Coherent X-ray Scattering Group (CXS)

The Coherent X-ray Scattering (CXS) group develops techniques in scanning- and time-resolved SAXS and high-resolution scanning X-ray microscopy at the cSAXS beamline. In collaboration with research groups, within PSI and international universities and research institutes, we apply these techniques to a wide range of problems in the fields of biology, biomedical research and materials science.

We will open position at cSAXS for small-angle scattering tensor tomography in combination with ptychographic tomography. Contact us for details.

Scientific Highlights

27 March 2019

Inside Batteries

Lithium ion batteries (LIB) are essential in modern everyday life, with increasing interest in enhancing their performance and lifetime. Secondary particles of Li-rich cathode material were examined with correlated ptychographic X-ray tomography and diffraction microscopy at different stages of cycling to probe the aging mechanism.

6 March 2019

Micro- and nano-calcifications as well as collagen, elastin and myofilament have been mapped using scanning SAXS and WAXS

Insights into a well-known disease in ageing populations: Abdominal and popliteal aneurysm

Abdominal aortic aneurysm, an enlargement of the abdominal aorta, may lead to rupture and thus acute health issues and death. Scanning X-ray imaging enabled new insights in the nano-structure of calcifications associated with abdonimal and popliteal aneurysm and allowed mapping the distribution of nano- and micro-calcifications as well as of collagen, elastin and myofilament as building blocks of connective tissue across samples from human donors.

1 February 2019

Virtual lens improves X-ray microscopy

Media Releases Matter and Material Research Using Synchrotron Light

A method developed by PSI researchers makes X-ray images of materials even better. The researchers took a number of individual images while moving an optical lens. From these, with the help of computer algorithms, they generated one overall image.

21 November 2018

3D rendering of hierarchically-structured monolithic nanoporous gold with approx. 23 nm spatial resolution obtained by ptychographic X-ray tomography, showing binary representation of gold and pores after image segmentation (above) and the resulting orthographic projection (below).

Helping chemists to understand degradation and stabilization of catalytic nanoporous gold structures

Catalytic materials are ubiquitously used in industrial processes to perform chemical reactions efficiently and in a sustainable manner. Nanoporous gold (npAu) is a monolithic sponge-like catalyst exhibiting a hierarchical structure with pores and connecting ligaments of typically 10 to 50 nm.

28 August 2018

Claire Donnelly dissertation research awards

Claire Donnelly, Mesoscopic Systems (ETH Zurich - PSI), was awarded the COMSOL SPS Award in Computational Physics, the Werner Meyer-Ilse Memorial Award, the ETH Medal for an outstanding doctoral thesis, and the American Physical Society Richard L. Greene Dissertation Award.

3 April 2018

HERCULES School Poster Prize

Klaus Wakonig was awarded the best poster prize in the 2018 rendition of the HERCULES European School in Grenoble, France. Klaus is currently a PhD student at the CXS group at PSI, developing X-ray Fourier ptychography.

17 October 2017

Making the world go round - a look into the structure of a prominent heterogeneous catalyst

Fluid catalytic cracking catalysts, which are composite particles of hierarchical porosity, were examined using ptychographic X-ray tomography. These particles are essential to the conversion of crude oil into gasoline. Examination of catalysts at decreasing levels of catalytic conversion efficacy allowed the detection of possible deactivation causes.

28 August 2017

Swiss Neutron Scattering Prize

Viviane Lutz-Bueno was awarded the Swiss Neutron Scattering Prize of the Swiss Neutron Scattering Society, at the Joint Annual Meeting of the Swiss and Austrian Physical Society, for her PhD thesis Effects of formulation and flow on the structure of micellar aggregates carried out at ETH Zürich. Viviane is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the CXS group at PSI, developing scanning SAXS analysis methods.

20 July 2017

Diving into magnets

Media Releases Materials Research Matter and Material Research Using Synchrotron Light

For the first time, scientists have made visible the directions of the magnetisation inside a 3D magnetic object. The smallest details in their visualisation were ten thousand times smaller than a millimetre. Among others, the magnetic structure contained one outstanding kind of pattern: magnetic singularities called Bloch points, which up to now were only known in theory.

Associated Beamlines

cSAXS

Contact

Dr. Andreas Menzel
Paul Scherrer Institut
5232 Villigen-PSI
Switzerland
Telephone:
+41 56 310 3711
E-mail:
andreas.menzel@psi.ch

Photon Science Division

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