Shifting away from nuclear energy, expanding solar and wind power, generating energy from biomass, reducing energy consumption. Switzerland is committed to becoming climate-neutral by 2050. An ambitious goal, which has become more urgent than ever due to the increasingly challenging geopolitical situation. How can a sustainable and resilient energy supply for Switzerland be established over the coming years? What's the optimal way to use renewable energy sources? What new technologies are especially promising? At PSI, researchers are seeking answers to these crucial questions.
PSI at this year's "Open-i"!
Open-i is Switzerland's leading innovation platform and will be held on November 21 & 22 in Zurich – PSI will be there as a "Science Partner"!
On the way to light-controlled medicine
PSI researchers have elucidated the structure of special photoreceptors.
Julius Springer Price 2024
Prof. Thomas Lippert, Editor in Chief at Applied Physics A, awards Prof. Boris Chichkov the 2024 Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics.
XRnanotech wins Swiss Excellence Product Award 2024
The PSI spin-off XRnanotech AG has won the Swiss Excellence Product Award 2024 in the SME category and was recognized for its outstanding developments in the field of Fresnel lenses and diffractive optical elements (DOEs).
Soldering on a big stage
Whoever makes it onto the podium here is one of the world's best professional talents: PSI electronics engineer Melvin Deubelbeiss won the silver medal at WorldSkills 2024.
Skyrmion topology quantified in 3D
Researchers from an international collaboration between the United States of America and Switzerland have performed three-dimensional magnetic imaging of a magnetic skyrmion using soft X-ray laminography. This allowed for the investigation, in three dimensions, of the topological profile of the magnetic skyrmions.
iLab and Synfuels at the Energy Days! at the Swiss Museum of Transport
October 18, 19, and 20, 2024
The iLab from the Paul Scherrer Institute will be part of the Energy Days with exciting workshops. Discover how we can store renewable energy using innovative technologies like Power-to-Gas and drive the energy transition forward.
Mit dem Fanuc Industrieroboter zum erfolgreichen Bauprojekt
Im Herbst 2023 haben wir einen Fanuc Industrieroboter gekauft. Nach langem Warten wurde dieser am 1. Februar 2024 am PSI angeliefert. Leider musste der Roboter erst noch auf seine ersten Aufgaben warten, da ich zuerst noch meine praktische Abschlussarbeit beenden musste.
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.
Dual-site reaction mechanism for the simultaneous reduction of nitrous and nitric oxides
We have applied three spectroscopic techniques (XAS, EPR and DRIFTS) in combination withe modulated excitation and catalytic data to decipher and propose the complete reaction mechanism of the simultaneous reduction of N2O and NO
How catalysts remove dangerous nitrogen oxides
In industrial catalysis, iron is not equal to iron.
Lehrlingslager 2024
Dieses Jahr fand das jährliche Lehrlingslager des Paul Scherrer Instituts mit rund 70 Lernenden im Val Calanca statt. Während zwei Wochen arbeiteten die Lernenden in wechselnden Gruppen an vier verschiedenen Baustellen.
Discovery of charge order above roomtemperature in the prototypical kagome superconductor La(Ru1−xFex)3Si2
The kagome lattice is an intriguing and rich platform for discovering, tuning and understanding the diverse phases of quantum matter, crucial for advancing modern and future electronics. Despite considerable efforts, accessing correlated phases at room temperature has been challenging.
Ian Shipsey
The Mu3e collaboration is deeply saddened to by the loss of our colleague and friend Professor Ian Shipsey, Head of Department of Physics in Oxford and co-lead of the Oxford Mu3e group.
Career Perspectives at our Partners: Maria-Alexandra Paun, Federal Office of Communications
Our partners are interested in attracting PSI's early career researchers, and we introduce scientists working at partner companies to showcase career perspectives. In today's post, meet Maria-Alexandra Paun, who did her PhD in Microelectronics and Microsystems at EPFL and is currently working at the Federal Office of Communications. She tells us how she managed the transition away from academia, and what she is working on now.
New Monochromators for SLS 2.0
The brand-new monochromators that have been built by XDS Oxford for the hard X-ray beamlines at SLS 2.0 have now arrived. They were unpacked beginning of the week, and are currently being tested in our new lab space at Park Innovaare. These advanced instruments will play a crucial role in enhancing the beamline performance, ensuring superior precision and efficiency in the upcoming experiments.
Master of the flow
Even as a student, Athanasios Mokos was excited by the dynamics of fluids. Today at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, he models complex processes such as the formation of deposits on reactor fuel rods.
Recognition at MNE 2024 Micrograph Contest
The MNE conference is the flagship event of the International Society for Micro- and Nanotechnology (iMNEs). The research fields covered by the MNE conferences have consistently driven advancements in the development of smaller and smaller structures. To emphasize the significance of micrographs in this field, the conference features a micrograph contest, sponsored and hosted by Zyvex Labs. Entries are judged based on both their technological relevance and artistic merit.
This year, Peng Qi from the X-ray Nano Optics group, LXN, CPS, earned third place and an honorable mention for his two submitted images.
iLab an den Energy Days! im Verkehrshaus
18., 19. und 20. Oktober 2024
Energy Days! im Verkehrshaus der Schweiz
Welcome to LXN Rok Venturini
Herzlich Willkommen Rok Venturini im LXN!
Magnetism in thin layers: One electron makes the difference
An important step towards novel computer memory
Happy Birthday, DECTRIS!
DECTRIS AG was founded around 18 years ago as a spin-off of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and has since established itself as a leading provider of solutions in X-ray and electron detection. The impressive development of the company is the result of innovative research, outstanding teamwork, and a clear focus on market needs.
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.
Die Stifti’24 fand am 12. und 13. September 2024 in Brugg-Windisch statt
Die Erstausgabe der Regionalen Berufsschau im September 2022 stiess auf ein rundum positives Echo. Jetzt geht es in die zweite Runde auch mit dem PSI.
Bryan Benz awarded best talk at MNE 2024
Bryan Benz was awarded the conference’s best oral presentation at the 50th International Micro and Nano Engineering Conference (MNE 2024) for his talk entitled “High aspect ratio (1:500) silicon nanowires for force sensing”.
Start-up Lernende 2024
Über 50 Lernende nahmen an der Begrüssung des Gewerbeverein Surbtal teil!
Artificial intelligence explores the underground
The properties of geological units are determined using images of drill cores.
Fast as a plane, clean as a train
In a collaboration across Switzerland, researchers have evaluated the potential environmental impacts of so-called hyperloop systems.
Ferromagnetic quantum critical point protected by nonsymmorphic symmetry in a Kondo metal
Quantum critical points (QCPs), zero-temperature phase transitions, are win- dows to fundamental quantum-mechanical phenomena associated with universal behaviour. Magnetic QCPs have been extensively investigated in the vicinity of antiferromagnetic order. However, QCPs are rare in metallic ferromagnets due to the coupling of the order parameter to electronic soft modes. Recently, antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling in noncentrosymmetric systems was suggested to protect ferromagnetic QCPs. Nonetheless, multiple centrosymmetric materials ...
Tumour irradiation, individualised daily
A PSI feasibility study shows: Even in everyday clinical practice, treatment can be adapted daily. Thus, the tumour will always be treated with exactly the right dose of radiation.