Viacheslav Skriabin, a student at the Physics Department of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine, visited DESY from 2. – 13. February 2026 to participate in a beamtime at PETRA III beamline P66 for time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy from 5. – 11. Feb 2026.
It was Viacheslav’s first experience in using synchrotron radiation. His work at the beamline was divided into two parts: studying and assistance in conducting experiments of other researchers, and own research.
“The capabilities of the PETRA III beamline P66 are directly related to my scientific interests and current research. During my stay, I gained valuable experience in conducting experiments on luminescence, excitation, and reflectance spectra, as well as time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy. I was involved in the experiments from the very beginning, including sample preparation and loading, through to their completion. I was also introduced to the operation of the facility and its key components, such as beam shutters, filters, gratings, detectors, and other instrumentation.”
During his stay Viacheslav was primarily supported by Oksana Chukova and by Aleksei Kotlov, beamline Team of P66, who explained the experimental methodology and answered all kind of questions in great detail, providing also additional practical explanations on applied topics that were of particular interest to Viacheslav, including the use of mass spectrometers and various types of vacuum pumps installed at the beamline.
In his experiment, Viacheslav mainly focused on investigating luminescence lifetime and the temperature evolution of luminescence spectra, taking advantage of the possibility to cool the sample chamber down to 10 K. The beamline is equipped with both aluminum and platinum diffraction gratings, which allowed to acquire spectra over a sufficiently wide spectral range — providing very good result.
“The exchange of experience is extremely valuable, as such practical knowledge can only be gained directly. I am currently analyzing and interpreting the data and I am confident that this work will bring significant results. I plan to apply all the skills and experience gained during this visit in my future research and to continue collaboration with DESY. I am very grateful to Oksana Chukova and Aleksei Kotlov, both from PETRA III team at DESY, for their great support during my stay. I would also like to thank Vitaliy Mykhaylyk from Diamond Light Source Ltd. and other participants of the experiment at P66, DESY and the NEPHEWS Twinning Programme for their support.”
Author: DESY Team