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.
Weiterbildung Kita Kiwi
Weiterbildung Kita Kiwi
Am 3. September durfte das Team der Kita Kiwi an einer tollen Weiterbildung zum Thema Vielfalt in der Kita teilnehmen.
Dort durften wir unseren Wissenshorizont erweitern und konnten Neues in unseren Alltag mitnehmen.
Of fusion reactors, fuel cells, and tin cans
The technology transfer centre ANAXAM has been facilitating access to the material analytics at PSI.
Kinderuniversität Zürich visits PSI
On November 5, 2022, the Laboratory for Neutron and Muon Instrumentation in collaboration with the Correlated Quantum Matter group at the University of Zurich carried out the workshop “Wellenspiele” (German for “Playing with Waves”) for the Kinderuniversität Zürich (“Children’s University Zurich”) for the first time.
What happens during career counseling?
‘What are you going to do with me now?’ or ‘I didn’t really know what to expect’ are sentences I often hear at the beginning of a counseling session. Not knowing what will happen can make us quite nervous, and for some this nervousness is even a reason to say ‘my questions are not that important, I don’t need counseling’. I congratulate each and every one of you who had the courage to come to a counseling session. It does take courage to expose yourself, not knowing what will come. For those who were secretly wondering what happens behind closed doors in my counseling room, let’s have a look at what career counseling is about.
Automated synapse-level reconstruction of neural circuits in the larval zebrafish brain
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Google Inc. and the Paul Scherrer Institute published a new method and data resource that makes connectomic analyses of the entire larval zebrafish brain possible.
How mixing of atmospheric aerosols affects the environment
Peering inside atmospheric particles provides clues to effects on climate and health, finds Paul Scherrer Institute and University of British Columbia study.
Michelle Worek - welcome!
A warm welcome to Michelle Worek, our new PhD student in the Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry. She will join the Analytical Chemistry group on 1 November 2022.
Harald Ita appointed Associate Professor ad personam at University of Zurich
Harald Ita, currently senior scientist at the Laboratory for Particle Physics at NUM/PSI was appointed as Associate Professor ad personam at UZH Zurich. Harald is an international acclaimed researcher in the field of theoretical high-energy particle physics.
On-track for SLS2.0: First magnet series measured
Successful measurement of the first 112 magnets puts the PSI magnet section on-schedule to measure all of the 1000+ magnets needed for SLS2.0 by July 2024.
Li-ion solvation in TFSI and FSI - based ionic liquid electrolytes probed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
We demonstrate the capability of conventional laboratory XPS to determine the anions solvation shell of Li+ cation within 1M of LiTFSI and 1M of LiFSI salts dissolved in (EMIM+-FSI-) and (EMIM+-TFSI-) ionic liquids. The binding energy difference between the N1s components originating from the EMIM+ cation and from TFSI- or FSI- anions, solvating the Li+, confirms that both TFSI- and FSI- contribute simultaneously to the Li+ solvation. Additionally, the degradation of the TFSI and FSI -based electrolytes under X-ray exposure is proved.
ETSON Workshop at PSI Towards Artificial Intelligence Informed Nuclear Safety Assessments
Data science (DS) and artificial intelligence (AI) methods opens up an immense range of new opportunities and challenges in the context of continuously enhancing the complex methodologies used as basis for nuclear safety assessments. To this aim, following discussions in the ETSON Technical Board on Reactor Safety, the PSI laboratory for reactor physics and thermal-hydraulics organized on October 20-21, 2022, an international workshop to review and discuss DS/AI within ETSON, the network of European research and expert organizations providing scientific support to national nuclear authorities. With close to 40 participants, the workshop, organized as a hybrid meeting, allowed to put in evidence that similarly as at PSI, a wide and growing range of developments with integration of DS/AI methods are currently taking place in order to complement and/or inform nuclear safety analysis methodologies.
Portrait Noah Piqué
Interview mit Noah Piqué in "Der Botschaft" Kategorie "Menschen im Zurzibiet"
LEAPS research infrastructures to tackle societal crises
Against a backdrop of the energy crisis, scientists and policy makers convene at Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and set out a vision for European light sources
“More objectivity would be helpful”
The current energy debate could do with more facts and less gut feeling – argue Thomas J. Schmidt, renewables expert, and Andreas Pautz, nuclear energy specialist.
Technology Briefing Photovoltaics - Technologies, System Integration and Implications
A Technology Briefing on photovoltaics will be held at Empa in Dübendorf on 1 December.
When: 01.12.2022; 14:00 - 18:00
Where: Empa Academy, Dübendorf
The event, jointly organized by the research institutes CSEM, Empa and PSI, will highlight the potential of photovoltaics, present next-generation PV technologies and address questions about how the technical system integration of the plants can succeed and what impact greater dependence on PV will have on our CO2 emissions, material consumption and the economy.
The event is aimed at experts and interested parties from industry and research. Learn more about how solar energy can help us to meet our growing energy needs while contributing to our climate goals.
We look forward to your participation!
Open Day 2022
Nitrogen ice-cream, the Spanisch-Brötli Railway and loads of science – PSI invited the public to its Open Day where visitors got their finger on the pulse of research.
