The PSI Laboratory for Multiscale Materials Experiments focusses on designing novel functional materials in poly- and single crystalline form, as thin films and as multilayers.
Lab News & Scientific Highlights
Ferromagnetic quantum critical point protected by nonsymmorphic symmetry in a Kondo metal
Quantum critical points (QCPs), zero-temperature phase transitions, are win- dows to fundamental quantum-mechanical phenomena associated with universal behaviour. Magnetic QCPs have been extensively investigated in the vicinity of antiferromagnetic order. However, QCPs are rare in metallic ferromagnets due to the coupling of the order parameter to electronic soft modes. Recently, antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling in noncentrosymmetric systems was suggested to protect ferromagnetic QCPs. Nonetheless, multiple centrosymmetric materials ...
Room temperature magnetoelectric magnetic spirals by design
Frustrated magnets with ordered magnetic spiral phases that spontaneously break inversion symmetry have received significant attention from both fundamental and applied sciences communities due to the experimental demonstration that some of these materials can couple to the lattice and induce electric polarization. In these materials, the common origin of the electric and magnetic orders guarantees substantial coupling between them, which is highly desirable for applications ...
Magnetostructural Coupling at the Néel Point in YNiO3 Single Crystals
The recent discovery of superconductivity in infinite layer thin films and bulk Ruddlesden–Popper nickelates has stimulated the investigation of other predicted properties of these materials. Among them, the existence of magnetism-driven ferroelectricity in the parent compounds RNiO3 (R = 4f lanthanide and Y) at the onset of the Néel order, TN, has remained particularly elusive. Using diffraction techniques, we reveal here the existence of magnetostriction at TN in bulk YNiO3 single crystals. Interestingly, the associated lattice anomalies ...
Fun Facts about Magnetism
The video is from the Visitor Centre psi forum of the Paul Scherrer Institute, where a cartoon avatar of Rhea Stewart, who was a Postdoc in Mesoscopic Systems, explains about our research to science enthusiasts.
Upcoming Seminars
Information to visitors: The seminars of the group are open to members of PSI and Project Partners, while the group meeting following the seminar is for group members only.
Publications
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Hartl A, Minár J, Constantinou P, Roddatis V, Alarab F, Müller AM, et al.
Anionic disorder and its impact on the surface electronic structure of oxynitride photoactive semiconductors
Chemistry of Materials. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.4c01832
DORA PSI -
Berchialla L, Macauley GM, Heyderman LJ
Focus on three-dimensional artificial spin ice
Applied Physics Letters. 2024; 125(22): 220501 (16 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0229120
DORA PSI -
Hanani Z, Belhadi J, Trstenjak U, Shepelin NA, Bobnar V, Uršič H, et al.
Thermally stable capacitive energy-density and colossal electrocaloric and pyroelectric effects of Sm-doped Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 thin films
Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2024; 146(47): 32595-32604. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c11555
DORA PSI