Many functional materials are composed of coherent domains or grains, where molecules and atoms are arranged in a repeating pattern that determines performance. X-ray Linear Dichroic Orientation Tomography (XL-DOT) allows 3D mapping of material microstructure at the nanoscale. Here, the technique is applied to a pillar of vanadium pentoxide catalyst, used in the production of sulfuric acid. The colours in the tomogram represent the different orientation of grains.
Many functional materials are composed of coherent domains or grains, where molecules and atoms are arranged in a repeating pattern that determines performance. X-ray Linear Dichroic Orientation Tomography (XL-DOT) allows 3D mapping of material microstructure at the nanoscale. Here, the technique is applied to a pillar of vanadium pentoxide catalyst, used in the production of sulfuric acid. The colours in the tomogram represent the different orientation of grains. © Paul Scherrer Institute PSI/Andreas Apseros
11.12.2024
•Future Technologies
•9 min

Mapping the Nanoscale Architecture of Functional Materials

A new X-ray technique reveals the 3D orientation of ordered material structures at the nanoscale, allowing new insights into material functionality.

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Many functional materials are composed of coherent domains or grains, where molecules and atoms are arranged in a repeating pattern that determines performance. X-ray Linear Dichroic Orientation Tomography (XL-DOT) allows 3D mapping of material microstructure at the nanoscale. Here, the technique is applied to a pillar of vanadium pentoxide catalyst, used in the production of sulfuric acid. The colours in the tomogram represent the different orientation of grains.
Many functional materials are composed of coherent domains or grains, where molecules and atoms are arranged in a repeating pattern that determines performance. X-ray Linear Dichroic Orientation Tomography (XL-DOT) allows 3D mapping of material microstructure at the nanoscale. Here, the technique is applied to a pillar of vanadium pentoxide catalyst, used in the production of sulfuric acid. The colours in the tomogram represent the different orientation of grains. © Paul Scherrer Institute PSI/Andreas Apseros
Proteine sind an allen Lebensvorgängen beteiligt. Sie sind Gebilde aus Aminosäureketten, die sich zu komplexen Strukturen formen. Diese Struktur ist entscheidend für die Funktion der Proteine. Deshalb ist die Möglichkeit, die Struktur eines Proteins anhand seiner Aminosäuresequenz mithilfe von KI vorherzusagen, so wichtig für das Verständnis des Lebens und für Innovation in Medizin und Biologie.
Proteins are involved in all life processes. They are made up of amino acid chains that form complex structures. This structure is crucial to the function of the proteins. That is why being able to predict the structure of a protein based on its amino acid sequence using AI is so important for understanding life and for innovation in medicine and biology.
11.10.2024
•Fundamentals of Nature
•6 min

Unlocking the secrets of proteins

This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to three researchers who have made a decisive contribution to cracking the code of proteins – important building blocks of life. However, developing applications from this knowledge, for example in medicine, requires research institutes such as PSI. 

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Proteine sind an allen Lebensvorgängen beteiligt. Sie sind Gebilde aus Aminosäureketten, die sich zu komplexen Strukturen formen. Diese Struktur ist entscheidend für die Funktion der Proteine. Deshalb ist die Möglichkeit, die Struktur eines Proteins anhand seiner Aminosäuresequenz mithilfe von KI vorherzusagen, so wichtig für das Verständnis des Lebens und für Innovation in Medizin und Biologie.
Proteins are involved in all life processes. They are made up of amino acid chains that form complex structures. This structure is crucial to the function of the proteins. That is why being able to predict the structure of a protein based on its amino acid sequence using AI is so important for understanding life and for innovation in medicine and biology.
Magnetismus in dünnen Schichten
01.10.2024
•Future Technologies
•11 min

Magnetism in thin layers: One electron makes the difference

An important step towards novel computer memory

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Magnetismus in dünnen Schichten
Orbitronics: new material property advances energy-efficient tech
27.09.2024
•Future Technologies
•7 min

Orbitronics: new material property advances energy-efficient tech

Discovery of orbital angular momentum monopoles boosts the emerging field of orbitronics, an energy-efficient alternative to electronics.

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PSI Center for Photon Science

The intense beams of X-ray light at the user facilities operated by the PSI Center for Photon Science shed light on the smallest structures of matter. 

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Artistic impression of a magnetic moment appearing in a spin liquid after excitation with an intense short THz pulse.
•Future Technologies

Controlling magnetic waves in a spin liquid

SwissFEL

Scientists at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have shown that excitation of a spin liquid with intense THz pulses causes spins to appear and align within less than a picosecond. This induced coherent state causes a magnetic field to form inside the material, which is detected using ultrashort X-ray pulses at the X-ray Free Electron Laser SwissFEL.  

Modular Assembly of Resists
•Large research facilities

Novel Photoresist Chemistry Enables Lithography Approaching Angstrom-Scale Resolution

Materials research Nanotechnology SLS

Photoresist materials are crucial in the manufacturing of computer chips, where the circuits are initially printed in the photoresist using photolithography.  As the demand for smaller and more precise circuitry in computer chips grows, photoresists must resolve features with smaller sizes and higher density. One of the factors determining the ultimate resolution in lithography is the molecular size/mass of the photoresists. 

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