Dr. Tim Alexander Butcher

Tim Butcher is a postdoctoral researcher in the Microspectroscopy Group at the Swiss Light Source. He completed a B.Sc. in Physics at the University of Freiburg (Germany) with his bachelor thesis at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM. Subsequently, he obtained his M.Sc. in Physics from TU Dresden (Germany). Throughout his master studies, he was active as a research assistant at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf  (HZDR). For his Master thesis, he performed quantum oscillation measurements at the Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory (HLD) in HZDR. After this, he worked as a Physics PhD student in the Magnetism & Spin Electronics group at Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), completing his PhD in 2021. The research for his PhD concerned the study of paramagnetic ionic solutions, most notably with the method of neutron imaging.  

Development of research using soft X-ray ptychography at the Paul Scherrer Institute. User support at the PolLux and SIM beamlines of the Swiss Light Source.

Tim Butcher's scientific research currently focuses on ptychography based X-ray microscopy and spectroscopy of magnetic systems with synchrotron radiation. In the soft X-ray range, these systems are predominately nanoparticles or thin films.

An extensive overview of publication can be found on Google Scholar or ResearchGate. Publications affiliated with the Paul Scherrer Institute are listed in the repository Dora.

Selected Publications:

• Neutron Imaging of Paramagnetic Ions: Electrosorption by Carbon Aerogels and Macroscopic Magnetic Forces, T. A. Butcher, L. Prendeville, A. Rafferty, P. Trtik, P. Boillat, J. M. D. Coey,  Journal of Physical Chemistry C 125, 21831-21839 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c06031
• Lattice dynamics and ultrafast energy flow between electrons, spins, and phonons in a 3d ferromagnet, D. Zahn, F. Jakobs, Y. W. Windsor, H. Seiler, T. Vasileiadis, T. A. Butcher, Y. Qi, D. Engel, U. Atxitia, J. Vorberger, and R. Ernstorfer, Physical Review Research 3, 023032 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.023032
• Neutron imaging of liquid-liquid systems containing paramagnetic salt solutions, T. A. Butcher, G. J. M. Formon, P. Dunne, T. M. Hermans, F. Ott, L. Noirez, J. M. D. Coey, Applied Physics Letters 116, 022405 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5135390
• Fermi surface investigation of the semimetal TaAs₂, T. A. Butcher, J. Hornung, T. Förster, M. Uhlarz, J. Klotz, I. Sheikin, J. Wosnitza, and D. Kaczorowski, Physical Review B 99, 245112 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.99.245112