Robin Woracek became Group Leader of Neutron Imaging at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ) in Germany in 2026, after working at the European Spallation Source (ESS) since 2015. He remains closely affiliated with ESS, particularly as the facility moves towards operation, and played leading roles in the design, construction, and cold commissioning of both the ESS Test Beamline and the ODIN neutron imaging instrument.
Robin has worked with neutron imaging for more than 17 years and specializes in the development and application of advanced neutron imaging techniques. Starting with his PhD studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in close collaboration with Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, he contributed to the establishment of diffraction contrast imaging methods for studying microstructure and phase transformations in engineering materials.
Today, his research focuses on quantitative neutron imaging, including establishing spectroscopic and scattering-based contrast methods to e.g. map hydrogen in steels in the context of hydrogen embrittlement. As an active user of many neutron facilities worldwide, he is particularly interested in translating new imaging methodologies into practical tools that benefit a broad range of scientific and industrial applications.
