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.
SwissSkills 2022
Wir suchen die Besten des Landes! Im PSI hat sich Flavio M. erfolgreich für die SwissSkills qualifiziert!
NMB/Eckelman Young Investigator Award 2022
Chiara Favaretto, PhD student in the “Radionuclide Development” group at the Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences, received the NMB/Eckelman Young Investigator Award for the abstract entitled: “Production and radiochemical separation of terbium-155 from enriched gadolinium target material and its preliminary application in SPECT imaging”, presented at the International Symposium on Radiopharmaceutical Sciences (iSRS 2022).
Power-to-gas system for energy independence
New technology provides synthetic natural gas for domestic heating
Stable Performance of High Capacity Cobalt-Free Li-ion Battery
Lithium-rich layered oxides, containing cobalt, despite being promising high-capacity cathode materials, need alternatives to eliminate toxic and geopolitically restricted cobalt. An ongoing search for low-cost, Co-free Li-rich cathode materials with a better structural stability lead to investigation of Li1.16Ni0.19Fe0.18Mn0.46O2 (LNFM), where cobalt is replaced by abundant iron. Our LNFM not only delivered a high capacity of 229 mAh/g but also has a stable average discharge voltage when cycled to upper cutoff potential of 4.8 V in additive-free electrolyte.
“If you’re in a certain position, you should step forward”
Kirsten Moselund heads the new Laboratory for Nano and Quantum Technologies. In this interview she discusses quantum research at PSI and how nanophotonics can assist with this.
Produktive Arbeit - Schon im ersten Lehrjahr
Die zwei Automatiker Lernenden vom ersten Lehrjahr zeigen hier, wie sie schon am Anfang ihrer Ausbildung praktische Erfahrungen bei produktiver Arbeit sammeln. Dabei spielt das Motto «learning by doing» eine grosse Rolle.
SwissSkills 2022: Qualifikation von acht Teams für Berufsmeisterschaft in Entrepreneurship
Am 26. März und am 2. April haben sich insgesamt acht Teams für die Schweizer Berufsmeisterschaft in Entrepreneurship qualifiziert.
Diese Teams werden vom 7. bis 11. September an den SwissSkills 2022 um den Schweizermeister-Titel kämpfen. Unsere Lernenden Noah P., Eric B. und Janik M. sind dabei!
Success through collaboration: PSI and SwissNeutronics AG
Technology transfer - meaning the transfer of research results to industry - can take place in various ways. Founding a spin-off is a very efficient way of transferring or commercialising a technology developed at PSI to industry. In recent years, PSI has founded a number of such spin-offs from various research areas. Even years later, PSI is still in close contact with most of its spin-offs, from which both sides can benefit. The company "SwissNeutronics AG", based in Klingnau, is the oldest PSI spin-off and was spun off as early as 1999. For more than 20 years, SwissNeutronics and the PSI have repeatedly worked together successfully on various projects and can mutually benefit from synergy effects.
Analytical chemistry community gateway - submit your research now!
Launch of the analytical chemistry community gateway.
Find criteria and more information below or on: https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/gateways/analytical-chemistry/about
Congratulation Noemi and Mario !
PSI: Doktorandentag des Departements Nukleare Energie und Sicherheit 2022.
The Department of Nuclear Energy and Safety (NES) of the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) held its annual PhD Day. The PhD students presented their research work to a jury, which awarded the best presentations in each of the various categories with a prize donated by the Nuklearforum Schweiz.
This year Noemi Cerboni and Mario Veicht, first and fourth year PhD students, respectively, of LRC won this prestigious award.
Visiting the researchers
A tour through the new exhibition in the PSI Visitor Centre
Atmospheric globe-trotters
The CLOUD experiment reveals a new mechanism by which atmospheric particles form. The particles rapidly travel the world, globally impacting cloud formation and climate.
KV-Praktikumsbericht
Mein Name ist Ben und ich habe die Möglichkeit ein Langzeitpraktikum beim Paul Scherrer Institut von einem Jahr zu absolvieren. In diesem Bericht möchte ich über mein Praktikum einen Einblick geben.
Light-Induced Magnetization at the Nanoscale
Targeted manipulations of an atom's magnetic moment are tricky, as the charge currents used for this process are extremely difficult to control . Now, a consortium of collaborators in Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia and Italy reports on a solution to this problem in the cover page article of Physic Review Letters 128, Vol. 15. As it appears, the magnetization of an atomic gas can be altered by high-power lasers using a patterned wave front. The method is promising for studying and manipulating the magnetic properties of matter at the nanoscale.
