XFEL: Felix Büttner wins Walter-Schottky-Award

 

 

The Walter Schottky Prize honours outstanding work by young physicists in solid-state research. For 2022, the award goes to physicist Dr Felix Büttner, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, for his insights in the field of magnetic skyrmions, which he gained in substantial parts at the European XFEL.

"His work has contributed significantly to the understanding of the ultrafast generation and properties of these topological states." This praise on Büttner's work is published on the website of the German Physical Society (DPG), which awards the Walter- Schottky-Prize.

The DPG further explains: “Magnetic skyrmions are spin textures that behave like quasiparticles and have a non-trivial topology. Felix Büttner has made a decisive contribution to the fundamental understanding of the dynamics of skyrmions, taking their topology into account. He has used time-resolved X-ray holography and scattering experiments on X-ray lasers to elucidate the mechanisms of the generation of skyrmions by short laser pulses and to improve the possibilities for the fast and efficient movement of skyrmions by current pulses in ladder structures.”

"We are proud when science performed at our facility receives an award and we very much congratulate Felix Büttner,” said European XFEL Managing Director Prof. Robert Feidenhans’l.

Felix Büttner leads an independent research group at the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin für materials and energy. In recent years, he has regularly conducted experiments at the European XFEL.

The award is expected to be presented in September 2022 during the DPG Spring Meeting in Regensburg.