News & Scientific Highlights
HERCULES school 2019 at SLS
In the week of April 1-5 PSI welcomes 20 PhD students and postdocs taking part in the European HERCULES 2019 school on Neutron and Synchrotron Radiation. They will attend lectures and perform two days of practical courses at several beam lines of the Swiss Light Source.
Supramolecular architectures of molecularly thin yet robust free-standing layers
In a collaboration within the network of the Swiss Nanoscience Institute, the formation of free-standing molecular monolayers using self-assembly processes has been demonstrated. The results of the study have been published in the February 2019 issue of Science Advances.
Discrete Hall contribution of magnetic skyrmions
The reliable electrical detection of magnetic skyrmions is of fundamental importance for the application of such topological magnetic quasi-particles for data storage devices. Researchers in a joint collaboration between the University of Leeds and the PolLux endstation have investigated the electrical detection of isolated magnetic skyrmions in applications-relevant nanostructured devices, observing the presence of a strong skyrmion-dependent contribution to the Hall resistivity.
HERCULES at the Swiss Light Source
In the week of March 18-23 PSI welcomes 20 PhD students and postdocs taking part in the HERCULES 2018 school on Neutron and Synchrotron Radiation. They will attend lectures and perform two days of practical courses at several beam lines of the Swiss Light Source.
Atmosphäre im Röntgenlicht
PSI-Forschende haben eine Experimentierkammer entwickelt, in der sie Vorgänge in der Atmosphäre nachstellen und mit dem Röntgenlicht der SLS mit bisher unerreichter Präzision untersuchen können. In ersten Experimenten haben sie die Erzeugung von Brom untersucht, das eine wesentliche Rolle für den Ozonabbau in den tieferen Schichten der Atmosphäre spielt. Die neue Experimentierkammer wird in Zukunft auch Forschenden anderer wissenschaftlicher Fachrichtungen zur Verfügung stehen.
Carlos Vaz Honored by the American Physical Society as Outstanding Referee 2017
SIM beamline scientist Carlos Vaz was recognized as outstanding referee for providing high quality peer review for the journals of the American Physical Society (APS).
In-situ Studies of the Reactivity of Model Catalysts: Surface Chemistry from flat surfaces to nanoparticles
On 7th February Dr. Christian Papp from University Erlangen (Germany) is visiting the SIM beamline and will give a Photon Science Seminar talk with the title: "In-situ Studies of the Reactivity of Model Catalysts: Surface Chemistry from flat surfaces to nanoparticles"
Annual Retreat of the Microscopy & Magnetism Group
The Magnetism and Microscopy group has met for its annual retreat meeting in Lungern 11- 15.1.2017 (in the central mountain region of Switzerland) for extensive discussions on its science program. As for other years, after some general introductory lecture into the techniques used, current and future projects have been presented by the PhD students, postdocs, and scientists as well as from guests who collaborate with the group. Discussion went into the time where dinner has been prepared together, followed by some leisure activities on Saturday.
Nanotechnologie ermöglicht neue Einblicke in chemische Reaktionen
80 Prozent aller Produkte der chemischen Industrie werden mit Katalyse-Verfahren hergestellt. Auch in der Energieumwandlung und Abgasreinigung ist Katalyse unverzichtbar. Die Industrie probiert immer neue Substanzen und Anordnungen aus, die neue und bessere katalytische Verfahren ermöglichen können. Forschende des Paul Scherrer Instituts PSI in Villigen und der ETH Zürich haben nun eine Methode entwickelt, die Genauigkeit solcher Versuche stark zu verbessern, was die Suche nach optimalen Lösungen beschleunigen dürfte.