Expertise and Services

The expert knowledge as well as the qualified laboratories of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) are appreciated and frequently used by industry. PSI provides a comprehensive range of Research- and Development-Services. A selection of them is listed in extracts (below), divided into different fields of applications.

Expertise and Services
Fulltext filter *: *) Case sensitive, without RETURN key. All fields of application Electronic Engineering Environmental Science Material Testing and Analysis Nano Science Nuclear Energy and Safety Renewable Energy Energy Efficiency Life Science Mechanical Engineering Non-Destructive Testing Radiaton Safety and Security
Description	Contact / E-mail
Neutron Imaging Neutron Imaging: Powerful non-destructive testing method. Website (en) Flyer (E)	Eberhard Lehmann eberhard.lehmann@psi.ch +41 56 310 29 63 C08, C05
Fluid dynamics Visualisation Visualisation of fluid dynamics by means of Neutron Imaging. Website (en) Flyer (E)	Eberhard Lehmann eberhard.lehmann@psi.ch +41 56 310 29 63 C08
Energy-selective Neutron Imaging Energy-selective Neutron Imaging e.g. for visualisation of welding joints. Website (en) Flyer (E)	Eberhard Lehmann eberhard.lehmann@psi.ch +41 56 310 29 63 C08
Magnetic property Visualisation Investigate magnetic properties of materials by means of Muon Spin Rotation, Relaxation or Resonance. Website (en)	Thomas Prokscha thomas.prokscha@psi.ch +41 56 310 42 75 C05
Time-of-Flight Diffractometer for Engineering Non-destructive residual stress characterization and deformation behaviour by means of neutron diffractometer. Website (en) Flyer (E)	Steven Van Petegem steven.vanpetegem@psi.ch +41 56 310 25 37 C05
Single crystal diffractometer Single crystal diffractometer. Website (en)	Oksana Zaharko oksana.zaharko@psi.ch +41 56 310 46 33 C04
Neutron powder diffraction Identification of cristalline structures of materials, in case depending on temperature or pressure. Website (en) Flyer (E)	Denis Cheptiakov denis.cheptiakov@psi.ch +41 56 310 30 70 C05
Fingerprints of Nanostructures Nanostructures analysis (1 - 400nm) using neutrons. Website (en) Flyer (E)	Joachim Kohlbrecher joachim.kohlbrecher@psi.ch +41 56 310 31 65 C07
Dynamics in materials Investigation of structural as well as dynamical properties of materials in almost any thermodynamical state. Website (en)	Jan Peter Embs jan.embs@psi.ch +41 56 310 53 92 C05
Proton irradiation testing Testing of electronic hardness and spacecraft components (e.g. semiconductors) with realistic proton spectra encountered in space. The testing facility It is one of ESA Center of Excellence and member of ECIF - European Component Irradiation Facilities. It is the only facility in Europe offering such a wide range of proton beams with respect to energies, fluxes and profiles. Every ESA Satellite Mission had its instruments tested at PSI. Website (en) Flyer (E)	Wojtek Hajdas wojtek.hajdas@psi.ch +41 56 310 42 12 C05
Electronics and measuring systems Frontend-Electronics, chip- and boarddesign, real-time data acquisition systems (HW, FW, SW). Website (en)	Niklaus Schlumpf nick.schlumpf@psi.ch +41 56 310 32 70 C01
Synchrotron Light powder diffraction Rapid non-destructive analysis of multi-component mixtures, of materials not available in single crystals and the study of industrial compounds Website (en)	Antonio Cervellino antonio.cervellino@psi.ch +41 56 310 46 11 C05
Surface and thin-film characterization Unique tool for determining the detailed atomic structure of crystalline surfaces Website (en) Flyer (E)	Philipp Willmott philip.willmott@psi.ch +41 56 310 51 26 C05
Micro X-ray absorption spectroscopy Experiments requiring high spatial resolution and investigations of time-dependent phenomena in the femtosecond time regime Website (en)	Daniel Grolimund daniel.grolimund@psi.ch +41 56 310 47 82 C08
In-situ X-ray spectroscopy Tool to study the atomic structure of non crystalline and nano-sized materials under reaction conditions. Website (en)	Marteen Nachtegaal maarten.nachtegaal@psi.ch +41 56 310 30 56 C05
Protein Crystallography with synchrotron radiation Protein Crystallography with synchrotron radiation Website (en)	Meitian Wang meitian.wang@psi.ch +41 56 310 41 75 C04
Surface and interface investigations Surface and interface investigations with Synchrotron Light Website (en)	Luc Patthey luc.patthey@psi.ch +41 56 310 50 89 C05
Synchrotron Light Tomographic Microscopy Powerful non-destructive visualisation of three dimensional (3D) internal structure and material properties of a variety of opaque samples Website (en) Flyer (E)	Marco Stampanoni marco.stampanoni@psi.ch   +41 56 310 47 24 C08
Micro- and Nanofabrication Micro- and Nanofabrication technologies and extensive experience under clean-room conditions including process equipment for lithography, pattern transfer, thin-film technology, metrology Website (en) Flyer (E)	Martin Bednarzik martin.bednarzik@psi.ch +41 56 310 25 20 C07
