SLS 2.0: How to start up a particle accelerator
The electrons are back: after its upgrade, the Swiss Light Source SLS is starting up again, step by step.
The Cables of the SLS
Building services, magnets, IT – many different parties are involved in the SLS upgrade. What connects them all is several hundred kilometres of cables.
IMPACT: Upgrade at PSI research facility approved
Financing for renovations to PSI’s proton accelerator facility has been approved by the Swiss Parliament.
Together for Science with Neutrons, Muons and X-rays
Strategic partnership between research facilities in UK and Switzerland will create new capabilities to address global challenges using neutrons, muons and X-rays.
IMPACT for Swiss society
World leader in muons and in production of medical radionuclides: The far-reaching significance of the planned upgrade.
Neat, precise and brighter than ever
Researchers at SwissFEL succeed in improving the temporal coherence of XFEL pulses
Excited About SLS 2.0!
Researchers tell us why they are excited about SLS 2.0 and more brilliant light for science
Nobel Prize winner Anne L’Huillier visits SwissFEL
X-ray free-electron lasers could unlock the next frontier in attosecond research
Aluminium and solar
The SLS building is currently getting a new roof.
A plan for the world’s biggest machine
Interview with Lea Caminada, head of the High Energy Particle Physics Group at PSI, about the next potential large project at CERN.
Switzerland Innovation Park Innovaare celebrates opening
After four years of construction, a modern innovation park with 23,000 m2 of clean rooms, laboratories, precision workshops, offices and meeting rooms has been created next to Paul Scherrer Institute PSI in Villigen (AG).
Rescuing music with X-rays
SLS plays the King of the Blues – B.B. King! In collaboration with the Montreux Jazz Digital Project, historic audio tapes are being digitised at PSI.
What will the SLS 2.0 upgrade mean for experiments?
Tighter beams, brighter light and extended photon energies open new experimental possibilities.
Developing detectors to transform science with light (part 2)
Part II: Why detecting soft X-rays is hard, and how a new breakthrough is set to transform low energy X-ray science.
Protons and other particles: The HIPA facility turns 50
Since 1974 HIPA has been accelerating protons for research.
Developing detectors to transform science with light (part 1)
Part I: How the Jungfrau detector went from inception to perfection to ubiquity.
„IMPACT is very important in terms of international competition“
Daniela Kiselev talks about the upgrade planned at PSI's proton accelerator facility.
SwissFEL: a next generation tool for Attosecond Science
The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics recognises attosecond science’s pioneers. Past and future, this field’s evolution is entwined with SwissFEL.
Smart glass and music from SLS
Every year the PSI Founder Fellowship Programme supports new ideas for innovative applications with up to 150,000 Swiss francs.
Bringing SwissFEL light to industrial users
High throughput experiments will enable new structural biology users to benefit from XFEL light.
SLS 2.0: “Dark time” during the upgrade
The SLS is shutting down temporarily as it undergoes a major upgrade.
Thank You SLS
Our beamline scientists look back on 22 years of brilliant science made possible by the Swiss Light Source SLS.
How PSI helped realise BEATS, a new beamline in Jordan
The “BEAmline for Tomography at Sesame” was recently inaugurated as the fifth beamline at the SESAME synchrotron facility.
A metal alloy like a sponge
Once the vacuum chambers for the SLS 2.0 upgrade are the right shape, they still need a special surface coating.
A six-metre high oven
The most complicated vacuum chambers for the SLS 2.0 upgrade are being built in the PSI workshop.
500 vacuum chambers for the new ring
Making the tube through which the electrons will race after the SLS 2.0 upgrade.
What can’t be bought, we develop ourselves
Many components for the experiments the researchers at PSI just develop themselves.
More light in the darkness
At PSI, researchers want to fill the missing gaps in the Standard Model of particle physics with the help of the large research facilities.
“A jewel we must treasure”
HIMB is one of the two parts of the upgrade project IMPACT. Klaus Kirch speaks about the plans.
A two-part upgrade for the proton accelerator
A two-part upgrade is planned for HIPA starting in 2025. Preparations are already under way.
On-track for SLS2.0: First magnet series measured
Successful measurement of the first 112 magnets puts the PSI magnet section on-schedule to measure all of the 1000+ magnets needed for SLS2.0 by July 2024.
A piece of PSI history sets off on a long journey
Off to new shores – a high-tech component is on its way from PSI to Australia by sea. In future, it will be deployed at the Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne.
Athos just got even better
An ambitious upgrade at the soft X-ray beamline of the free electron laser SwissFEL opens up new experimental capabilities.
Faster and smarter
PSI is pooling its expertise regarding the evaluation of research data in the new research division Scientific Computing, Theory and Data.
SLS 2.0: The upgrade of the large research facility is progressing
The first special magnets required for the upgrade have arrived. In addition, the Canton of Aargau has released 9.75 million Swiss francs for the TOMCAT beamline.
New SwissFEL soft X-ray endstation welcomes first users
Maloja is go. First user experiments mark a double first, not only for the Maloja endstation but also for the second beamline of SwissFEL, Athos.
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.
EU XFEL Young Scientist Award for Camila Bacellar
Camila Bacellar, beamline scientist and group leader of the Alvra endstation at SwissFEL, has received the European XFEL Young Scientist Award. The award recognises the contribution of young scientists to research at the European XFEL.
A lively enterprise zone close by
Park Innovaare located next to PSI is growing, further pursuing its mission to help cutting-edge Swiss research transition to concrete applications and profitable companies.
Unique and unusual
An interview with Mike Seidel, Head of the Large Research Facilities Division.
3D view: the Swiss Spallation Neutron Source SINQ
What are neutron guides and what is liquid deuterium used for at SINQ? Our 3D graphic of the Swiss neutron spallation source SINQ provides insights.
3D view: Swiss Light Source SLS
Linear accelerator, booster ring, storage ring: our 3D graphic of the Swiss Light Source shows the inside of the facility and how it serves research.
SLS: The new crane comes from above
The Swiss Light Source SLS is getting a second hall crane. But how can the 42-metre-long, 40-tonne monster get into the building? The only way is from above.
Secret of Stradivarius violins revealed
As an international team of researchers discovered, the old Italian masters Stradivari and Guarneri relied on unexpected chemical additives in making violins.
Growth in the data sciences
Another site for the Swiss Data Science Center will be established at PSI. This expansion is expected to give a further boost to the data sciences in Switzerland.
PSI equips the Swiss Light Source SLS for the future
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.
The librarian of the petabytes
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.
SwissFEL: a perfect habitat for the black mortar bee
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.