Max Burian with the centrepiece of his laboratory container in Trieste. There is only a vacuum inside the metal pipe in front of him, but when the beamline is switched on, high-frequency light is fired onto a material sample, revealing its nano-level structures.
By Birgit Baustädter Max Burian uses bright light to look deep into the core of matter. He works in a silver laboratory container next to the Elettra synchrotron particle accelerator in Trieste, Italy. In the silver office container, not even the chairs dare to make a squeak. Sitting on the nervy seat, Max Burian is looking at two small computer monitors. All around him, everything is quiet - a far cry from the concentrated flurry of activity of the past few minutes. But let's rewind a bit first: the office chair is getting a break as Max Burian is bent over some equipment in the laboratory section of the container. He is preparing a material sample on the beamline, which will shortly fire high-intensity light through the sample.
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