NUM division - Featured Research
The multi-layered physics of layered superconductors
Muon spin rotation experiments provide unique microscopic insight into the superconductivity and magnetism of transition metal dichalcogenides — and reveal complex and unconventional patterns, hinting towards a common mechanism for and electronic origin of ‘unconventional’ superconductivity.
Radionuclides for cancer therapy are in great demand
Radionuclides open up new options for treating cancer. Christian Rüegg, head of the Research with Neutrons and Muons Division at PSI, explains the significance of the Swiss Spallation Neutron Source SINQ at PSI.
Pinning down the proximate Kitaev spin liquid
A study of the extended Kitaev model on the honeycomb lattice that factors in Kitaev, Heisenberg and off-diagonal symmetric interactions provides both a definitive answer on proximate Kitaev states and an essential guide to the physics of candidate Kitaev materials.
On the way to intelligent microrobots
It is reminiscent of a paper bird made with the help of the Japanese folding art origami: a microrobot that uses the force of magnetic fields to move. In the future, such small machines could be used, for example, in medical operations.
PSI imaging helps with rocket launches
PSI researchers are helping the European space program: Their neutron imaging serves to ensure the quality of critical components for rocket launches.
A compass pointing West
Researchers at PSI have discovered a new phenomenon of magnetism with the help of the Swiss Light Source SLS. Certain groups of atoms behave like a compass pointing West. This could make computers much more powerful.
![Neutron scattering pattern of the material CsNiCrF6 showing magnetic correlations. Left: experiment; right: theory.(Image reproduced from [1].)](/sites/default/files/styles/primer_teaser_square_scale/public/import/num/News20181028ChargeIceEN/Fig4.png?itok=HrKlP8Kq)
Charges enter the ice age
Scattering experiments establish the partly disordered material CsNiCrF6 as the first verified example of a charge ice — and show that it supports Coulomb phases with correlations in three different degrees of freedom.
Making the impossible possible
Use of multiferroic materials promises more energy-efficient computers because in these, an electric field would suffice to achieve magnetic data storage. Researchers at PSI have now made such a material suitable for computer operating temperatures.
Finite-temperature critical points and quantum critical end point in a 2D magnet
The Mermin–Wagner theorem has long told us that in two dimensions a continuous symmetry can be broken, allowing a finite order parameter, only at zero temperature. Now PSI theorist Bruce Normand, working with colleagues in Aachen, Amsterdam, Lausanne and Paris, has circumvented this rule. The team was considering the thermodynamics