
Laboratory for Micro and Nanotechnology (LMN)
LMN is dedicated to fundamental and applied research with a focus on:
- Outstanding nanoscience by exploiting the synergies between advanced micro/nanofabrication and PSI’s large scale facilities, in particular the Swiss Light Source (SLS)
- Enabling innovations in instrumentation (optics, detectors, diagnostics etc.) for large scale facilities by applying nanotechnology
- Providing advanced micro- and nanofabrication technologies to academic and industrial users, in particular in the area of polymer nanotechnology.
Latest Scientific Highlights
LMN PhD-student Thomas Mortelmans wins best talk award
Every year, during the winter months, PhD students of the Swiss Nanoscience Institute take part in the SNI: Nano in the snow PhD school. Currently, as COVID-19 is still omnipresent in our everyday it happened virtually this year and Thomas Mortelmans took part. He said: “It was an exciting day filled with excellent scientific content from a variety of research fields; ranging from quantum physics, to protein engineering and drug delivery. During these events, the interdisciplinary of SNI is nicely highlighted and the benefit of joined research projects across scientific disciplines can be seen.”
Thomas gave an interdisciplinary introduction to the field of microfluidics and was awarded with the prize of best talk.
New class of substances for REDOX chemistry
The compounds known as ‘pyrazinacenes’ are simple, stable compounds that consist of a series of connected nitrogen-containing carbon rings. They are suitable for applications in electrochemistry or synthesis, as the researchers describe in the science journal Communications Chemistry. They were first designed, synthesized and chemically characterized in solution by the Hill team and carefully investigated by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Surface Chemical Analysis. The compounds have been shown to reversibly release and accept electrons and arrange themselves differently depending on the oxidation state. Interestingly, the oxidation and reduction reactions of the pyrazinacenes are not only affected by a chemical impulse, but can also be stimulated by light so they can be considered photo-redox active.
EPS Council
Thomas A. Jung has been elected as a delegate of the Associate Members of the European Physical Society. As a member he shall contribute to the reviewing of the activities of the Society, the annual accounts and to the discussion of future priorities and new activities.
Latest News
New group members
Marie Zdora, Umut Sanli and Talgat Mamyrbayev officially join the X-ray Optics and Applications group as Post-Docs. We wish them every success!
New group member
Robert Kälin officially joins the Quantum Technologies group as technician of the Cristallina endstation.
New group member
Alexander Steppke officially joins the Quantum Technologies group as project coordinator for the collaboration of the Cristallina-Q team and the Laboratory of Quantum Matter (LQM) of Prof. Johan Chang at the University of Zurich (UZH).