Data Science

Measured spectrum for five consecutive FEL pulses

First Demonstration of Sub-femtosecond X-ray Pulses at SwissFEL

We have produced ultra-short X-ray FEL pulses at SwissFEL by strongly compressing low-charge electron beams.  Single-shot spectral measurements with only a single mode (see the figure below) indicate a pulse duration well below one femtosecond (detailed analysis on the exact pulse duration is ongoing).

Kirk Arndt

The Mu3e collaboration grieves for Kirk Arndt

We lost a very good friend and wonderful colleague.

2019_Ausflug_PM

Ausflug der Polymechaniklernenden zur Chronoswiss und zum Lasertag

Am Freitag 07.06.2019 haben alle Lernenden Polymechaniker und zwei Ausbildner an einem Teamevent teilgenommen, welches durch das Bussengeld der Lernenden finanziert wurde. Bei diesem Ausflug haben wir die Firma Chronoswiss besucht und anschliessend Lasertag gespielt. Der Ausflug wurde von einem Lernenden organisiert.

bildschirmfoto_2019-06-06_um_15.14_t.jpg

Phase transition in the cuprates from a magnetic-field-free stiffness meter viewpoint

A method to measure the superconducting (SC) stiffness tensor ρs, without subjecting the sample to external magnetic field, is applied to La1.875Sr0.125CuO4. The method is based on the London equation J=-ρsA, where J is the current density and A is the vector potential which is applied in the SC state.

 

shape memory 2019

Magnetically Addressable Shape-Memory and Stiffening in a Composite Elastomer

With a specific stimulus, shape‐memory materials can assume a temporary shape and subsequently recover their original shape, a functionality that renders them relevant for applications in fields such as biomedicine, aerospace, and wearable electronics. Shape‐memory in polymers and composites is usually achieved by exploiting a thermal transition to program a temporary shape and subsequently recover the original shape.

Leo et al

Multidimensional Characterization of Mixed Ligand Nanoparticles Using Small Angle Neutron Scattering

The properties of ligand protected gold nanoparticles are determined by the synergistic interplay of their structural components, including the metal core, the ligand shell, and the solvation layer. However, the simultaneous characterization of all these components remains a major challenge given their disparate chemical nature.

TOMCAT high numerical aperture detector

High-numerical-aperture optics is key to ultra-fast tomographic microscopy

A novel high-numerical-aperture macroscope optics dedicated to high-temporal and high-spatial resolution X-ray tomographic microscopy is available at TOMCAT. Coupled with the in-house developed GigaFRoST camera, this highly efficient imaging setup enables tomographic microscopy studies at 20 Hz and beyond, opening up new possibilities in tomographic investigations of dynamic processes. A detailed characterization of the macroscope performance was published in Journal of Synchrotron Radiation on May 21, 2019.

TOMCAT high numerical aperture detector

High-numerical-aperture optics is key to ultra-fast tomographic microscopy

A novel high-numerical-aperture macroscope optics dedicated to high-temporal and high-spatial resolution X-ray tomographic microscopy is available at TOMCAT. Coupled with the in-house developed GigaFRoST camera, this highly efficient imaging setup enables tomographic microscopy studies at 20 Hz and beyond, opening up new possibilities in tomographic investigations of dynamic processes. A detailed characterization of the macroscope performance was published in Journal of Synchrotron Radiation on May 21, 2019.

Gomilsek et al

Kondo screening in a charge-insulating spinon metal

The Kondo effect, an eminent manifestation of many-body physics in condensed matter, is traditionally explained as exchange scattering of conduction electrons on a spinful impurity in a metal. The resulting screening of the impurity's local moment by the electron Fermi sea is characterized by a Kondo temperature TK, below which the system enters a strongly coupled regime.

Group picture from Semiconductors to quantum technologies symposium

From semiconductors to quantum technologies symposium

While information technology over the last 50 years has been based on conventional semiconductor electronics, future technologies – aiming to enhance the performance of computers, sensors and to secure data communication for the future internet – will use the quantum origins of nature.

This symposium highlighted the opportunities for the traditional semiconductor materials to remain the platform on which also the new quantum technologies will build on. The symposium, in part a celebration of the career of PSI Quantum Technologies group leader Hans Sigg, was held at ETHZ and included notable speakers both local and international, Gabriel Aeppli (PSI, ETHZ & EPFL), Jérôme Faist & Klaus Ensslin (ETHZ), Theo Rasing (RU Nijmegen), Giordano Scappucci (QuTech-TU Delft) and Klaus von Klitzing (MPI Stuttgart).

