27 May 2026

What progress has been made in basic research in the Cluster of Excellence “CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter" during the past funding phase? What solutions does it offer society? The new magazine Advanced Imaging of Matter: Seven Years CUI in Focus provides insights into the fundamental questions in physics, chemistry and structural biology that researchers in the cluster are addressing, from precision-targeted drugs and sustainable energy conversion to the development of functional nanomaterials. In the editorial, cluster spokespersons Prof. Klaus Sengstock, Prof. Francesca Calegari and Prof. Henry Chapman explain the cluster's vision and its impact. This is a slightly abridged version of the magazine article, marking the start of a series in which we will present selected articles from the magazine over the coming weeks.

Advanced Imaging of Matter - Seven Years CUI in Focus

"More is different”. This famous statement by Nobel laureate P. W. Anderson is a guiding principle for the Cluster's researchers. It describes one of the greatest and most exciting challenges in science today. At its heart is the question of how microscopic events shape the properties of a material and how this knowledge can be used to create novel functionalities.

Prof. Dr. Klaus Sengstock, professor of physics at the University of Hamburg and specialist in ultracold quantum gases and quantum technologies, like quantum computing, describes the scientific vision of the Cluster:

Observe, understand, control – these three words can be used to describe research carried out in our Cluster. The questions we ask are highly complex and belong to the most challenging problems of current science: How do THE fundamental building blocks of nature – atoms, molecules, electrons – interact with each other, how do they influence the systems’ properties, and, above all, how does collective behavior arise. We ask for the DYNAMICS in nature, which goes far beyond structure analysis.

One of our visions is to stabilize transient room-temperature superconductors using light. A further vision is to understand strongly correlated many-body systems from first principles and to discover new laws of physics in very pure systems like ultracold quantum gases. An equally far-reaching goal is to study the strongly correlated motions of electrons and atomic nuclei and to control their “dance”, underlying the miracle of chemistry. Further, can we image proteins in action during their work within the machinery of life and ultimately steer their function by light? What unifies all these examples is the non-equilibrium nature of the emergence of such key phenomena. Central to our success is hereby the imaging of the dynamics of complex physical and chemical systems in real time, on the atomic scale.

Let us point out that we are extremely happy, honored and grateful that the DFG has decided to support our Cluster of Excellence for another seven years. In the future funding period, we will continue our very successful strategy and will follow new ideas and scientific questions which have great impact on society.

Why Hamburg is so well suited for this kind of research is explained by Prof. Dr. Henry Chapman, lead scientist at DESY and professor of physics at the University of Hamburg, who invented the method of serial X-ray crystallography: 

A key enabling feature is the critical mass of excellent scientists we have in Hamburg. In the Cluster, experimental chemists, for example, are inspired by colleagues from theory to synthesize a particularly interesting class of molecules. These samples are then analyzed using physical methods, and the experimental data is jointly evaluated and published. All in all, 185 scientists are conducting research in the projects, supported by further 170 team members. We are very proud that 12 of our early career researchers have been appointed to a professorship or equivalent position since 2019.

Our new methodological capabilities together form the second most crucial ingredient of the Cluster. Developed during the last decade, our ground-breaking approaches are used to scrutinize matter at the scales of angstroms and femtoseconds or even shorter. The researchers have access to infrastructures with state-of-the-art facilities and laboratories and powerful computers. Hamburg is home to today’s most advanced X-ray radiation sources that pro-vide light for looking into physical and chemical processes on the atomic level. DESY operates the novel accelerator- based large-scale photon facilities FLASH and PETRA III. These capabilities are greatly augmented by the European XFEL GmbH, which operates the world's most recent and advanced (hard) X-ray free-electron laser since 2017. These light sources enable observations at the atomic scale and with incredibly short exposure times, so that we can follow motions that were before seen just as a blur.

Hamburg provides a prime example of how scientific progress is stimulated by embedding state-of-the-art large-scale technology in an active research environment. We are very delighted that we will continue to contribute to this endeavor for another seven years.

Prof. Dr. Francesca Calegari, who is also a lead scientist at DESY and a professor at the University of Hamburg, is a specialist in laser spectroscopy and attosecond science. She was elected spokesperson in 2022 after the retirement of nanoscience expert Horst Weller, professor at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hamburg. Calegari describes the special features of a Cluster and why it makes excellent research possible:

A major challenge in discovering general principles at all levels of natural hierarchies is to break down the barriers between disciplines. The Cluster gives us fantastic opportunities to do so, which is not always common in science: We managed to overcome these barriers by educating ourselves in terms of a common language and identifying analogies between our diverse fields. We combine expertise in attosecond and femtosecond science, protein nanocrystallography, the science of nanoparticles, cold quantum gases, condensed matter physics, non-linear X-ray optics, structural biology, and the physics of X-ray-matter interactions for a multi-scale understanding of how functionalities emerge. Facing up to this challenge will initially provide findings in basic research but will also provide important impetus for the development of new materials and technologies. We are very proud that two start-ups were founded by postdocs we trained in our Cluster.

However, the Clusters also gives us fantastic opportunities to make a difference in academia in general. We have excellent initiatives including the Mildred Dresselhaus Guest Professorship, established to bring two internationally recognized female top researchers to Hamburg, and the Louise Johnson Fellowship, which will be offered to excellent female scientists who already show a distinctly high potential for early independence. We always work to keep the gender balance a priority in the recruiting process of the Cluster and we support female PhD students and postdocs with a mentoring program to develop a successful career. Over the last ten years, we have seen that our programs are increasingly making the difference. We are therefore particularly pleased to be able to continue with this in the future.