Data Science

A new 6M€ grant is being launched for the Photon and Neutron Data Services (ExPaNDS) to come together and work under the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). This ambitious project will create enormous opportunities for scientific communities, and through their findings for humankind worldwide. It aims to publish and map the data behind the thousands of successful published scientific papers generated by Europe’s Photon and Neutron Research Infrastructures (PaN RIs) – which every year create petabytes of data – and make it available to all.

Recently, the transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) system 2M-WS₂ has been identified as a Dirac semimetal exhibiting both superconductivity with the highest T_c ~ 8.5 K among all the TMD materials and topological surface states. Here we report on muon spin rotation (μSR) and density functional theory studies of microscopic SC properties and the electronic structure in 2M-WS₂ at ambient and under hydrostatic pressures (p_max = 1.9 GPa).

In power electronics, semiconductors are based on the element silicon – but the energy efficiency of silicon carbide would be much higher.

Quantum materials that feature magnetic long-range order often reveal complex phase diagrams when localized electrons become mobile. In many materials magnetism is rapidly suppressed as electronic charges dissolve into the conduction band. In materials where magnetism persists, it is unclear how the magnetic properties are affected. 

A team of researchers generates ultra-short spin waves in an astoundingly simple material. Due to its potential to make computers faster and smartphones more efficient, spintronics is considered a promising concept for the future of electronics. In a collaboration including the Paul Scherrer Institut, a team of researchers has now successfully generated so-called spin waves much more easily and efficiently than was previously deemed possible. The researchers are presenting their results in the journal Physical Review Letters (DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.117202).

Researchers from the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the TOMCAT beamline have achieved a new world record in time-resolved tomography by measuring over 200 tomographies per second during heating of an evolving aluminium metal foam.

The intrinsic magnetic moment of a neutron, combined with its charge neutrality, is a unique property which allows the investigation of magnetic phenomena in matter. Here we present how the utilization of a cold polarized neutron beam in neutron grating interferometry enables the visualization and characterization of magnetic properties on a microscopic scale in macroscopic samples.

The increasingly popular power-to-gas technology for the utilization of hydrogen as a clean energy vector involves the use of electrolyzers to convert water into H₂ and O₂. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the least efficient among these processes, and a catalyst is required to speed up its kinetics at the high potentials (customarily ≥ 1.4 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode) at which the reaction takes place. 

In order to clarify the mechanism behind this activity loss, in this study two high surface area iridium oxides were characterized under operando conditions using a novel setup that allows the quasi-simultaneous acquisition of anomalous small angle X-ray scattering (A-SAXS) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) data.

Liposomes of specific artificial phospholipids, such as Pad-PC-Pad and Rad-PC-Rad, are mechanically responsive. They can release encapsulated therapeutics via physical stimuli, as naturally present in blood flow of constricted vessel segments. The question is how these synthetic liposomes change their structure in the medically relevant temperature range from 22 to 42 °C.