The PSI Laboratory for Advanced Spectroscopy and X-ray Sources develops X-ray sources and advanced spectroscopic techniques and applies them to study a broad range of complex material systems.
Lab News & Scientific Highlights
Unravelling the coexistence of insulating and metallic-like excitations in SrIrO₃
Fig. 1: RIXS investigation of iridate/titanate heterostructures. (a) Representation of (SrIrO3)m(SrTiO3)1 superlattices grown on a (001)-oriented SrTiO3 single-crystal substrate. (b) Phase diagram of the (SrIrO3)m(SrTiO3)1 system, showing the bandwidth-controlled metal-insulator transition that occurs as the confinement increases from m = 3 to m = 2. (c) Intensity map of Ir L3-edge RIXS spectra for the m = 4 sample at T = 20 K, plotted as a function of energy transfer and momentum transfer Q. Two distinct excitations are observed: a low-energy paramagnon and an SOE at intermediate energies.
Tuning chirality amplitude at ultrafast timescales in chiral CsCuCl3
We quantify “how chiral” a crystal is, and demonstrate its tunability at ultrafast timescales. This achievement does open up a new direction in chirality-related condensed matter physics and on emergent phenomena, which have both attracted significant attention recently.
Stabilising fleeting quantum states with light
X-rays from SwissFEL probe emergent properties of quantum materials