News Archive 2015

Dariusz Gawryluk, Post-Doc at the Laboratory for Scientific Developments and Novel Materials LDM, was awarded with the second prize at the poster session of the Materials’ Revolution Computational Design and Discovery of Novel Materials Review and Retreat Meeting (MARVEL), held in Lausanne on 3th and 4th September 2015. Dariusz Gawryluk works with Marisa Medarde on RNiO₃ nickelates, one of the few families of highly correlated perowskite oxides showing a metal-to-insulator transition. The price recognizes his notable work on the high pressure synthesis of these materials. Dariusz's work is financed by the Paul Scherrer Institut and the National Centre of Competence in Research MARVEL.

Jonas Okkels Birk of the Laboratory for Neutron Scattering and Imaging LNS, wins the Young Scientist Prize of the Swiss Neutron Scattering Society SGN/SSDN. The award recognizes his outstanding PhD work on neutron instrumentation and especially on the new CAMEA spectrometer for SINQ and ESS. The SGN Young Scientist Prize is awarded annually to a young scientist in recognition of a notable scientific achievement and is sponsored by SwissNeutronics.

Shang Gao, PhD student in the Laboratory for Neutron Scattering and Imaging LNS, was awarded the best poster prize at the 2015 International Conference on Magnetism held in Barcelona. Supervised by Oksana Zaharko and Christian Rüegg, he studies the spin correlations in the frustrated spinel MnSc₂S₄ using facilities at SINQ and at FRM2 in Munich. Phase transitions involving a novel incommensurate magnetic structure have been unveiled. This work is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNF, grant on Quantum Frustration in Model Magnets.

The Georgian television company LLC TELEIMEDI produces a prime time show focused on portraits of outstanding Georgian personalities. One of the last shows was dedicated to the NUM/LMU scientist Zurab Guguchia, who achieved his PhD degree well ahead of his age and presently performs a brilliant career at the Laboratory for Muon-Spin Spectroscopy. A crew of Georgian journalists made all the way to PSI to catch Zurab working at the Swiss Muon Source.Watch the video on YouTube.

Students from the Division of Quantum Matter Physics (DQMP) at the University of Geneva were visiting PSI and its large-scale facilities SINQ, SμS, SLS and SwissFEL. DQMP and PSI have two joint professors in the area of experimental condensed matter physics: Felix Baumberger and Christian Rüegg, head of LNS.

Andreas Schnyder, who did his PhD in the condensed matter theory group at PSI under the supervision of Christopher Mudry, is the 2015 co-recipient of the Walter-Schottky price from the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft for his work on "the classification of topological insulators and superconductors". More information.

PSI has launched a new video on it's large scale user facilities with particular emphasis on the Proton Irradiation Facility, PIF, which is operated by NUM's Laboratory for Particle Physics LTP.Watch the video on YouTube.

The PSI summer school 2015 on Condensed Matter Research will be organized at the Lyceum Alpinum in Zuoz, Switzerland from August 15-21, 2015. International experts and PSI staff members will introduce and deepen your knowledge not only on methods but also on those phenomena, which are presently at the forefront of modern solid state physics and chemistry. The school will be followed by hands-on practical training at the PSI large user facilities SINQ, SμS and SLS. Online registration and detailed information is available from the school's webpage.

Michel Kenzelmann, the head of the NUM Laboratory for Development and Methods LDM, has been appointed a "Titularprofessur für Experimentelle Physik" at the University of Basel. The NUM Division cordially congratulates Michel and wishes him all the best for his tasks at Basel and PSI.

The PSI Ultracold Neutron Physics together with co-organizers from ETH Zurich, ILL Grenoble, Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology has held the international workshop 'Challenges of the world-wide search for the electric dipole moment of the neutron' at the Centro Stefano Francini in Ascona. The leading experts in the field and students from all experimental efforts came together to discuss ongoing R&D, technical issues and new ideas. After a meeting in Oak Ridge in 2012, this was the second of its kind and will be followed in 2017 by a workshop in Canada.