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Large Research Facilities

bi2007m09 sls 0002 di v tn.jpg
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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
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 Future Technologies 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 Future Technologies 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 Future Technologies 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 Future Technologies 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.

Read more
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 Future Technologies 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.

Read more
11 July 2018
teaser picture

On the path to new high-performance transistors

Media Releases Research Using Synchrotron Light Large Research Facilities Materials Research Future Technologies

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.

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This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
7 July 2017

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

Media Releases Large Research Facilities Future Technologies 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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This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
21 June 2017

Injector 2: a pre-accelerator for protons

Large Research Facilities

As fundamental building blocks of matter, protons are part of all the things that surround us. At the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, though, they step out of their usual role and are deployed to generate other particles, namely neutrons and muons, which are then used to study materials. But for that, the protons first have to be accelerated. An important role in this is played by a three-stage accelerator facility, in the middle of which stands the accelerator known as Injector 2.

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This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
29 May 2017

To the limits of the feasible

Large Research Facilities SwissFEL

The company Daetwyler made the undulators for the X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, to a precision of one-tenth of the width of a hair.

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This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
18 April 2017

Successful for 20 years: Probing materials with particles

Media Releases Future Technologies Research Using Neutrons Large Research Facilities

Whether they study materials for the electronics of the future, batteries, or swords from the Bronze Age — for 20 years researchers from a range of disciplines have been using the Swiss Spallation Neutron Source SINQ of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI for their investigations. At a symposium on 18 April, researchers looked back on the facility's successes and presented plans for modernisation.

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This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
6 April 2017

Second beamline for SwissFEL

Large Research Facilities SwissFEL

This year the first pilot experiments are starting at the X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL. The X-ray light generated by SwissFEL will enable a broad spectrum of experiments. Beginning in 2020, a second beamline will provide for a still greater variety.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
5 December 2016

SwissFEL inauguration

Media Releases Large Research Facilities SwissFEL

Today, on 5 December 2016, the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI held an inauguration ceremony for its new large-scale research facility SwissFEL, with Johann N. Schneider-Ammann, President of the Swiss Confederation, in attendance.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
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5232 — The magazine of the Paul Scherrer Institute

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