation. With the renewed framework agreement signed in June, the research partnership between KIT and the Heidelberg University expands into the “Heidelberg Karlsruhe Strategic Partnership”. Continuing under the acronym HEiKA, the two partner institutions plan to establish joint research institutes, study programs, and graduate schools. Since 2013, YIN members have successfully applied for nine HEiKA projects with partners from Heidelberg.

The young investigator group of Bastian Rapp has developed a new forming technology to structure quartz glass. The scientists mix nanometer-sized glass particles with a liquid polymer, form the mix like a sponge cake, and harden it by heating or light exposure. The polymers act like a strong bonding agent and, thus, the resulting solid can be milled, turned, laser-machined or processed like any polymer. Once the final structure is attained, the residing polymer is burned to CO2 and the remaining glass particles are sintered and densified to pore-free quartz glass.

Becoming professor at a university of applied sciences can be an appealing alternative career option. For three YIN alumni it has become a reality. At the YIN fireside chat in April, Prof. Romana Piat (Darmstadt), Prof. Stefanie Betz (Furtwangen), and Prof. Oliver Waldhorst (Karlsruhe) talked about getting appointed and about the differences and similarities between working at a university of applied sciences and a regular one. While industry experience is crucial for a career in applied sciences, for some it may be attained project-wise or at a research center. The teaching load can be reduced.

Physicists at KIT have developed a crucial component for a quantum simulating. They represented the light-matter-interaction of photosynthesis using electromagnetic resonators for the photons and superconducting circuits as quantum bits for the atoms. “We succeeded in getting both the quantum bit and the resonator to assume two opposite states at the same time,” says Martin Weides, co-author and YIN member. Due to this effect, quantum simulators solve a problem much faster than conventional computers which store infor-mation either as zero or one.