Award winning work on high-resolution X-ray radiography methods for boiling experiments at high pressure.
Light Water Reactors (LWRs) such as the ones operating in Switzerland work at relatively high temperatures and pressures. As a consequence, thermal-hydraulics experiments investigating relevant LWRs phenomena at prototypical conditions require test sections with relatively thick steel walls. This poses significant challenges for the implementation of suitable instrumentation to capture phenomena of interest, such as the flow regimes during transition from liquid to steam. The characterization of flow regimes in the presence of boiling is rather complex, and their better understanding would allow to develop mathematical modeling tools that can be used to optimize equipment and better assess safety margins. To perform in-situ measurements of the boiling process under high-pressure conditions, the team of authors from PSI, ETH, and the University of Michigan has developed a new high-fidelity and high-speed imaging system based on x-ray radiography, which provides high-resolution details on the boiling process while being non-intrusive. Since the instrumentation is located outside of the test section, it has also the advantage that can be easily moved to take measurements in different region of the test sections.
Silver Medal in Electronics for Mario Liechti
PSI electronics technician Mario Liechti comes in second place at the world championships for non-academic professions.
WorldSkills 2022 - Silber für Mario Liechti
Elektroniker Mario Liechti gewinnt Silber! Herzliche Gratulation zu dieser tollen Leistung!
PSI researcher Patrick Hemberger honored in the Rising Stars special issue in Energy & Fuels
To celebrate contributions of highly influential early and mid-career researchers in energy research, the journal Energy & Fuels established an annual recognition of Energy and Fuels Rising Stars.
10 Years anniversary of Excelsus
A reason to celebrate: The PSI spin-off "Excelsus Structural Solutions" will commemorate its 10th anniversary from 20 to 21 October 2022 at Park Innovaare in Villigen. The company uses PSI's large-scale research facilities to carry out measurements for clients primarily from the pharmaceutical industry.
10 Years anniversary of Excelsus
The PSI spin-off "Excelsus Structural Solutions" performs measurements at the SLS on behalf of customers.
Dr. Manuel Guizar-Sicairos elected as SPIE Fellow member
Dr. Manuel Guizar-Sicairos was elected as a 2022 SPIE Fellow Member for his contributions to coherent lensless imaging, including ptychography and X-ray nano-tomography. The distinction was awarded in the SPIE’s Optics & Photonics conference in San Diego, California.
EXSA Young Scientist Award goes to Laura Torrent!
Dr. Laura Torrent, Postdoc at the laboratory for bioenergy and catalysis, was awarded the European X-ray Spectrometry Association (EXSA) Young Scientist Award 2022 at the PhD Level for her Doctoral Thesis entitled "Occurrence and behavior of silver nanoparticles in the environment: Analytical methodologies and laboratory studies".
Emergence of spinons in layered trimer iridate Ba4Ir3O10
Spinons are well-known as the elementary excitations of one-dimensional antiferromagnetic chains, but means to realize spinons in higher dimensions is the subject of intense research. Here, we use resonant x-ray scattering to study the layered trimer iridate Ba4Ir3O10, which shows no magnetic order down to 0.2 K. An emergent one-dimensional spinon continuum is observed that can be well-described by XXZ spin-1/2 chains with magnetic exchange of ∼55 meV and a small Ising-like anisotropy. With 2% isovalent Sr doping ...
Graphene’s magic in a magnet
Neutron scattering reveals rich magnetic topology in the magnetic equivalent of graphene.
Clarifying the fate of collective metallic quantum states
Many complex metals exhibit collective states in which electrons appear to collaborate to generate novel and frequently functional behavior. These states develop when metals are cooled down to remove the effects of thermal fluctuations, enabling collective states in which electrons move coherently through the material. These collective electronic states are of tremendous importance because they are the foundation for many quantum states of interest such as unconventional superconductivity, frustrated magnetism, hidden order, as well as topologically non-trivial and electronic-nematic states.
Jungfraujoch Carbon Balance Campaign measures wildfire emissions from southern Europe
The Jungfraujoch Carbon Balance Campaign is a measuring campaign within the ACTRIS project. It is conducted by the Paul Scherrer Institute in collaboration with the Stiftung HFSJG, Empa, FHNW, as well as groups from Lille (France), York (England), and Aerosol d.o.o. (Slovenia). The campaign’s aim is to comprehensively measure and characterize the diversity of carbon-containing molecules present in the air in hopes to obtain helpful information on their role in climate and weather relevant processes.
Strong modulation of carrier effective mass in WTe2 via coherent lattice manipulation
Schematic ultrafast surface diffraction setup used for monitoring the crystal lattice in multiple directions.
PSI and Apollo Health Ventures launch Focal Biosciences
PSI and Apollo Health Ventures have launched Focal Biosciences. The newly established biotech company aims to redefine the treatment of age-related diseases by reprogramming deregulated processes in cells that cause the detrimental processes underlying many serious diseases of aging that represent a significant health burden. The newly founded entity will initially operate out of the Paul Scherrer Institute.
We wish Focal Biosciences every success for the further development of the company.
https://www.psi.ch/en/media/our-research/paul-scherrer-institute-and-apollo-health-ventures-launch-focal-biosciences
https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-90639.html