Unveiling Unequivocal Charge Stripe Order in a Prototypical Cuprate Superconductor
In the cuprates, high-temperature superconductivity, spin-density-wave order, and charge-density-wave (CDW) order are intertwined, and symmetry determination is challenging due to domain formation. We investigated the CDW in the prototypical cuprate La1.88Sr0.12CuO4 via x-ray diffraction employing uniaxial pressure as a domain-selective stimulus to establish the unidirectional nature of the CDW unambiguously.
Spin keeps electrons in line in iron-based superconductor
Electronic nematicity, thought to be an ingredient in high temperature superconductivity, is primarily spin driven in FeSe finds a study in Nature Physics.
Mechanochromism of layered perovskites
The mechanochromism of hybrid 2D perovskites is probed at pressures compatible with practical applications
Nominated: High-precision X-rays of breast tissue
Employing high-resolution X-rays to diagnose breast cancer – PSI researchers nominated for the European Inventor Award.
LNQ Kick-off
On April 11th, we had the opportunity to celebrate the kick-off meeting of the new Laboratory of Nano and Quantum Technologies (LNQ), and many had the chance to meet their new colleagues for the first time. Presently, our lab joins together two cleanroom-technology focused groups, Nanotechnology led by Dr. Vitaliy Guzenko and Advanced Nanomanufacturing by Dr. Helmut Schift, respectively, with groups focusing on three different technology platforms in quantum computing. These are Ion trap Quantum Computing led by Dr. Cornelius Hempel, Superconducting Quantum Circuits that is an extension of Prof. Andreas Wallraff's activities at ETHZ, and Neutral Atoms Quantum Engineering, which will be led by Prof. Wenchao Xu joining in August.
Self-analysis - fascinating instrument or tool by the devil?
While we ask ourselves every now and then whether we are still happy in our private lives, we often hesitate to do the same in our professional lives. Why this should be necessary?
Taking the time to assess your own professional situation is very valuable. Especially because nowadays a career is almost never straightforward, it is often helpful to be aware of certain points.
Berufsreferat im iLab
Bei einem Besuch einer Schulklasse des iLab, hält eine Lernende des PSI einen Referat zum Thema Lehre und Ausbildung und berichtet über ihre Erfahrungen. Ein wertvolle Gelegenheit für Jugendliche in der Berufswahl.
Things run smoother without lubricants
At the particle accelerators of PSI, the components have to withstand harsh conditions. This is why a special ball bearing that does not require grease as a lubricant has been in use since last year.
In situ Study of Low-temperature Dry Reforming of Methane Over La2Ce2O7 and LaNiO3 Mixed Oxides
The combination of in situ spectroscopy methods allowed to detect the evolution of a catalyst precursor to the catalytic material, and investigate a relevant reaction. The reduction of a mixture of perovskite, pyrochlore and nickel leads to the formation of active and selective catalytst, converting carbon dioxide and methane to syngas.
SLS 2.0: The upgrade of the large research facility is progressing
The first special magnets required for the upgrade have arrived. In addition, the Canton of Aargau has released 9.75 million Swiss francs for the TOMCAT beamline.
Visiting the researchers
New exhibition in the PSI Visitor Centre
New SwissFEL soft X-ray endstation welcomes first users
Maloja is go. First user experiments mark a double first, not only for the Maloja endstation but also for the second beamline of SwissFEL, Athos.
Direct mechanochemical synthesis of polyoxometalates
Polyoxomolybdates have been directly synthesized from basic reagents in a mechanochemical one-pot reaction.
Deep learning to avoid weather disappointments
Saharan dust storms played havoc with weather predictions. Invertible neural networks to retrieve aerosol properties from light scattering data may help.
Call for applications: CONNECT
CONNECT is a comprehensive program with the aim not only to link young women scientists with role models in industry and public sector, but also to foster their awareness of career planning. Participants are asked to attend 6 - 7 one-day workshops over the course of approximately 6 months and to bring in their ideas, visions, thoughts and perspective. Application deadline: June 12, 2022. Follow this link for more information.
Low-temperature magnetic crossover in the topological kagome magnet TbMn6Sn6
Magnetic topological phases of quantum matter are an emerging frontier in physics and materials science, of which kagome magnets appear as a highly promising platform. Here, we explore magnetic correlations in the recently identified topological kagome system TbMn6Sn6 using muon spin rotation, combined with local field analysis and neutron diffraction. Our studies identify an out-of-plane ferrimagnetic structure with slow magnetic fluctuations which exhibit a critical slowing down below T*C1 ≃ 120 K and finally freeze into static patches with ideal out-of-plane order below TC1 ≃ 20 K....