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Large Research Facilities

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Sometimes, one needs unusually large pieces of equipment to look at the smallest of objects – because only these large machines or facilities can generate the probes that are needed to examine matter in such a way that the information being sought can be obtained. PSI maintains a number of such facilities, making them available as a service for other institutions, but also using them for its own research. These facilities are unique within Switzerland, and PSI is the only location in the world for some of the facilities

Read more at: Large Research Facilities

Further information

  • The Swiss X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL
  • The Swiss Light Source SLS
  • The SINQ neutron source
  • The SμS muon source
  • The Swiss research infrastructure for particle physics CHRISP
  • The PSI proton accelerator
21 December 2020
Christian Rüegg

PSI equips the Swiss Light Source SLS for the future

Media Releases Research Using Synchrotron Light Large Research Facilities SLS 2.0

Green light for SLS 2.0: The planned upgrade of the Swiss Light Source SLS can proceed; the funding is provided for within the framework of the ERI Dispatch for 2021-2024, which has been approved.

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4 December 2020
Alun Ashton, Leiter ad interim des Teilprojekts Controls & Science IT

The librarian of the petabytes

Research Using Synchrotron Light Large Research Facilities SLS 2.0

It is necessary to prepare now for the planned upgrade of the Swiss Light Source SLS. In order to do justice to future research, Alun Ashton is estimating the amount of data that future experiments will produce.

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1 December 2020
Teaser Athos

Milestone for the second beamline of SwissFEL

Large Research Facilities SwissFEL Matter and Material

At the X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, the second beamline is currently being put into operation. With Athos, researchers want to understand how catalysts work or how biomolecules cause hereditary diseases.

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23 October 2020
Waldrundgang Teaser

SwissFEL: a perfect habitat for the black mortar bee

Large Research Facilities SwissFEL Miscellaneous Enviroment

For the construction of the SwissFEL facility in 2013, around five hectares of forest were cleared and transformed into a new habitat for flora and fauna. Biologists and forest engineers have now assessed the results of the renaturization project and are excited about the progress to date.

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31 August 2020
May Sharpe

A question of binding

Research Using Synchrotron Light Large Research Facilities Biology Human Health Research on Covid-19

At PSI, researchers are screening molecule fragments to see if these bind to important proteins of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and thus have the potential to disable it. They are hoping the many individual pieces of information will yield an answer as to what an effective drug might look like.

Read more
18 August 2020
Hans Braun

«We're making SLS fit for the future»

Research Using Synchrotron Light Large Research Facilities SLS 2.0

The Swiss Light Source SLS is set to get an upgrade to make excellent research possible in the coming decades as well. Hans Braun, SLS 2.0 project leader, talks about this undertaking in an interview.

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1 May 2020
CuPCP gives off an intense green glow not only when current is applied, but also under UV light.

In search of the lighting material of the future

Media Releases SwissFEL Matter and Material Large Research Facilities Research Using Synchrotron Light

At the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, researchers have gained insights into a promising material for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). This new understanding at the atomic level will help to develop new lighting materials that have higher light output and also are cost-efficient to manufacture.

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19 March 2020
So zeigte sich «Athos» am 17. Dezember 2019 auf dem Bildschirm im Kontrollraum: als kompakter Röntgenlaserstrahl.

Athos is making great strides

SwissFEL Matter and Material Large Research Facilities

The new beamline at PSI's X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL will soon be ready for action. In December, Athos delivered laser light for the first time − even sooner than expected, to the delight of the researchers responsible for its construction.

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16 January 2020
Teaser Interview Adelmann

Simulation: The third pillar of science

Biology Matter and Material Large Research Facilities

PSI researchers simulate and model large research facilities as well as experiments, for example, in the materials and biological sciences. Andreas Adelmann, head of PSI's Laboratory for Scientific Computing and Modelling, explains how they do it.

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23 December 2019
Dr. Andreas Adelmann

Modelling and simulation pay off

Biology Matter and Material Nuclear Power Plant Safety Large Research Facilities

Researchers in PSI's Laboratory for Scientific Computing and Modelling solve the most complex problems through a combination of theory, modelling, and high-performance computing. With powerful computers, they simulate the smallest molecules or large research facilities.

