Research on Covid-19

From new neutron powder diffraction experiments on the chiral cubic (P213) magnet manganese germanide (MnGe), we analyze all of the possible crystal symmetry-allowed magnetic superstructures that are determined successfully from the data. The incommensurate propagation vectors k of the magnetic structure are found to be aligned with the [100] cubic axes, and correspond to a magnetic periodicity of about 30 Å at 1.8 K. Several maximal crystallographic symmetry magnetic structures are found to fit the data equally well and are presented. These include topologically nontrivial magnetic hedgehog and “skyrmion” structures in multi-k cubic or orthorhombic 3+3 and orthorhombic 3+2 dimensional magnetic superspace groups respectively, with either potentially responsible for topological Hall effect. The presence of orthorhombic distortions in the space group P212121 caused by the transition to the magnetically ordered state does not favor the cubic magnetic hedgehog structure, and leave both orthorhombic hedgehog and skyrmion models as equal candidates for the magnetic structures. We also report on a combined mechanochemical and solid-state chemical route to synthesize MnGe at ambient pressures and moderate temperatures, and compare with samples obtained by the traditional high pressure synthesis.

From light-years to nanometers: by repurposing an algorithm originally developed for the investigation of oscillatory dynamics in astronomical objects, scientists have been able to image non-locked dynamical processes at the nanosecond and nanometer scale.

We present magnetization and neutron powder diffraction studies in the temperature range 2K to 300K for oxygen stoichiometric R_1/3Sr_2/3FeO (R = Pr and Nd). From full symmetry analysis, we proposed two magnetic models by a combined application of irreducible representations and magnetic space groups. Both models fit equally well the neutron powder diffraction data.

Dr. Manuel Guizar-Sicairos, currently Senior Scientist at PSI, was appointed as Associate Professor of Physics in EPF Lausanne and head of the Computational X-ray Imaging group in PSI.

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy probes the chemical environment in a molecule at a specific atomic site. Now the concept is extended with a site selective trigger to follow chemical bond changes as they occur on the femtosecond time scale.

The increasing risk of extended electricity supply disruptions and severe electricity price fluctuations  strongly motivate an evaluation of electricity supply resilience. In this direction, this research proposes a multicriteria decision support framework to assess resilience at a country level, based on three major dimensions: Resist, Restabilize and Recover. In total, 35 European countries are ranked according to their performance on 17 indicators, through a synergy of MCDA methods, techniques and communication protocols. The assessment framework has been extended to incorporate the Choquet Integral method, in order to accommodate potentially interacting pairs of criteria and negate their arbitrary effects on the final evaluation results. The analysis incorporates country data from credible international databases, as well as the preference information of a European energy expert. The results are envisaged to support energy policymakers in Europe and provide guidelines and areas for improvement at a country level.