Das PSI und das KfC arbeiten an den Themen des Frauen*streiks

Der Frauen*streik möchte wichtige Anliegen voranbringen, darunter sind Lohngleichheit, die gerechte Verteilung von Betreuungsaufgaben und der Schutz vor Diskriminierung und sexueller Belästigung.

Das PSI und das Komitee für Chancengleichheit am PSI arbeiten auch an diesen Themen. Eine externe Analyse der GFO Unternehmensberatung gemeinsam mit der Universität Sankt Gallen bestätigte vor einigen Jahren die vollständige Lohngleichheit unter Berücksichtigung von Funktionsstufen und Erfahrungsjahren.

APS fellow medal

Christoph Bostedt named APS Fellow

Christoph Bostedt, Head of the Laboratory for Femtochemistry, was named APS Felllow. He received his fellowship certificate at at the 50th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (DAMOP) APS Meeting in Milwaukee.

Multiscale image of a cardiac tissue.

From whole organ imaging down to single cell analysis

Researchers from the TOMCAT beamline, University College London (UCL), IDIBAPS and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) have developed a methodology that allows the multiscale analysis of the structural changes resulting from remodelling cardiovascular diseases, from whole organ down to single-cell level. This methodology has been published as an article in the journal Scientific Reports on May 6th 2019.

Multiscale image of a cardiac tissue.

From whole organ imaging down to single cell analysis

Researchers from the TOMCAT beamline, University College London (UCL), IDIBAPS and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) have developed a methodology that allows the multiscale analysis of the structural changes resulting from remodelling cardiovascular diseases, from whole organ down to single-cell level. This methodology has been published as an article in the journal Scientific Reports on May 6th 2019.

Schweizer Jugend forscht

Schweizer Jugend forscht 2019

Unser Lernende Pius S., Elektroniker im 4. Lehrjahr, nahm mit Kollegen am Nationalen Wettbewerb von "Schweizer Jugend forscht" teil und erhielten das Prädikat "hervorragend". Wir sind sehr stolz auf diese Leistung und gratulieren Pius herzlich!

teai

An iodine polymeric chain with tunable conductivity

The progressive hydrostatic compression of I2 and I3- units in an organic salt lead to a homoatomic polymeric chain. As the I---I distance collapses the covalent character of the interaction becomes more relevant, leading to a pressure-tunable increased conductivity.

Pregelj et al

Elementary excitation in the spin-stripe phase in quantum chains

Elementary excitations in condensed matter capture the complex many-body dynamics of interacting basic entities in a simple quasiparticle picture. In magnetic systems the most established quasiparticles are magnons, collective excitations that reside in ordered spin structures, and spinons, their fractional counterparts that emerge in disordered, yet correlated spin states.

Type-II Weyl semimetal WP2

New study gives compelling evidence that tungsten diphosphide is a type-II Weyl semimetal

Researchers at NCCR MARVEL have combined first principles calculations with soft X-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to examine tungsten diphosphide’s electronic structure, characterizing its Weyl nodes for the very first time. In agreement with density functional theory calculations, the results revealed two pairs of Weyl nodes lying at different binding energies. The observation of the Weyl nodes, as well as the tilted cone-like dispersions in the vicinity of the nodal points, provides compelling evidence that the material is a robust type-II Weyl semimetal with broken Lorentz invariance. This is as MARVEL researchers predicted two years ago. The research has been published in Physical Review Letters as an Editor's Suggestion.

Berufsbildnerabend 2019

Berufsbildnerabend 2019

Die Berufsbildnerinnen und Berufsbildner mit ihren Partnern und Partnerinnen fuhren am Donnerstag, 2. Mai nach Böttstein, wo wir an einer interessanten Führung im Axporama(link is external) teilnehmen konnten. Das abschliessende Spiel zur Stromversorgung der Schweiz absolvierten wir nicht wie erhofft. Mit vielen Eindrücken fuhren wir danach nach Mandach. Im Restaurant Hirschen(link is external) durften wir ein feines Essen in gemütlicher Runde geniessen.