PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences | PSI

The PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences uses neutrons and muons to explore and understand matter and materials.

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Recent News & Scientific Highlights

13.06.2025

Understanding and Addressing the Performance Asymmetry Issue in Semitransparent Laminated Organic Photovoltaic Devices

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) oﬀer a promising solution for indoor energy harvesting. However, fundamental investigations to understand and optimize industrial processes such as roll-to-roll lamination for upscaling remain limited. This study investigates a critical failure mode in the upscaling of OPVs.

One major challenge ...

04.06.2025

Absence of Altermagnetic Magnon Band Splitting in MnF2

Altermagnets are collinear compensated magnets in which the magnetic sublattices are related by rotation rather than translation or inversion. One of the quintessential properties of altermagnets is the presence of split chiral magnon modes. Recently, such modes have been predicted in MnF₂.

Here, we report inelastic neutron scattering results ...

02.06.2025

SμS call for proposals II-25 is closed now

The call for SμS proposals II-25 (deadline 02 June 2025) is closed now.

30.05.2025

Pressure effect on the spin density wave transition in La2PrNi2O6.96

High-pressure studies reveal a stark contrast between the superconducting properties of double-layer Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) nickelates La₂⁢PrNi₂⁢O₇ and La₃⁢Ni₂⁢O₇. While La₂⁢PrNi₂⁢O₇ exhibits bulk superconductivity, La₃⁢Ni₂⁢O₇ displays filamentary behavior, suggesting that superconductivity is confined to phase interfaces rather than the bulk. Since magnetism emerges ...

29.05.2025

E-MRS 2025 Spring Meeting Young Researcher Award for Mohammadhossein Montazerian

During its recent spring meeting the European Materials Research Society has awarded the E-MRS Young Researcher Award to Mohammadhossein Montazerian from the LMX laboratory in recognition of his "Outstanding contribution to the Symposium L: Solid state batteries - materials, processing and advanced characterization".

21.05.2025

Pressure tuning of competing interactions on a honeycomb lattice

Exchange interactions are mediated via orbital overlaps across chemical bonds. Thus, modifying the bond angles by physical pressure or strain can tune the relative strength of competing interactions. Here we present a remarkable case of such tuning between the Heisenberg (J) and Kitaev (K) exchange, which respectively establish magnetically ordered and spin liquid phases on a honeycomb lattice. We observe ...

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Our Facilities

Swiss Spallation Neutron Source SINQ

Neutron scattering techniques are highly versatile and powerful tools for studying the structure and dynamics of condensed matter. A wide scope of problems, ranging from fundamental to solid state physics and chemistry, and from materials science to biology, medicine and environmental science, can be investigated with neutrons. In addition to scattering, non-diffractive methods like imaging techniques allows for non-destructive inspection of materials and components, providing information on their internal structure, composition, and integrity with growing relevance also for industrial applications.

Swiss Muon Source SμS

The Swiss muon source – powered by the PSI 590 MeV cyclotron with a proton current of 2200 mA – is the world's most intense continuous beam muon source. The proton beam hits two graphite targets. Attached to those are seven beamlines for muon (or pion) extraction, two of them are equipped with superconducting decay channels. The available muon energies range from 0.5 keV to 60 MeV.

Swiss Research Infrastructure for Particle Physics CHRISP

With particle beams made up of pions, muons, neutrons, protons, and electrons, researchers are investigating how our universe is constructed. The Swiss research infrastructure for particle physics – CHRISP – enables them to determine fundamental natural constants with the greatest precision and to look for deviations from the current standard model of particle physics.

Latest CNM publications

Gao B, Desrochers F, Tam DW, Kirschbaum DM, Steffens P, Hiess A, et al.
Neutron scattering and thermodynamic evidence for emergent photons and fractionalization in a pyrochlore spin ice
Nature Physics. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-02922-9
DORA PSI
Levinsky JJB, Labh A, Pomjakushin V, Keiderling U, Komarek AC, Zhao L, et al.
Magnetic properties of a non-centrosymmetric polymorph of FeCl₃
Materials Advances. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4ma00635f
DORA PSI
Hu T, Wong GM, Dutsov C, Hoh SY, Khaw KS, Becerra DAS, et al.
Development of fast front-end electronics for the muon trigger detector in the PSI muEDM experiment
IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2025.3578674
DORA PSI
Naterop L, Stoffer P
Renormalization-group equations of the LEFT at two loops: dimension-five effects
Journal of High Energy Physics. 2025; 2025(6): 7 (38 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP06(2025)007
DORA PSI

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Upcoming Events

Jul

11. July 2025 • 11:15 - 12:15

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Jul

Einblick in die neue Hochschule für Informatik FHNW

Prof. Dr. Doris Agotai

Sep

02. September 2025 • 11:15 - 12:15

•Auditorium (WHGA/001)

Sep

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Wolfgang Tittel (Uni GE)

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The PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences in figures

300

The CNM center hosts 300 members of staff, in addition 40 PhD students perform their thesis work within CNM

5+1

The center is organized in 5 laboratories and 1 staff group.

3/30

CNM operates 3 of the 5 large scale user facilities: the Swiss spallation neutron source SINQ, the Swiss Muon Source SμS and the facilities for particle physics CHIRSP with approximately 30 experimental stations open for users.

1700

The facilities in the CNM center are open to international access — with approximately 1700 annual user visits the associated user program is a key activity for the center and for PSI as a whole.