High-Resolution Lithography Serial writing and parallel printing of micro- and nanostructures down to 10nm resolution Website (en) Flyer (E)	Vitaly Guzenko vitaliy.guzenko@psi.ch +41 56 310 54 36 C07
High-Resolution Microscopy of Surfaces Surface mapping from microscopic scale down to the size of atoms and molecules; optical Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Scanning Probe Microscopy Website (en) Flyer (E)	Thomas Jung thomas.jung@psi.ch +41 56 310 45 18 C05 C07
Exhaust gas treatment Screening, characterizing and testing of commercial and proprietary catalysts; catalysts for diesel engines exhaust gas treatment Website (en) Flyer (E)	Oliver Kröcher oliver.kroecher@psi.ch +41 56 310 20 66 C02
In-situ investigation of catalytic processes Screening, characterizing and testing of commercial and proprietary catalysts at transient or steady-state conditions. Developing heterogeneous catalysts (e.g. for CPOX, ATR, PROX, SCWG) Website (en)	Maarten Nachtegaal maarten.nachtegaal@psi.ch +41 56 310 30 56 C02
Analysis of trace elements in process gases Thermo Gravimeter Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometer (TG-ICP) for the analysis of trace elements in process gases Website (en)	Christian Ludwig christian.ludwig@psi.ch +41 56 310 26 96 C03
Analysis of composition of fuel gases Mobile Diagnostics Toolbox for Online and Offline Gas Analysis; simultaneous realtime measurements of condensable and non-condensable compounds in sampled gases Website (en)	Serge Biollaz serge.biollaz@psi.ch +41 56 310 29 23 C03
Solar concentrating reasearch facilities Solar furnace and high-flux solar simulator; investigating novel solar receivers/reactors, testing advanced materials for efficient thermal and thermochemical conversion processes Website (en) Flyer (E)	Anton Meier anton.meier@psi.ch +41 56 310 27 88 C11
Chemical reactor technology for high-temperature processes Chemical reactor technology for high-temperature processes Website (en)	Christian Wieckert christian.wieckert@psi.ch +41 56 310 44 07 C11
Combustion diagnostics Determination of species concentrations, flow fields and temperature by means of laser-optical techniques; application of these techniques to combustion processes in gas turbines, internal combustion engines and laboratory burner Website (en) Flyer (E)	Walter Hubschmid walter.hubschmid@psi.ch +41 56 310 29 38 C02
Clean combustion - modeling and testing of catalytic reaction systems Clean combustion technologies (low NOx and CO emissions), using either fuel-lean catalytic combustion (catalytically stabilized combustion, CST) or fuel-rich catalytic combustion (catalytic partial oxidation, CPO). Potential Applications: gas turbines of power generation systems from large scale down to micro-scale; chemical reaction systems at ambient & elevated pressure (up to 20bar) Website (en)	Ioannis Mantzaras ioannis.mantzaras@psi.ch +41 56 310 40 46 C02
Combustion technologies Experimental facilities for atmospheric and elevated pressure allowing detailed (time & spatially resolved) analysis of temperature, species and flow field via optical, non-intrusive measurement techniques directly applied to the reaction zone (e.g. flame front, heat release area) Website (en)	Peter Jansohn peter.jansohn@psi.ch +41 56 310 28 71 C02
Mobile laboratory for the investigation and characterization of trace gases and aerosol particles The PSI mobile laboratory is designed to measure spatial distributions of air pollutants including trace gases (e.g. ozone, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide) and particulate matter. Aerosol mass spectrometry and light absorption measurement techniques allow for source apportionment of organic aerosols and black carbon Website (en)	André Prévôt andre.prevot@psi.ch +41 56 310 42 02 C03
Investigation of radioactive materials Safe handling, characterization and analysis of highly toxic radioactive substances in different shape and size with advanced analytical tools Website (en) Flyer (E)	Didier Gavillet didier.gavillet@psi.ch +41 56 310 22 82 C09
Investigation of highly radioactive nuclear fuels, components and other materials Testing of radioactive samples (field of application: nuclear power plants, research institutes etc.). Analysis of different materials. Typical investigations: irradiation-induced materials degradation on an atomic and microstructural level Website (en) Flyer (E)	Johannes Bertsch johannes.bertsch@psi.ch +41 56 310 41 73 C09
Simulation of complex, three-dimensional flow fields in components of power and process plant equipment Our laboratory offers all kinds of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations with commercial and in-house codes, applied to conventional and nuclear power plants as well as to chemical process engineering problems. The simulations can include non-reactive and reactive fluid components and other phenomena Website (en)	Horst-Michael Prasser horst-michael.prasser@psi.ch +41 56 310 27 28 C09
