For the fourth time Bruker Nano held its annual colloquium for the German speaking countries on June 15^th and 16^th in Berlin. The colloquium mainly addresses users of analysis systems for electron microscopy. These include energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) products for scanning electron microscopes (SEM) and transmission electron microscopes (TEM) as well as electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis systems for SEM. Apart from Bruker users, interested users of other systems and members of relevant scientific communities are also always welcome. The event provides a combination of scientific lectures, information on latest developments, user reports, and opportunity for exchange among users. Additionally, the colloquium is also an important forum for EDS and EBSD users to obtain information on other analysis methods offered.

This year's colloquium was special as it celebrated Bruker's 50^th anniversary. The big auditorium of the WISTA science park in Berlin-Adlershof, were the event took place, was filled to the last seat. More than 200 guests had accepted the invitation. Among the guests of honor were also the two top members of the government of the State of Berlin, Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit and Senator for Economy, Technology and Gender Affairs Harald Wolf.

To celebrate the occasion a festive part was included at the beginning of the program of the first day. The event was opened by Bruker Nano's Managing Director Thomas Schuelein who welcomed the guests and briefly talked about the history of the company. After this the Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit and Senator Harald Wolf addressed the audience. Both elaborated on the development of Berlin in recent years as an increasingly important site for research and manufacturing in the area of high technology. They also honored Bruker Nano as an example of successful strategy in this area, underlining that quadrupling turnover within 5 years is a clear indicator of the company's success. After these speeches Mr. Schuelein described the company and its products in more detail.

Highlight of the afternoon program was the keynote lecture, which was given by Prof.

Norbert Langhoff, the former head of the Center for Scientific Instruments (ZWG) of the GDR's Academy of Sciences. Bruker Nano was originally a ZWG spinoff, so Prof. Langhoff explained the development of the ZWG from the Sixties to Germany's reunification and showed parallels to the development of the company in West Germany. He then went on to describe the dissolution of ZWG and the foundation of the predecessor company Roentec as part of the process which eventually lead to the present day company Bruker Nano.

The other two invited lectures in the afternoon program were held by Dr. Heike Soltau, the Managing Director of pnSensor GmbH in Munich and Prof. Michael Wendt from the Institute for Photonic Technologies in Jena. pnSensor is a manufacturer of silicon drift detector (SDD) chips, which are part of most of Bruker Nano's products. Dr. Soltau spoke about the latest developments in SDDs, concentrating on two-dimensional sensor arrays, especially for very fast and high X-ray intensity applications. Prof. Wendt has been the company's consultant for methodology development for many years. He is the inventor of the standardless P/B-ZAF method the company uses for quantitative EDS analysis. Prof. Wendt explained all aspects of EDS analysis on bulk samples focusing on a single gold alloy sample, which was part of a round robin test among German laboratories. This included reliability of results, especially regarding spatial resolution of the method and the consequences of trying to overcome its limitation, e.g. by reducing accelerating voltage in the SEM.

The last lecture of the evening was presented by Bruker Nano's Global Product Manager for EDS on SEM, Samuel Scheller. He discussed the company's latest developments in hardware and software focussing on the advantages of multiple detector systems and the current update of the software Esprit, which is part of the Quantax EDS analysis system.

The evening closed with a show, where the guests were treated to local specialties and entertained by the "Berliner Jungs" (Berlin Boys) with all-time classics. The following show program included the Berlin Dancers and the singer Dorothea, who illustrated 50 years of Bruker history starting with songs from the sixties and ending with current hits.

The second day was dedicated to user reports and the introduction of specific Bruker Nano products starting with Application Scientist Dr. Tobias Salge. He discussed nanoscopic EDS analysis applications using the Quantax spectrometer and summarized recent results from the application lab. One focus was on obtaining reliable quantification results under high spatial resolution conditions.