The synchrotron radiation facility MAXIV in Lund is now officially open. The facility is financed and used by twelve Swedish universities, and one of them is Karlstad University.
On 21 June at 13:08:55, with the sun in zenith, the greatest Swedish investment in the research infrastructure ever was inaugurated, the MAX IV Laboratory in Lund. The laboratory is the world’s most modern facility for synchrotron radiation and here more than 2 000 international researchers are expected to come and make ground-breaking experiments in the field of materials and life sciences every year.
MAX IV makes the invisible light visible
At the MAX IV laboratory research is carried out with synchrotron light in, for instance, physics, chemistry, biology and materials science. Synchrotron light is a very strong light which can reveal the the structure of materials at atom level. The material can, for instance, be a fossil having information on animal development or on different protein structures that are needed to produce new pharmaceutical products. Research at MAX IV can also lead to skin products made from quinoa, plastic made from wheat or environment-friendly fuels.
Karlstad University at MAX IV
Researchers from several research groups at Karlstad University are frequent users of the MAX-lab, the name of the previous lab. Research members travel to Lund to investigate properties of materials several times every year.
The research group CMM, Characterizing and Modeling of Materials, use ultra-violet light and radiation light at MAX-lab to study the fundamental structure of semiconductor surfaces, for example, electronic structure, chemical bonding, and atomic structure. Among others, they study how thin, atomic metal layers affect the structure of silicon surface, how so called quantizing effects arise in thin metal layers and in metallic atomic ”threads” and how well-organized molecular layers can grow in a self-regulated way on different surfaces. CMM has also investigated the structure of steel tools with X-ray diffraction at MAX-lab.
The research of molecular interaction aims to analyse how molecules are organized around molecular interactions on surfaces and how they affect the electronic structure of the surface. It is important to understand these basic nano-scale processes to answer applied research issues of surface treatment, composite materials, sensors, molecular electronics and organic solar cells. Each one of these processes is important to human health and welfare, for example sustainable solutions in the field of packaging, pharmaceuticals and energy.
Läs mer om Max IV-laboratoriet här.