Thermal fluid-dynamic simulations of safety relevant processes in nuclear power plants Coarse-mesh codes and Computational Fluid Dynamic Codes are used to predict the behavior of Nuclear Power Plants in case of different kinds of accidents. The available methods can be used in other fields of technology as well. Computer simulations can be validated by the help of large-scale experiments at prototypal conditions Website (en)	Horst-Michael Prasser horst-michael.prasser@psi.ch +41 56 310 27 28 C09
Geochemical evolution of waste disposal systems Our state-of-the-art infrastructure supports laboratory measurements and spectroscopic studies with radioactive tracers. These experimental data and numerical models are used to assess the geochemical evolution of repository systems and to understand the transport and retardation mechanisms of radionuclides in technical barriers and geological environments Website (en)	Michael Bradbury, Sergey Churakov mike.bradbury@psi.ch, sergey.churakov@psi.ch +41 56 310 2290 bzw. 4113 C09
Human performance analysis in safety and reliability studies To optimize the human response to abnormal conditions and minimize the human error potential, methods to identify likely human errors and estimate their probabilities are applied Website (en)	Vinh N. Dang vinh.dang@psi.ch +41 56 310 29 67 C09
Safety analyses of novel systems Probabilistic safety analyses not only provide overall risk estimates but also support safety management by identifying the most important sources of risk and the strengths and weaknesses of the safety precautions and systems. With adaptations, the methods used for nuclear power plant safety comprise a powerful toolbox Website (en)	Vinh N. Dang vinh.dang@psi.ch +41 56 310 29 67 C09
Orbital welding of stainless steel tubes Application mainly in the field of tube construction (plant- and apparatus construction in the food-, pharmaceutical- and chemical industry) particularly advantageous for circular weldings under limited space conditions. Main focuses: orbital welding of thin or large pipes without or with cold wire supply. Website (en) Flyer (D)	Michael Strittmatter, Andre Weber michael.strittmatter@psi.ch; andre.weber@psi.ch +41 56 310 30 35 bzw. 3747 C06
Vacuum brazing Components with complex or rotational symmetric geometries to be soldered permanently in special equipped vacuum chambers. Advantageous particularly for applications of specific clean room quality. Website (en) Flyer (D)	Heinrich Blumer heinrich.blumer@psi.ch +41 56 310 34 79 C06
Electron beam welding Application particularly with regard to high melting metallic materials. Field of application: accelerator technology, sensor technology, automotive manufacture, medical technology etc. Website (en) Flyer (D)	Heinrich Blumer heinrich.blumer@psi.ch +41 56 310 34 79 C06
Laser welding Two pulsed Nd:YAG-Laser systems are available for various welding applications. Field of application: Connecting of stainless steel, aluminium and special metals. Website (en) Flyer (D)	Heinrich Blumer heinrich.blumer@psi.ch +41 56 310 34 79 C06
Ultrasonic Cleaning Efficient cleaning of all huge and complex components. Primarily cleaning of components of stainless steel, aluminium, copper, but also glas and ceramics Website (en) Flyer (D)	Heinrich Blumer heinrich.blumer@psi.ch +41 56 310 34 79 C06
Nuclide-specific analysis in radioanalytic laboratories Application of radioisotope determinations in various areas based on non-destructive direct measurement by means of gamma spectrometry as well as on chromatographic separations including additions of radiotracers. Analyzed are particle radiation emitters (alpha, beta) as well as photon radiation emitters (gamma and x-rays). Website (en) Flyer (D)	Jost Eikenberg jost.eikenberg@psi.ch +41 56 310 23 40 C10
Federal collection of MIF/MIR radioactive waste The PSI runs the federal collection centre pursuant to Article 87 of the StSV for radioactive waste from medicine, industry and research. The PSI takes radioactive waste, stores and conditions it and provides the temporary storage until there is a geological repository available Website (en)	Hans-Frieder Beer hans-frieder.beer@psi.ch +41 56 310 37 94 C09
3D-Plotter - Rapid Prototyping Production of complex prototypes consisting of ABS with the 3D Printer "Dimension Elite" based on available CAD-data. Website (en) Flyer (D)	Heinrich Blumer heinrich.blumer@psi.ch +41 56 310 34 79 C06
Laser Engraving Engraving of metals, ceramics or plastics with letter sizes starting at 0.2 mm. Website (en)	Heinrich Blumer heinrich.blumer@psi.ch +41 56 310 34 79 C06
Accredited laboratory for personnel dosimetry, in-vivo measurement of radioactivity and ambient dosimetry Evaluation of personal and ambiant dose for photon, beta and neutron radiation with various adapted dosimeter types (thermoluminescence, direct ion storage, CR39 solide state or fission track detectors).Measurement of radioactivities in the human body by means of a body counter or in the thyroid gland by means of a thyroid counter. Official laboratory STS 491, accredited following ISO 17025 for following domains: personal dosimetry for external or internal exposure, in vivo measurement of radioactivities, environmental dosimetry. Website (en)	Markus Boschung markus.boschung@psi.ch +41 56 310 41 04 C10
