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Pyrochlore Artificial Spin Ice: Advances in Fabrication and Characterization of a 3D Magnetic Metamaterial
Artificial spin ices are magnetic metamaterials consisting of arrays of magnetically coupled nanoscale magnets arranged in various geometries. They display ...
Launch of the Max Planck-Korea-PSI Center for Quantum Emergent Spintronics
An international research partnership uniting leading institutions from Germany, Korea and Switzerland to advance the frontiers of quantum spintronics
Switching chiral phonons with electricity
Scientists at PSI show that an electric field can reverse the handedness of atomic vibrations known as chiral phonons.
Prestigious research grant for spin-quantum combination
From two to one: Giacomo Sala is combining two separate worlds of physics at PSI – the established field of spintronics and the emerging field of quantum geometry. The ERC is funding his highly innovative project with approximately CHF 2.2 million. It could pave the way for more efficient data storage.
Enhanced Spin-Reorientation Transition and Polarization in DyFeO3 Thin Films
Materials with a kagome lattice host exotic quantum phenomena driven by the interplay between band topology, spin–orbit coupling, magnetism, and electronic correlations. While the magnetism of kagome materials ...
A surprising twist in the quantum world
An effect known from ball sports also appears in interactions of light and matter. Researchers at PSI have now directly observed this optical phenomenon for the first time.
A world-first lens brings neutrons into sharper focus
From thick samples to processes inside bulky equipment, a new type of lens opens the door to high-resolution neutron imaging of working systems.
Quantum material under pressure
High pressure enhances superconductivity in a quantum material and alters its properties. PSI researchers have uncovered the microscopic mechanism behind this effect.
Sharpening laboratory X-ray imaging
Full-field transmission X-ray microscopy (TXM) is a powerful, non-destructive technique for nanoscale imaging. It delivers significantly higher spatial resolution than visible light microscopy while enabling the inspection of thick samples that electron microscopy cannot penetrate. By bridging this gap, TXM drives critical advancements across diverse scientific fields, from mapping the internal degradation of energy materials to imaging intact biological cells.
On the trail of the missing hydrogen atoms
Representations of the crystal structures of materials often lack information about the positions of hydrogen atoms. PSI researchers have found a way to fill this gap, using AI.
“Fall in love with the problem – not the solution”
Georges Khneysser, Venture Capitalist at Park Innovaare, explains what science-based spin-offs need to understand about market requirements and why trust matters more than the perfect pitch.
AiiDAlab: software that drives research forward
The software platform AiiDAlab was developed for computer simulations in materials research. It’s now becoming clear that it's also useful in many other areas, such as atmospheric research, controlling experiments and teaching.
A time machine to the most stable state
GEMS allows scientists to model the chemistry of complex systems. A new national consortium now guarantees the long-term development of this open-source software.
Imaging electrical switching of ultraefficient memory devices
SLS illuminates how electrical switching in layered materials works
A new database of inorganic materials is available on the Materials Cloud
A team of scientists, led by researchers at PSI, has introduced the Materials Cloud Three-Dimensional Structure Database (MC3D), a systematically curated database of quantum-mechanical calculations for inorganic materials derived from experimental crystal structures. The database contains more than 32 000 structures whose relaxed geometry and electronic structure were computed using carefully standardized DFT workflows, using three different functionals and/or computational protocols. Beyond providing a consistent reference dataset for computational materials science, MC3D also supports emerging data-driven approaches. For example, it served as a starting point for datasets used to train machine-learning interatomic potentials.
Measuring time at the quantum level
Physicists using the Swiss Light Source SLS have found a way to measure the time involved in quantum events and found it depends on the symmetry of the material.
There’s an app for that: atomistic materials calculations made more accessible by the AiiDAlab Quantum ESPRESSO app
Powerful atomistic simulation tools have transformed materials research, but their complexity still limits who can use them and how easily results can be reproduced: a gap that a new web-based app now helps close. The AiiDAlab Quantum ESPRESSO app, described in a recent publication in npj Computational Materials, can run not only isolated calculations but also complete, end-to-end computational workflows involving multiple passages over several different materials, lowering the barrier for both experimentalists and computational experts. This is achieved through the tight integration of the widely-used Quantum ESPRESSO simulation software package with the AiiDA engine, a workflow-management system to help automate complex simulations in materials science (whose development is led by the Materials Software and Data group at PSI), which has provided substantial support to its development alongside contributions from the broader community.