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11 December 2019
bytes

5,000,000,000,000,000 bytes from Villigen to Lugano

Large Research Facilities

During investigations of tiny structures with large research facilities, huge amounts of data accumulate at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI. This data is archived at the CSCS supercomputer centre in Lugano, and the researchers use the supercomputer there for their simulations and modelling.

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2 December 2019
Willmott und Garvey

More magnets, smoother curves: The SLS upgrade

SLS 2.0 Large Research Facilities Research Using Synchrotron Light

The Swiss Light Source SLS is set to undergo an upgrade in the coming years: SLS 2.0. The renovation is made possible by the latest technologies and will create a large research facility that will meet the needs of researchers for decades to come.

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4 July 2019
Teaser Molekulare Energiemaschine als Filmstar

Molecular energy machine as a movie star

Media Releases Biology SwissFEL Large Research Facilities Research Using Synchrotron Light

Using the Swiss Light Source SLS, PSI researchers have recorded a molecular energy machine in action and thus revealed how energy production at cell membranes works. For this purpose, they developed a new investigative method that could make the analysis of cellular processes significantly more effective than before.

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6 December 2018

EU grants 14 million to Swiss Researchers

Media Releases Materials Research Matter and Material Research Using Neutrons Large Research Facilities

A team with three researchers from the ETH Domain has been awarded a prestigious EU grant. Today, they received the contract signed by the EU confirming the extraordinary 14 million euros funding. With it, they will investigate quantum effects which could become the backbone of future electronics.

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8 August 2018

Fast-moving plot

SwissFEL Large Research Facilities

How do dye-sensitised solar cells work, and what's behind the brilliant new mobile phone displays? The ultrashort X-ray pulses at SwissFEL reveal the chemical reactions that take place inside these devices and could help to make them even more efficient and cost-effective.

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11 July 2018
teaser picture

On the path to new high-performance transistors

Media Releases Research Using Synchrotron Light Large Research Facilities Materials Research Matter and Material

The electronics industry expects a novel high-performance transistor made of gallium nitride to offer considerable advantages over present-day high-frequency transistors. Yet many fundamental properties of the material remain unknown. Now, for the first time, researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have observed electrons while they were flowing in this promising transistor. For that they used one of the world's best sources of soft X-rays at PSI's Swiss Light Source SLS.

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20 June 2018
teaser picture

Movie directors with extra roles

SwissFEL Storage Large Research Facilities

Data storage devices based on novel materials are expected to make it possible to record information in a smaller space, at higher speed, and with greater energy efficiency than ever before. Movies shot with the X-ray laser show what happens inside potential new storage media, as well as how the processes by which the material switches between two states can be optimised.

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30 May 2018

Hollywood in the Würenlingen woods

SwissFEL Biology Large Research Facilities

With the X-ray laser SwissFEL, researchers at PSI want to produce movies of biomolecules in action. This can reveal how our eyes function or how new drugs work.

Read more
7 December 2017

First experiment at SwissFEL carried out successfully

Media Releases Large Research Facilities SwissFEL

The years of careful planning and construction have paid off: At the newest large-scale research facility of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI – the X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL – the first experiment has been carried out successfully. With that, two goals have been achieved: First, a new scientific result is already expected. Second, the interaction of the many individual components of the highly complex facility is being optimised.

Read more
7 July 2017

Research experience from California benefits Swiss X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL

Media Releases Large Research Facilities Matter and Material SwissFEL

An X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) is capable of visualizing extremely fast structural and electronic processes. Pilot experiments will take place at the PSI's Swiss Free-Electron Laser (SwissFEL) from the end of 2017 on. Two current publications in Science and Nature Communications demonstrate the kind of outstanding scientific work that is enabled by such facilities. The work was carried out at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) in California. Two of the leading authors behind these studies have now relocated to the PSI in order to share their expertise as SwissFEL expands its capabilities.

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5232 01/2021

5232 — Das Magazin des Paul Scherrer Instituts

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