Scientific Highlights
Light-Induced Magnetization at the Nanoscale
Targeted manipulations of an atom's magnetic moment are tricky, as the charge currents used for this process are extremely difficult to control . Now, a consortium of collaborators in Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia and Italy reports on a solution to this problem in the cover page article of Physic Review Letters 128, Vol. 15. As it appears, the magnetization of an atomic gas can be altered by high-power lasers using a patterned wave front. The method is promising for studying and manipulating the magnetic properties of matter at the nanoscale.
Hercules School 2022
PSI hosted again the Hercules School in March 2022. We had the pleasure to welcome 20 international PhD students, PostDocs and scientists to demonstrate our state-of-the-art techniques and methodologies at our large scale facilities, the Swiss Light Source (SLS), the Swiss Spallation Neutron Source (SINQ) and our free electron laser SwissFEL.
Novel X-ray lens facilitates glimpse into the nanoworld
PSI develops a revolutionary achromatic lens for X-rays.
Opening the door to X-ray quantum optics
The 'perfect' X-ray beam-splitter: Researchers at SwissFEL have an ingenious solution to produce coherent copies of pulses, facilitating a realm of new X-ray techniques.
New, better coronavirus rapid test
The test identifies different virus variants and improves disease prognosis.
Millions in funding for brain and quantum research
The European Research Council approves PSI projects for the development of a quantum computer and brain research worth about 5 million euros.
LMN PhD student Martin Heinrich wins poster award
PhD student Martin Heinrich of the Molecular Nanoscience group won the best poster award at the Nano-BW 2021 symposium at Bad Herrenalb (Germany), October 6-7. The symposium is held annually within the research network “Functional Nanostructures” of Baden-Württemberg.
Martin introduced his project in the form of a poster titled “Local Manipulation of Spin Domains in a Multiferroic Rashba Semiconductor”. His project started in July 2021 and is funded by the Swiss Nanoscience Institute (SNI) Basel. The poster award was selected by the vote of all attendees.
Diamond gratings for XFEL amplitude-splitting delay line
A split-and-delay line for XFEL pulses has been built and successfully tested by a team of researchers at the Linac Coherent Light Source. Key X-ray optical elements are two diamond diffraction gratings made at the Paul Scherrer Institut that are used to split and later recombine the intense ultrashort X-ray laser pulses for time-resolved measurements.
Ultrafast control of quantum materials
Using light to fundamentally change the properties of solids