Scientific Highlights
The Charpak-Ritz Prize 2018 is awarded to Roland Paul Horisberger
The Charpak-Ritz Prize 2018, jointly awarded by the French Physical Society and the Swiss Physical Society, has been bestowed to Roland Paul Horisberger for his numerous contributions to the development of precision silicon vertex detectors for particle physics experiments as well as for the application of these technologies in X-ray photon sciences.
Jean-Baptiste Mosset winner of PSI Founder Fellowship
Jean-Baptiste Mosset from the Laboratory of Particle Physics is the winner of a PSI Founder Fellowship and plans now to commercialise a neutron detector to spot plutonium and uranium. With his new technology, less expensive and more efficient neutron detectors could be developed. In the next 18 months, Mosset wants to further develop his prototype and find out if demand for this technology exists in industry.
Tuning Nanoparticle–Micelle Interactions and Resultant Phase Behavior
The evolution of the interaction between an anionic nanoparticle and a nonionic surfactant and their resultant phase behavior in aqueous solution in the presence of electrolyte and ionic surfactants have been studied. The mixed system of anionic silica nanoparticles (Ludox LS30) with nonionic surfactant decaethylene glycol monododecylether (C12E10) forms a highly stable clear phase over a wide concentration range of surfactant.
Coupled quantum wires realize Abelian and non-Abelian topological order in two-dimensional space
Christopher Mudry and his collaborators have shown theoretically how to construct strongly interacting phases of matter that realize topological order in two-dimensional space by strongly coupling quantum wire. Remarkably, their model supports both Abelian topological order (ATO) and non-Abelian topological order (NATO) with a continuous phase transition separating them. Read the full paper here
Gapless Spin Excitations in the Field-Induced Quantum Spin Liquid Phase of α-RuCl3
α-RuCl3 is a leading candidate material for the observation of physics related to the Kitaev quantum spin liquid (QSL). By combined susceptibility, specific-heat, and nuclear-magnetic-resonance measurements, we demonstrate that α-RuCl3 undergoes a quantum phase transition to a QSL in a magnetic field of 7.5 T applied in the ab plane. We show further that this high-field QSL phase has gapless spin excitations over a field range up to 16 T.
First time resolved Pilot Experiment by SwissFEL: Semiconductor to metal transition in Ti3O5 nanocrystals
On the 30th of November 2017 SwissFEL saw its first time resolved pilot experiment in the Bernina experimental station of the SwissFEL ARAMIS beamline. A team of scientists from the University of Rennes, ESRF and PSI, led by Marco Cammarata (Univ. Rennes) and Henrik Lemke (PSI), successfully started the experimental phase at SwissFEL.
First time resolved Pilot Experiment by SwissFEL: Semiconductor to metal transition in Ti3O5 nanocrystals
On the 30th of November 2017 SwissFEL saw its first time resolved pilot experiment in the Bernina experimental station of the SwissFEL ARAMIS beamline. A team of scientists from the University of Rennes, ESRF and PSI, led by Marco Cammarata (Univ. Rennes) and Henrik Lemke (PSI), successfully started the experimental phase at SwissFEL. The goal was to study the picosecond dynamics of a light-induced phase transition from a semiconductor to metallic crystal structure in a Titanium Oxide (D).
First time resolved Pilot Experiment by SwissFEL: Semiconductor to metal transition in Ti3O5 nanocrystals
On the 30th of November 2017 SwissFEL saw its first time resolved pilot experiment in the Bernina experimental station of the SwissFEL ARAMIS beamline. A team of scientists from the University of Rennes, ESRF and PSI, led by Marco Cammarata (Univ. Rennes) and Henrik Lemke (PSI), successfully started the experimental phase at SwissFEL. The goal was to study the picosecond dynamics of a light-induced phase transition from a semiconductor to metallic crystal structure in a Titanium Oxide (D).
Coupling between a Charge Density Wave and Magnetism in an Heusler Material
The prototypical magnetic memory shape alloy Ni2MnGa undergoes various phase transitions as a function of the temperature, pressure, and doping. In the low-temperature phases below 260 K, an incommensurate structural modulation occurs along the [110] direction which is thought to arise from the softening of a phonon mode. It is not at present clear how this phenomenon is related, if at all, to the magnetic memory effect. Here we report time-resolved measurements which track both the structural and magnetic components of the phase transition from the modulated cubic phase as it is brought into the high-symmetry phase.
Extreme Ultraviolet Vortices at Free Electron Lasers
PSI scientists have developed tailored diffractive X-ray optics for a free electron laser that induces an optical vortex in extreme ultraviolet radiation. The experiment facilitates the first demonstration of orbital angular momentum in radiation created by a free electron laser in the extreme ultraviolet regime, with an extraordinary clean and defined wavefront. In a collaborative effort with researchers from the FERMI free electron laser in Trieste, Italy and from the University of Nova Gorica in Slovenia, the wavefront of the intense beams carrying an orbtial angular momentum was characterized. Furthermore, a method to characterize the footprint of a focused beam from a free electron laser was refined based on ablation imprints in polymers and subsequent treatment with organic solvents. In this way, the sensitivity of the imprint method could be enhanced to a dynamic range of three orders of magnitude in a single shot.