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DESY News: KALDERA web application wins iF Design Award

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2023/05/16
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KALDERA web application wins iF Design Award

Info portal on plasma acceleration with unique user experience

For its outstanding presentation of plasma acceleration, the interactive web application kaldera.desy.de has been awarded the prestigious iF Design Award 2023. Conceived and designed for DESY by the Kiel Science Communication Lab together with KALDERA scientists, the info portal allows users to interactively explore the complicated process of laser plasma acceleration. Users can switch back and forth between the levels of the micro world and the real experiment.

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Representing the KALDERA team in Berlin: Sören Jalas, Kaja Schubert, Manuel Kirchen (from left to right). Credit: International Forum Design/Studio Ralph Baiker
The interactive web application was honoured by the International Forum Design (iF) as one of 11 German projects in the User Experience (UX) category. In total, there were more than 10,000 submissions from 56 countries. “We are pleased, and also a bit proud, that our info portal with its unique user experience was able to convince the jury,” says Andreas Maier, Lead Scientist for Laser Plasma Acceleration at DESY. “The combination of scientifically correct data with an aesthetically pleasing presentation is a very successful example of science communication by a joint team of researchers and communicators,” adds Wim Leemans, Director of the Accelerator Division at DESY.

Plasma acceleration is expected to enable a new generation of much smaller and cheaper particle accelerators. For this purpose, a plasma is generated in a gas-filled tube, for instance by using a powerful laser. A plasma wave is created on which subatomic particles like electrons can surf, much like a wakeboarder on the wake of a boat. The plasma waves reach many times the acceleration power of the best conventional particle accelerators. Plasma accelerators will fit into the lab and enable completely new applications. Mobile accelerators are also conceivable.

The web application allows to interactively explore the concept of laser plasma acceleration. Linkhttps://kaldera.desy.de
“The animation of the laser plasma accelerator is not based on special effects, but on sound scientific data,” explains Konrad Rappaport, co-founder and art director of Science Communication Lab, who designed and led the development. “To present this correctly and at the same time in a visually appealing way, we worked closely with DESY physicists Manuel Kirchen and Sören Jalas, which proved to be excellent and very productive.” The conception and implementation were accompanied by Kaja Schubert as KALDERA's scientific project manager. In the future, the collaboration could bear even more fruit, as the team already has new ideas: “My dream is to follow the action with VR goggles and fly through the machine alongside the light pulses and electron beams,” says Rappaport. “I imagine that being absolutely magical!”

The iF Design Award is a globally renowned award for outstanding design that has been presented annually by the International Forum Design (iF) in Hanover since 1953. The competition covers various disciplines, including product, communication, packaging and service design, architecture and interior design. Participants from around the world submit their projects to be judged by an international jury of experts. Winners of the iF Design Awards are recognized for their innovation, functionality, aesthetics and sustainability. The award enjoys high recognition in the design industry.

 

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