About the Institute

From Cold Ions to Hot Plasmas

The Helmholtz Institute Jena (HI Jena) is an outstation of the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research and is located on the campus of the Friedrich Schiller University (FSU) in the city of Jena. The HI Jena is part of the Helmholtz Association which is Germany's largest scientific organization, being mainly responsible for the development and operation of large-scale scientific infrastructure. Founded in 2009, the institute's research activities focus on the physics occurring at the border between conventional particle-acceleration technology and the fast-evolving field of laser-induced particle acceleration.

HI Jena is concerned with advancing these new laser-induced accelerator concepts, as well as with the production and investigation of intense photon and particle beams, including their interaction with matter. Accordingly, its work is focused on the development of high-power laser systems, novel laser-based accelerator concepts, X-ray spectroscopy, strong-field quantum electrodynamics and the physics of hot dense plasmas.

The Helmholtz Institute Jena comprehensively combines com­pe­tence in accelerator, laser and X-ray technology contributed by the Helmholtz centers DESY, GSI and HZDR with expertise in the physics of high-power laser systems and laser-driven particle-acceleration from FSU in Jena.

The HI Jena will provide important contributions to future large-scale research-facilities currently being designed and built. Particular emphasis is devoted to the international heavy-ion and antiproton facility FAIR in Darmstadt, Germany and to the European XFEL in Hamburg, Germany. Moreover, it will effectively strengthen FSU's research profile by facilitating new areas of research and significantly stimulate cooperation between the participating Helmholtz Centers and the university.

Since 2012 the HI Jena also has its own graduate school, namely the “Research School for Advanced Photon Science” (RS-APS). The RS-APS promotes the studies of up to 25 Phd students working at Jena and/or the associated Helmholtz centers. In collaboration with the bodies of the FSU Jena and the Helmholtz Graduate School for Hadron and Ion Research (HGS-HIRe) the graduate school provides a structured doctoral program for its members.

Director of the Institute:

Prof. Dr. Thomas Stöhlker
Helmholtz-Institut Jena
Fröbelstieg 3
07743 Jena
Tel: +49 3641 947-600
Fax: +49 3641 947-602
t.stoehlker(at)hi-jena.gsi.de

Secretary:

Cornelia Kabis
Helmholtz-Institut Jena
Fröbelstieg 3
07743 Jena
Tel: +49 3641 947-601
Fax: +49 3641 947-602
c.kabis(at)hi-jena.gsi.de