Accredited calibration laboratory for radiation protection instruments "Our services for external customers such as Swiss nuclear power plants include: - Calibration and verification of radiation protection instruments - Irradiations using photon and neutron reference radiation fields - Inspection and testing of instruments, expertises and consultancy The calibration certificate of the PSI calibration laboratory is recognised within the European Union. Official laboratory SIS 034 accredited according to ISO 17020, for following technical domains: calibration of dose and dose rate measuring instruments for photons and neutrons; calibration of radon gas measuring instruments and inspection of passive radon detectors by means of intercomparison measurements; Calibration laboratory accredited following ISO 17025 for following quantities: dose equivalent, activity, surface activity, activity concentration and radon concentration." Website (en)	Herbert Hödlmoser herbert.hoedlmoser@psi.ch +41 56 310 28 79 C10
Accredited laboratory for the radioanalytical measurement of immission, releases and incorporation (in-vivo) monitoring probes Official laboratory SIS 173 accredited according to ISO 17025, for following domains: monitoring of incorporations (urine, faeces); monitoring of immissions (air filter and environmental probes from water, soil and grass); monitoring of radioactive release and effluents to the environment of PSI. Website (en)	Jost Eikenberg jost.eikenberg@psi.ch +41 56 310 23 40 C10
Accredited inspection body for the evaluation, the planification and the implementation of protective measures in the frame of radiation protection Inspection body SIS 034 accredited according to ISO 17020, for following technical domains: radiological assessment with stationary and mobile measuring equipment; radiological evaluation aimed at the clearance of materials and localities; assessment of the transportability when shipping and receiving in-house transfers of radioactive materials between the PSI-sites. Website (en)	Albert Fuchs albert.fuchs@psi.ch +41 56 310 44 87 C10
Accredited inspection body as an emergency response service for small scale radiological events Inspection body SIS 034 accredited according to ISO 17020, for following technical domains: radiological assessment with stationary and mobile measuring equipment in the framework of emergency response duties (on-site radiological evaluation aimed at the clearance of materials and localities). Website (en)	Albert Fuchs albert.fuchs@psi.ch +41 56 310 44 87 C10
Accredited inspection body for the assessment and the operation of national and international transports of radioactive material Inspection body SIS 034 accredited according to ISO 17020, for following technical domains: Assessment of the transportability when shipping or receiving national and international transports of radioactive materials. Website (en)	Yves Lörtscher yves.loertscher@psi.ch +41 56 310 23 50 C10
Advisory bodyimplementation of legal requirements in the frame of health&safety, occupational health,fire prevention, environmental protection and safeguard Website (en)	Yves Lörtscher yves.loertscher@psi.ch +41 56 310 23 50 C10
Hot and cold GMP facilities In our GMP certified Labs within and outside the radioprotection Zone as well as i n our grade A, B and C clean rooms we can offer tailored Research & Development as well as Production Services for e.g. the Manufacturing of sterile radiopharmaceuticals for clinical trials Website (en)	Susanne Geistlich Schmidlin susanne.geistlich@psi.ch +41 56 310 28 84 C04
PSI Protein Production Facility The PSI Protein Production Facility offers cloning, protein production in bacterial, yeast, insect and mammalian cells and recombinant protein purification. For membrane protein expression and purification, the facility is accessible for the user community via Biostruct-X (http://www.biostruct-x.eu) Website (en)	Richard Alfred Kammerer richard.kammerer@psi.ch +41 56 310 47 65 C04
SLS Crystallisation Facility at beamline X06DA "The SLS Crystallisation Facility is located at Swiss Light Source (SLS) and offers a unique combination of macromolecular crystallisation services including the crystallization in lipidic cubic phases (LCP). Its integration in the beamline X06DA (PXIII) allows the direct transfer of crystallisation experiments from the plate storage hotel (Formulatrix RockImager 1000) to the X-ray beam (in situ X-ray diffraction screening): crystallisation experiments can be tested without any manipulation. Advice and technical assistance in protein crystallisation are provided as well. Website (en) Flyer (E)	Vincent Olieric vincent.olieric@psi.ch +41 56 310 52 33 C04