Revolutionary spectrometer developed by CEITEC BUT team wins Golden AMPER 2025 award

(PR, Brno, 19. 3. 2025) The AMPER trade fair, held annually at the Brno Exhibition Centre, is the largest international trade fair for electrical engineering, electronics and energy in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. At this year’s fair, the research team led by Petr Neugebauer from CEITEC BUT is presenting the revolutionary FRASCAN II spectrometer, an electron spin resonance spectrometer with a frequency of 329 GHz. This unique spectrometer enables the study of biomolecules, such as proteins, with increased sensitivity, and will have applications in drug development, disease diagnostics, as well as materials engineering. The instrument impressed the expert jury at the fair, which awarded it the prestigious Golden AMPER Award.

FRASCAN II is a unique extension for NMR spectrometers that allows the simultaneous use of three advanced techniques – electron paramagnetic resonance, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and dynamic nuclear polarization – in a single system. The combination of the first two techniques gives the possibility of a more versatile and efficient use of NMR systems. The third technique allows to increase the sensitivity of the measurements, making detailed analysis of materials at the microscopic level possible.

To put the spectrometer’s capabilities into perspective, it operates at frequencies 100 times higher than those used in mobile phones and generates a magnetic field 10 times stronger than those found in industrial scrap magnets. This immense power allows for the study of microscopic interactions that are essential to understanding complex biological and chemical processes.

The device finds applications not only in basic research, but also in materials engineering, the pharmaceutical industry and quantum computing. “It gives scientists deeper insight into the structure of biomolecules, semiconductors and other substances, and allows them to perform complex experiments without the need for several separate instruments. The advantages of FRASCAN II also include low acquisition costs, compatibility with existing NMR systems and easy installation,” said project leader Petr Neugebauer, who heads the Magneto-Optical and THz Spectroscopy research group at CEITEC BUT.

Petr Neugebauer and his colleagues presented the spectrometer at the AMPER trade fair, which filled halls P and F at the Brno Exhibition Centre from 18 to 20 March. The fair is primarily attended by engineers, managers, energy engineers, salesmen, designers, revision engineers, programmers, technologists, representatives of cities and municipalities, investors and other specialists. Peter Neugebauer’s team exhibited alongside CEITEC BUT start-ups Lightigo and Cactux together with other Brno University of Technology (BUT) faculties in the so-called Inovatorium.

"Nowadays, the link between technical universities and industrial practice not only in the field of education of experts - graduates in technical fields - but also through cutting-edge research belongs among fundamental criteria for the competitiveness of universities. This rests above all on the ability of people to create values that are beneficial. It is also the best role model for applicants to technical and science studies, which are in short supply despite the huge demand from industry. It is gratifying for me to see that students are among the exhibitors, whether as part of research teams or as individual exhibitors. Thanks to the lively activity of the Brno Exhibition Centre, trade fairs such as AMPER are an important platform not only for presenting great results to the professional community, but also for communicating with those who may still be deciding on their future professional paths and their studies. Many of the exhibited technologies in the field of electrical engineering and electronics, power engineering or electromobility sometimes seem to belong to the realm of science fiction. Autonomous systems and control, artificial intelligence and self-learning technologies, but also their cutting-edge applications in space technology, biomedical engineering, electron microscopy, semiconductor technology, communication technology or cybersecurity represent the pinnacle of human ingenuity today and are our future. To see where technology is moving every year is fascinating and when someone falls under its spell, they have endless opportunities for self-realization," summarizes the Rector of Brno University of Technology, Ladislav Janíček.

The expert committee of the Golden AMPER competition always assesses the exhibits during the first day of the fair and decides on the most beneficial exhibit of the fair. The FRASCAN II project won in its category and was among the 5 awarded out of the total competition of 22 exhibits.

“It is a great honour for us to receive the Golden AMPER award. We had very strong competition, not only from BUT and other universities, but also from industry. We are therefore proud that the result of our many years of effort caught the attention of the jury and won their recognition. We see this as motivation to continue developing cutting-edge devices and as confirmation that devices developed mainly for basic research can compete with the latest industrial innovations,” comments Petr Neugebauer. Together with colleagues who have been involved in the design of FRASCAN II, he will be available at the fair until Thursday, when this year’s AMPER officially ends.

“I am very pleased that the team's efforts have been awarded, but above all, with the fact that our University is successfully promoting its applied results in the field of high technology. There is perhaps nothing more motivating than being recognised by a renowned professional community. I congratulate the whole team on winning the award for this unique product,” Ladislav Janíček commented on the success of his colleagues.

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Source: CEITEC BUT, text was published as a press release.