SLS – Swiss Light Source
The Swiss Light Source (SLS) is an X-ray synchrotron facility that has been operational since 2001. A comprehensive upgrade to a diffraction-limited ring was initiated in October 2023 and completed at the end of 2024. Currently new and upgraded beamlines are being commissioned in three phases. The upgrade ensures that research in photon science conducted at PSI remains at the forefront of rapid developments in medicine, bio- and pharmaceutical technologies, chemistry, physics, materials and advanced manufacturing.
Following the modernisation project, designated SLS 2.0, novel research and more precise investigations are now facilitated. With the implementation of this technical overhaul, SLS will continue to be positioned in the top tier of international synchrotron light sources.
Current operation status
Latest Scientific Highlights and News
How the “unicorn of the seas” got its helix
Synchrotron light reveals for the first time how the spiral form of the narwhal tusk is created by the arrangement of nanometre-sized building blocks.
Supersampled Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy
Researchers from a Swiss-German collaboration have developed a new method for scanning transmission X-ray microscopy substantially reducing the impact of mechanical vibrations and imaging overheads, allowing for routine high-resolution imaging experiments
Nano-insights into bone stability
PSI researchers have used a new imaging technique to more precisely assess the nanostructure of bone in the neck of the femur. This could help understand why they fracture relatively often.
