News Archive 2016

Prof. Dr. Christian Rüegg has been appointed as new head of the division NUM (Research with Neutrons and Muons) starting from January 1, 2017. Christian studied Physics at ETH Zurich, performed his PhD thesis at the Laboratory for Neutron Scattering and received his PhD in 2005. After that he moved to the London Centre for Nanotechnology of University College and Imperial College London, first as a PostDoc, later as Royal Society University Research Fellow, Lecturer and Reader. Since 2011 Christian was head of the Laboratory for Neutron Scattering and Imaging (LNS) within NUM. Furthermore he is full professor at the University of Geneva.
Christian will suceed Kurt Clausen, who will retire on April 30, 2017 after 13 years as head of the NUM division and three years as deputy director of PSI.

Two emerging leaders in fundamental physics with strong programs at the PSI neutron facilities have been awarded prestigious grants:
Florian Piegsa completed his PhD thesis in the group of Ben van den Brandt in LDM/NUM cooperating with TU Munich (Oliver Zimmer) and was the first recipient of the PSI thesis medal in 2009. After postdoc positions at the ILL Grenoble and at the ETH Zurich he worked in the ETH group of Klaus Kirch for the last years. He pursued experiments at SINQ and is a member of the neutron electric dipole moment (nEDM) collaboration at the PSI UCN source. Now he has been granted a SNF professorship at the Albert Einstein Center at the University of Bern and a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) in order to push forward a new experimental method to search for the nEDM.
Also Guillaume Pignol (LPSC Grenoble), another member of the international nEDM collaboration at PSI, has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant for his proposal “The Neutron Electric Dipole Moment: pushing the precision to understand the matter-antimatter asymmetry” targeting the upcoming n2EDM effort.

The Laboratory for Particle Physics (LTP) at PSI organized the PSI2016 http://www.psi.ch/psi2016 workshop on Physics of fundamental Symmetries and Interactions. The series of workshops started in 2007 and was continued with the PSI2010 and PSI2013 meetings. More than 170 participants from all over the world attended the all-plenary meeting at PSI with presentations of news and results by leading scientists and young researchers. Precision low-energy tests of the Standard Model of Particle Physics and searches for physics beyond it with a range of probes from neutrons, muons, antiprotons, kaons, and neutrinos to atoms and molecules formed the common theme of the discussions. A large poster session with local beer and barbecue and a Raclette conference dinner in Villigen complemented the program. Tours of the HIPA facility completed the experience. About everybody in this vibrant community is looking forward to PSI2019!

Prof. Dr. Christian Rüegg - head of the Laboratory for Neutron Scattering and Imaging LNS within the NUM department and professor at the University of Geneva - has been awarded a prestigious Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). With this funding he will continue to investigate how the smallest magnetic building blocks of matter interact. Over a five-year period, this grant will bring Rüegg a total of 2.4 million euros, or around 2.6 million Swiss francs.

Dr. Alex Amato has been appointed as the new Head of the Laboratory for Muon Spin Spectroscopy LMU starting from November 1st, 2016. He will succeed Prof. Dr. E. Morenzoni due to his imminent retirement. Alex Amato started his work in muon spin spectroscopy in 1990 and joined PSI in 1996 as a beam line scientist, responsible for the General Purpose Surface-Muon Instrument (GPS). In 2004 he was appointed Head of the Bulk-μSR Group. Under his leadership several key developments have been performed. Besides a complete redesign of the GPS, GPD, and DOLLY instruments, the realization of μSR under extreme conditions (high pressure, high temperature, high magnetic field at very low temperatures) resulted in important and partially unique extensions to the μSR technique.

Since July 1, 2016 the NUM division consists of a new fifth laboratory: the Laboratory for Multiscale Materials Experiments LMX. The laboratory hosts two research groups: "Mesoscopic Systems" (head: Laura Heyderman) and "Thin Films and Interfaces" (head: Thomas Lippert). The NUM division head Kurt N. Clausen acts as head of the new laboratory ad interim until a new head of the lab has been appointed. We cordially welcome all new members of the laboratory in NUM.

Registration is open now for the 2016 PSI Summer School on Particle Physics entitles 'Exothiggs'! The school will be organized from August 14-20, 2016 at the Lyceum Alpinum in Zuoz, Switzerland. Further information and online registration is available from the school's webpage.

The president of Georgia - George Margvelashvili - has awarded the Georgian Order of Honor to Zurab Guguchia from the Laboratory for Muon Spectroscopy (LMU) for his work elucidating the microscopic properties of High-Temperature superconductors. Following that the president of Wissol Group in Georgia decided to even name a fellowship after Zurab and give that to outstanding students of the Tbilisi State University. Finally, Zurab also received the 'Tsinandali Award' in exact and natural sciences. The award was established by the former prime minister of Georgia - Zurab Zhvania - in 1999 and aims to encourage young scientists, writers, cinematographic artists etc. This award is very popular and many young scientists from abroad are applying.

Dariusz Gawryluk, Post-Doc at the Laboratory for Scientific Developments and Novel Materials LDM, was awarded with the second prize at the poster session of the Materials’ Revolution Computational Design and Discovery of Novel Materials Review and Retreat Meeting (MARVEL), held in Lausanne on 3th and 4th September 2015. Dariusz Gawryluk works with Marisa Medarde on RNiO₃ nickelates, one of the few families of highly correlated perowskite oxides showing a metal-to-insulator transition. The price recognizes his notable work on the high pressure synthesis of these materials. Dariusz's work is financed by the Paul Scherrer Institut and the National Centre of Competence in Research MARVEL.