05 Dec Nanophotonic particle acceleration awarded
Physicist Dr. Roy Shiloh from the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen (FAU) and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has been awarded this year’s Roentgen Prize at Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) for his outstanding research on ‘Nanophotonic Electron Acceleration’. For over 125 years, X-ray sources for medical and other applications have been based on the principle of electron acceleration in a vacuum. Building on this principle, Shiloh was able to show that electrons can be actively guided in nanophotonic structures with the help of optical fields.
Particle accelerator in chip format
Using a new method, he has succeeded in creating the world’s first particle accelerator on a microchip. The day before the award ceremony, the scientist (center of picture) visited the sponsoring company Pfeiffer Vacuum and reported on his findings. Daniel Sälzer, Managing Director of Pfeiffer Vacuum, congratulated the prizewinner. “For Pfeiffer Vacuum, it is very important to promote cutting-edge research and, in particular, the next generation of scientists. We are very pleased that we have been sponsoring the Roentgen Prize together with the Ludwig Schunk Foundation for several decades.” Professor Markus Thoma on behalf of the JLU expert committee added: “This method could enable the construction of innovative and very compact X-ray devices for clinical purposes in the future”.
Shiloh studied physics and electrical engineering at Tel Aviv University and received his doctorate there in 2018. He spent four years at FAU as a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Peter Hommelhof’s working group and is now an assistant professor at Jerusalem University.
Pfeiffer Vacuum and the Ludwig Schunk Foundation are jointly donating the prize money of 15,000 euros. JLU has been awarding the prize since 1960 in memory of Nobel Prize winner Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who was a professor in Giessen from 1879 to 1888.
Source and image: www.pfeiffer-vacuum.com
