NUM division - Featured Research
Laser focus on mesons
The first demonstration of laser spectroscopy of a meson, achieved at PSI's πE5 beamline, opens up new avenues for precision studies of ‘exotic atoms’.
Long-lived pionic helium: Exotic matter experimentally verified for the first time
Exotic atoms, in which electrons are replaced by other particles, allow deep insights into the quantum world. After eight years, an international group of scientists have succeeded in a challenging experiment conducted at PSI’s pion source: they created an artificial atom called “pionic helium”.
Batteries under the neutron stroboscope
The first application of stroboscopic neutron diffraction to studying lithium-ion batteries during operation establishes a new approach to unravelling the complex processes playing out in energy-storage materials.
Professor Dr. Christian Rüegg new Director of the Paul Scherrer Institute
The new director of the Paul Scherrer Institute has taken up office today. Christian Rüegg aims to further reinforce the leading role of PSI's large research facilities, and thus promote Switzerland as a location for research.
Spin ice expands to higher orders
With experimental work demonstrating that the correlated ground state of the pyrochlore system Ce2Sn2O7 is a quantum liquid of magnetic octupoles, an international team led by PSI researcher Romain Sibille establishes a fundamentally new state of matter: higher-rank multipole ice.
Tracking down the mystery of matter
At the ultracold neutron source at PSI, researchers have measured a property of the neutron more precisely than ever before: its electric dipole moment. That's because the search is still on for an explanation of why, after the Big Bang, there was more matter than antimatter.
Short film of a magnetic nano-vortex
Using a newly developed imaging method, researchers were able to visualise the magnetic structure inside a material with nanoscale resolution. They succeeded in creating a short "film" consisting of seven movie frames that shows, for the first time in 3D, how tiny vortices of the magnetisation deep within a material change over time.
A link between quantum magnetism and electronic band topology
Muon spin rotation experiments establish a quantitative link between the magnetic and topological electronic properties of the kagome magnet Co3Sn2S2 — and demonstrate effective ways for tuning these properties.
Well varnished violins play longer
Traditionally, violins are varnished to protect them from humidity and other environmental influences. At PSI, a scientific team has investigated how different coatings affect the instrument. Under no circumstances, they found, should anyone try to do without varnish completely.