Dear Colleagues

You may have noticed lately some news on a possible case of scientific fraud in the field of molecular biology, to be specific in the field of Alzheimer research. The situation is not very clear yet, however, if confirmed, it would represent a major failure of the scientific process. This is very serious as it all happened multiple times in peer-reviewed publications and the scientific results under discussion have been pivotal in the field of Alzheimer research. 

Large sums of public research money were spent and many researchers have oriented themselves based on the results by the University of Minnesota group that may now turn out to be fraudulent. 

As a Research Integrity (RI) Ombudsperson I certainly wonder how such situations can possibly arise. Each historical case is probably unique but I think it is worth to think about organizational measures to minimize the risks for similar cases at our institute. Having a RI Ombudsperson shows that PSI is taking the issue of research integrity very seriously. The person entrusted should be independent of the laboratory hierarchy and operations but at the same time be quite knowledgeable about the lab in general and the specific research done at PSI.

Our laboratory is insofar in a special situation that we operate large facilities where our scientific research is performed. Experiments and allocated beam time are decided by a rather stringent review machinery. Scientific programme committees ensure and check the quality of the results obtained. I think that the detailed knowledge of the reviewing experts gives a certain institutional insurance that a major scientific fraud would be caught. In my professional career as a particle physicist I have been reviewed like this many times. Such reviews are normally public and allow other scientists, sometimes even from other fields to scrutinize the presented research. Such open reviews are a step towards an Open Research and Open Data policy. This can certainly help to improve the transparency and the integrity of the science done. In view of the Open Data policy, the large facility laboratories like PSI also have a special role, given their substantial IT infrastructure. I refer to the excellent editorial in the last PSI Facility Newsletter. And last but not least we must have a clear programme to educate young scientists on proper scientific conduct and how to avoid pitfalls in data interpretation and statistical analysis. This is what we try to offer to the young PhD students during their thesis work at PSI.

Roland Horisberger, Dr. Prof. emer.
Ombudsperson Research Integrity

An overview of all proposal submission deadlines of the PSI facilities can be found here.

The two-dimensional van der Waals material CrSBr exhibits a remarkable spectrum of magneto-electric properties that make it a promising ingredient for spin-based electronic devices. However, the complexity of its behaviour also poses a challenge when it comes to gaining a fundamental mechanistic understanding of this system. To unravel the magnetic and structural characteristics of CrSBr, and how they change with temperature, researchers led by the University of Geneva have now carried out complementary experiments at three PSI facilities — SµS, SINQ and SLS — as well as magnetization measurements. In doing so, they obtained deep insight into the dynamic magnetic landscape of this layered material, finding in particular evidence for a spin dimensionality crossover at ~40 K, which they suggest to be at the origin of a low-temperature hidden order in CrSBr.

Methanol, produced from carbon dioxide in the air, can be used to make carbon-neutral fuels. But to do this, the mechanism by which methanol is turned into liquid hydrocarbons has to be better understood, so that the catalytic process can be optimised. Now, researchers from ETH Zurich and PSI have gained unprecedented insight into this complex mechanism by exploiting operando photoelectron photoion coincidence (PEPICO) spectroscopy, which has recently been established at the VUV beamline of SLS as a powerful analytical tool in catalytic reactions. PEPICO combines photoelectron spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, to give detailed information on the gas-phase reaction intermediates, including the differentiation between isomers. The findings now obtained underline the potential of the method to provide valuable mechanistic insights into complex reaction networks. 

‘Magnonic’ devices are based on manipulating the dynamics of spin waves in artificial nanostructures, and they offer the prospect of information processing and storage at low energy consumption. Of particular interest in this context are materials with topologically protected surface states. Typically, topological properties emerge from spin–orbit interactions, but now a team led by PSI researchers establish in a combined experimental and theoretical study that in the two-dimensional van der Waals honeycomb magnet ErBr₃ the magnetic properties are governed entirely by dipolar interactions — which is of practical relevance as these interactions are always present in magnetic solids. The team furthermore demonstrates that ErBr₃ features a tunable band gap at the Dirac points, making ErBr₃ a promising model system for exploring the reversible control of spin waves.

The discovery, in 2019, of superconductivity in Nd_0.8Sr_0.2NiO₂ introduced a new family of layered nickelate superconductors that has since been considerably extended. Several studies suggest the presence of strong electron correlations in these materials, a feature that often leads to the emergence of magnetism. Whether magnetism is relevant for superconductivity in the nickelates remained, however, an open question. An international team of researchers now reports muon-spin rotation/relaxation studies of a series of superconducting infinite-layer nickelates, performed at the LEM facility of SμS. For all the compounds studied, they found an intrinsic magnetic ground state arising from local moments on the nickel sublattice, regardless of rare-earth-ion species or doping — a finding that indicates that the family of infinite-layer nickelates is intrinsically magnetic, including in the superconducting state.

Ultrafast single-particle imaging with intense X-ray pulses from free-electron laser sources provides a novel approach for visualizing structure and dynamics on the nanoscale, offering new capabilities for research in physics and biology as well as in the chemical sciences. Members of the Maloja team at SwissFEL now give in a review article a broad overview of this emerging field. They highlight selected applications, from nanoparticle morphology and growth dynamics to the behaviour of superfluid nanodroplets to biological systems and aerosol research, and discuss current developments that push the field further towards time-resolved imaging of ultrafast dynamics and imaging of transient electronic structure. To round off, they provide an outlook to the ever increasing opportunities for ultrafast imaging experiments, with a focus on the new SwissFEL Maloja endstation. 

Close to 100 participants came together from 14–20 August 2022 for the 25^th Zuoz Summer School on particle physics in the Lyceum Alpinum, against the stunning backdrop of the Swiss Alps. The bi-annual school offers young physicists didactical introductions to advanced concepts in particle physics. The topic of this year's school was ‘Vision and Precision’, featuring lectures about the ‘big questions’, statistics, and how to obtain physics results from raw data, as well as about precision calculations and experiments at the energy and intensity frontier. A special feature of the Zuoz school is the mix between experimentalists and theorists, with ample time for discussions and exchange of ideas and experiences. Not least, the school serves as an opportunity for the young scientist to network and to get hopefully a wider perspective on the rich field of particle physics. 

SLS: The X06DA-PXIII upgrade, preparing for the SLS 2.0

SINQ: Upgraded high-intensity diffractometer DMC enters user programme

SwissFEL: Athos just got even better

CHRISP: PiM1 channel found fit for high-precision π, μ and e scattering measurements

Dear Colleagues

The 18th General Assembly (GA) meeting of the European synchrotron and FEL user organisation (ESUO) was held at the SOLEIL synchrotron, as a hybrid event, on 29—30 August 2022. ESUO representatives from 27 ESUO countries (21 participants on-site and 11 participants online), together with several colleagues from the ELETTRA, ESRF, HZB and SOLEIL synchrotron radiation user facilities, as well as other participants from the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) 

and the European Neutron Scattering Association (ENSA) attended the meeting. Various discussion topics related to present and future ESUO activities were tackled. Please do not hesitate to read the meeting report which will be made accessible soon here.

Good news about payment methods!  It is now possible to upload your PSI badge cashlessly directly with your credit card.

The next JUSAP board meeting is scheduled for 4 October 2022. We encourage all members of the PSI user community to contact us regarding any issues that concern user operation at PSI.

Joanna Hoszowska
on behalf of the JUSAP panel

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