PSI Founder Fellowship for AI platform and solid-state batteries
PSI researchers Mohsen Sadr and Mohammadhossein Montazerian are receiving financial support and guidance for their business ideas through the PSI technology transfer team.
Surgery for quantum bits
Researchers show how quantum operations can be carried out while actively correcting errors – a key step toward reliable quantum computers.
One thousand modules for CERN
At CERN near Geneva, tiny particles with extremely high energies are blasted at each other to answer big questions about the universe. The detectors that observe the collisions of these particles require regular upgrades. Lea Caminada and her High Energy Particle Physics research group at PSI play an important role in this quest.
Important funding for muon research
PSI gets an NCCR: The Muoniverse project will further expand research on the beamlines for elementary particles called muons – at the world’s leading facility for muon beams.
Flexoelectric Polarization Enhancement in Paraelectric BaHfO3 via Strain Gradient Engineering
Flexoelectricity – polarization induced by strain gradients – offers a route to polar functionality in centrosymmetric dielectrics, where traditional piezoelectric effects are absent. This study investigates the flexoelectric effect in epitaxial BaHfO3 (BHO) thin films, a centrosymmetric and paraelectric perovskite.
Chiral phonons in polar LiNbO3
Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering reveals that lattice vibrations can be chiral in a polar material, with phonons having opposite handedness depending on their direction in momentum space.
“Collaboration is particularly important in quantum research”
PSI researcher Kirsten Moselund talks about quantum technologies – about their importance and the current situation in Switzerland. And about her own research in the field of nanophotonics.
Laser draws made-to-order magnetic landscapes
Researchers at PSI have found a surprisingly inexpensive and fast method to make localised alterations in magnetic materials.
Two-dimensional gradients in magnetic properties created with direct-write laser annealing
Across the fields of magnetism, microelectronics, optics, and others, engineered local variations in material properties can yield groundbreaking functionalities that play a crucial role in enabling future technologies. One-dimensional lateral gradients in material properties give rise to a plethora of new effects in thin-film magnetic systems. However, extending such gradient-induced behaviors to two dimensions has been challenging to realize experimentally. Here, we demonstrate the creation of two-dimensional complex patterns with continuous variations in magnetic anisotropy, interlayer exchange coupling, and ferrimagnetic compensation at the mesoscopic scale in numerous application-relevant magnetic materials. We exploit our engineered gradients in material properties to demonstrate novel magnetic functionalities, including the creation of a spin wave band pass filter and an architecture for passively resetting the position of a magnetic domain wall. Our results highlight the exciting new physics and device applications enabled by two-dimensional gradients in thin film properties.
Swiss PIC technology transfer centre is inaugurated
Jointly founded by scientific and industrial partners with PSI researchers: the Swiss Photonics Integration Center celebrated its inauguration on 24 November 2025.
Imaging electrical switching of van der Waals cryomemory devices
3D nonthermal switching of a van der Waals cryomemory device was imaged using X-ray micro beams at the SLS
Atoms under pressure
Zurab Guguchia puts pressure on matter – and in doing so, creates exciting quantum effects such as superconductivity at more easily achievable temperatures.
Unravelling the coexistence of insulating and metallic-like excitations in SrIrO₃
A team led by researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI used resonant inelastic X-ray scattering to probe spin and charge fluctuations in atomically engineered SrIrO₃. The results revealed that insulator-like and metallic-like modes can simultaneously emerge in a correlated 5d semimetal, advancing the understanding of “strange metal” behaviour in spin–orbit coupled systems.
From Melt to Martensite
Real-time synchrotron X-ray diffraction reveals how different phases of steel emerge and evolve under the intense heat of laser powder bed fusion.
