The HAXPES2022 Conference Awards recognize outstanding researchers who have made significant contributions to research developments using HAXPES (Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) as a fundamental instrument. HAXPES is predestined to characterize (buried) interfaces in applied material systems, as it is non-destructive, chemically sensitive, and the inelastic mean free path λ of the (unscattered) photoelectrons can be tuned to ~16 nm (for photon excitation energies up to hν = 15 keV).
At the HAXPES2022 Conference in Himeji, Japan, Dr. Dirk Hauschild received the Yasutaka Takata Award, given among the presenters at the conference after voting by the International Advisory Board of the conference.
Dirk Hauschild presented a study using both the core-level peaks and inelastic background of the CdS/Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ interface. Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy was performed with photon excitation energies ranging from 2.1 up to 14 keV at the newly commissioned X-SPEC beamline at the KIT Light Source, which allows collecting photoemission information over a large depth range. With the complementary information, a non-destructive depth-resolved picture of the CdS/Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ interface can be painted.
The corresponding paper represents the first published research results of the X-SPEC beamline:

“Using the inelastic background in hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for a depth-resolved analysis of the CdS/Cu(In,Ga)Se2 interface”,  D. Hauschild, R. Steininger, D. Hariskos, W. Witte, S. Tougaard, C. Heske, and L. Weinhardt,  J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 39, 063216 (2021). (DOI: 10.1116/6.0001336)

The 7^th European Conference on Crystal Growth (ECCG7) in Paris, France, brought together crystal growers from all over Europe and the rest of the world. The conference is dedicated to fundamental and applied research in the field of crystal growth, covering topics from theoretical aspects to advanced characterizations. The ECCG7 awards outstanding researchers (7 awards sponsored by DGKK, Crystals, CrystEngComm, and Acta Crystallographica B), 4 of them being intended for Early Career Researchers. The awards were given to the presenters at the closing ceremony after voting by the ECCG7 scientific committee.
Dr. Merve Kabukcuoglu received the Crystals – MDPI Oral Presentation Prize from the Editorial Board of the journal Crystals, after presenting a study on the evolution of dislocations in GaAs wafers under processing-relevant conditions studied by 2D and 3D X-ray diffraction imaging.