Colloquium: Nuclear Resonant Scattering at DESY – Past, Present, Future

2010 is an important year for the field of nuclear resonant scattering of synchrotron radiation (NRS). It is the year in which the new source PETRA III at DESY in Hamburg will become operational and with it a new beamline for NRS. PETRA III is the synchrotron radiation source with the highest brilliance in the regime of hard x-rays worldwide. Being located at an undulator of up to 20 m length, the new NRS beamline will offer outstanding possibilities for applications of this technique. 2010 also marks the 25th anniversary of the first publication of coherent nuclear Bragg scattering (E. Gerdau, R. Rüffer, H. Winkler, W. Tolksdorf, C. P. Klages, and J. P. Hannon, Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 835 (1985)), measured at station F4 of the storage ring DORIS at DESY. This experiment ignited similar activities at many other synchrotron radiation facilities around the world that made NRS an established technique reaching out into many fields of the natural sciences. Finally, 2010 is the year in which Erich Gerdau celebrates his 75th birthday. His continuous enthusiasm has significantly stimulated the development of this field. We are happy to have him with us to celebrate these events, remember the past and imagine the future of this exciting field. For these reasons we are organizing a scientific colloquium taking place on July 2nd 2010 at DESY in Hamburg. The morning of this day will be devoted to the new PETRA III beamline P01 and its scientific program addressed to all interested scientists and future users of the beamline. In the afternoon session we will review the scientific highlights of the past 25 years of nuclear resonant scattering and identify perspectives for future developments.