Terbium duet and other quantum art
To create more stable qubits, PSI researchers make terbium ions perform in pairs. Elsewhere, they are using optical tweezers to position atoms with high precision.
Single-Photon-Counting Detection for Soft X-rays Down to 530 eV
The PSI Photon Science Detector Group has developed the first single-photon-counting pixel detector capable of detecting soft X-rays down to 530 eV. This breakthrough was achieved by combining EIGER readout chips with novel inverse LGAD sensors, developed in collaboration with and fabricated at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Italy). The detector is now in user operation for ptychographic applications, where it has already enabled significant scientific results at the Fe L₃-edge (707 eV) and even at the O K-edge (530 eV), demonstrating superior detection performance compared to commercially available state-of-the-art detectors.
Slowing time and trapping ions
Cornelius Hempel uses quanta to perform calculations on quantum phenomena. While this sounds logical, it’s actually highly complex. His latest coup: a quantum simulator that slows down time.
Disorder begins at the surface of quantum materials
Ultrafast X-rays from SwissFEL reveal unexpected light responses in quantum materials.
Tuning chirality amplitude at ultrafast timescales in chiral CsCuCl3
We quantify “how chiral” a crystal is, and demonstrate its tunability at ultrafast timescales. This achievement does open up a new direction in chirality-related condensed matter physics and on emergent phenomena, which have both attracted significant attention recently.
Merlin-7: New model for high-performance computing
An innovative computing cluster is ushering in a new era of computer-aided research at PSI.
PSI’s cement whisperer
John Provis has dedicated his research career to a building material that is far more exciting than you might think.
Aperiodic Chiral Tiling by Molecular Self-Assembly
The 2D self-arrangement of a molecule that resembles three-armed spirals leads to a triangular pattern that is effectively aperiodic.
Machine Learning Accelerates Alloy Design for Additive Manufacturing
A new machine learning–designed alloy demonstrates how materials can be tailored for specific performance properties required in additive manufacturing.
The Quantum Revolution: What's Next?
A century on from the birth of quantum mechanics, 2025 marks the UNESCO International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. What does the future hold? Our experts share their opinions.
Zinc detected in clogged syringes
With the help of researchers at PSI, ANAXAM has been investigating, on behalf of the pharmaceutical company MSD, whether zinc may contribute to clogging of pre-filled syringes.
Demystifying electron ptychography with the PtychoScopy tool
The open-source PtychoScopy tool guides users towards higher quality and faster electron ptychographic reconstructions.
Peering into matter with ultrashort X-ray ripples
An all-X-ray transient grating experiment allows scientists to study the dynamics of quantum particles at the nanoscale.
Cracking the Challenge of Steel–Copper Fusion
Why do cracks appear when joining steel and copper? We track the mechanisms in real time to find out.
Attorney for cutting-edge technology
Former PSI doctoral candidate Stephanie Smit now works as a patent attorney for a company that is among the most important in the world. That’s because this company builds machines that are worth a fortune and are highly sought after.
Transmutex at PSI Hotlab
Transmutex produces design and software for an accelerator-driven reactor able to transmute long-lived transuranic nuclides and fission products from the classic Uranium cycle for power production.
Benefits such as Nuclear waste volume reductions above a factor of 6 and HAW lifetime reductions to << 1000 years will be attained.
Breeding U-233 in Th fuel in the reactor integrates Transmutex’s design with existing commercial PHWR and LWR in providing fuel and fissionable material for their continued operation.
At PSI hotlab, Transmutex develops the manufacturing of porous metal pellets aiming to produce experimental Th pellets for further investigation utilizing PSI’s and hotlabs’ research capabilities. The new design will unify the advantages of metallic fuel such as high fissile density, ease of fabrication, and more while mitigating classic issues of compact metallic fuel related to the buildup of fission gas.
Successfully produced inactive analogues are illustrating the prove of concept of the design.
Interfacial Phase Formation in 316L–CuCrZr Hybrids
In-situ X-ray diffraction reveals how phase separation and fluid flow shape microstructure in laser-welded multi-material metal builds.