Scientific Highlights and News
Scientific Highlights
Dancing molecules
When cycloalkanes are enclosed in a nanometer-sized pore, they adapt their shape - similar to the induced fit concept described in #biochemistry. The molecules do not all behave in the same way and surprisingly start to move when there is a lack of space at 5K.
Thomas Mortelmans receives the Swiss Nanotechnology PhD award
Thomas Mortelmans has been a PhD at the Laboratory for X-ray Nanosciences and Technologies for the last four years. He recently defended his PhD-thesis at the University of Basel entitled: "The development of a nanofluidic particle size sorter and its biomedical sciences" and was awarded the grade of summa cum laude.
Making it easier to differentiate mirror-image molecules
Researchers have shown that mirror-image substances – so-called enantiomers – can be better distinguished using helical X-ray light.
Light-Induced Magnetization at the Nanoscale
Targeted manipulations of an atom's magnetic moment are tricky, as the charge currents used for this process are extremely difficult to control . Now, a consortium of collaborators in Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia and Italy reports on a solution to this problem in the cover page article of Physic Review Letters 128, Vol. 15. As it appears, the magnetization of an atomic gas can be altered by high-power lasers using a patterned wave front. The method is promising for studying and manipulating the magnetic properties of matter at the nanoscale.
Hercules School 2022
PSI hosted again the Hercules School in March 2022. We had the pleasure to welcome 20 international PhD students, PostDocs and scientists to demonstrate our state-of-the-art techniques and methodologies at our large scale facilities, the Swiss Light Source (SLS), the Swiss Spallation Neutron Source (SINQ) and our free electron laser SwissFEL.
Novel X-ray lens facilitates glimpse into the nanoworld
PSI develops a revolutionary achromatic lens for X-rays.
Opening the door to X-ray quantum optics
The 'perfect' X-ray beam-splitter: Researchers at SwissFEL have an ingenious solution to produce coherent copies of pulses, facilitating a realm of new X-ray techniques.
New, better coronavirus rapid test
The test identifies different virus variants and improves disease prognosis.
Millions in funding for brain and quantum research
The European Research Council approves PSI projects for the development of a quantum computer and brain research worth about 5 million euros.
News
Welcome to LXN Paolo Ansuinelli
Herzlich Willkommen Paolo Ansuinelli in LXN!
"Quantum Magnet Lunch" Retreat in Weggis
On September 30 & October 1 2022, our so-called "Quantum Magnet Lunch" team - consisting of the larger QPS group, as well as, Gabriel Aeppli and Markus Müller - has organised a two-day retreat to review our ongoing projects. The goal of the event was to fly above the details of our daily routine and to revisit our overall vision.
Swiss-French Pulsed Magnetic Field Retreat
The Cristallina-Q team has welcomed French high-field experts at SwissFEL for an informal 2-day retreat. The ten participants discussed which technical capabilities of the UZH-PSI pulsed magnet setup should be further developed and which science cases targeted in the upcoming commissioning and pilot experiment phase.
SwissFEL Cristallina "first light" milestone achieved
First X-rays have reached the SwissFEL Cristallina experimental station on 14.03.2021 which is one day ahead of schedule. The achievement of this important milestone marks the beginning of the commissioning phase of the Cristallina project.
The MagnoCell Team
Performing PhD research is generally focused on answering key questions in basic sciences. However, sometimes, these projects find real-world applications. To do so, out-of-the- box thinking and innovation are crucial. To put these to the test, the Swiss Nanoscience Institute (SNI) of the University of Basel organized a workshop called: “Innovation Workshop: From Lab to Start-up” for SNI PhD students. During this workshop, the PhD students had the opportunity to develop ideas for a possible future start-up and present them in a short, but powerful pitch to convince potential investors. The three SNI students from the team Magnocell, including three from the Paul Scherrer Institute took part and were awarded first prize. The winning team was consisted out of: Thomas Mortelmans of the Laboratory of Micro-and Nanotechnology, Shichao Jia of the Laboratory of Nanoscale Biology and Antonia Ruffo of the Electrochemistry Laboratory and Tamara Aderneuer of CSEM Basel. Their idea was to create a company that has the potential to revolutionize modern fuel cells and could make an impact on a billion dollar landscape.
When Shichao was asked about his opinion concerning the workshop, he said the following:
‘In general, dissemination of the advances in basic sciences to the public is never easy. It is even more so in a business context where you would probably have to sell your scientific idea to potential investors. In my opinion, this workshop was deliberately organized to train and prepare us for such a scenario. While the scientific idea itself is undoubtedly essential for a science/engineering-driven start-up, the preparation for the pitch made me realize that it is equally important, if not more, to convey to the potential investor the public interest brought by our idea, our grasp of the target market and our vision for the growth of the start-up. Last but not least, it was so much fun to work with Antonia, Tamara and Thomas “against the clock”.’
PRN 2021 Best talk award
At the end of May 2021, the Fachhochschule Nordwerstschweiz hosted the Polymer Replication on Nanoscale conference (prn-conference.com/program). The conference aims to provide an up-to-date overview on the state of the art and newest findings in R&D on polymer replication on the micro- and nanoscale. The virtual conference was attended by members from both academia as well as industry. Here, Thomas Mortelmans, PhD-student in the Laboratory of Micro-and Nanotechnology, had the honor to give an invited talk entitled: Thermoplastic 3D nanofluidic devices for biosensing. The presentation explained how different nanofabrication methods can be simultaneously used to achieve 3D nanoscale topography control in a cost-effective and up scalable manner. At the end of the conference, Thomas was awarded with the best talk award in the category of young scientists.
New group member
Cornelius Hempel officially joins LMN as group leader "Ion Traps". We wish him every success for the future!
New group members
Marie-Christine 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.
Earlier news and highlights are found in the "News and Highlights Archive"