Research Using Neutrons

With the help of muons, PSI researchers were able to determine the origin of the material used for an arrowhead.

08.06.2022

•9 min

Hercules and batteries, X-rayed

With muons, PSI researchers can examine objects non-destructively. This helps in archaeology and battery development.

14.12.2017

•6 min

We start with 500 million muons

Materials for future electronics can be studied with muons. In this interview, PSI researchers Alex Amato and Thomas Prokscha explain the special characteristics of these elementary particles.

21.09.2015

•6 min

Tiny magnets mimic steam, water and ice

Nanotechnology

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) created a synthetic material out of 1 billion tiny magnets. Astonishingly, it now appears that the magnetic properties of this so-called metamaterial change with the temperature, so that it can take on different states; just like water has a gaseous, liquid and a solid state.

06.08.2015

•8 min

Magnets made of non-magnetic metals

For the first time, an international research team has demonstrated how to generate magnetism in metals that aren’t naturally magnetic, such as copper. The discovery could help develop novel magnets for a wide range of technical applications. Crucial measurements to understand this phenomenon were carried out at PSI à the only place where magnetic processes inside materials can be studied in sufficient detail.

24.02.2014

•Fundamentals of Nature

•13 min

The proton accelerator at the Paul Scherrer Institute: forty years of top-flight research

Materials research, particle physics, molecular biology, archaeology à for the last forty years, the Paul Scherrer Institute’s large-scale proton accelerator has made top-flight research possible in a number of different fields.

17.05.2013

•9 min

Experiments in millionths of a second

CHRISP

Muons à unstable elementary particles à provide scientists with important insights into the structure of matter. They provide information about processes in modern materials, about the properties of elementary particles and the nature of our physical world. Many muon experiments are only possible at the Paul Scherrer Institute because of the unique intense muon beams available here.

20.05.2011

•11 min

Der Unterschied zwischen dünn und sehr dünn

Materialforschung in neuer DimensionViele Materialien haben eine spezielle kristalline Struktur à ihre Atome sind übereinander in Schichten angeordnet. Ein deutsch-schweizerisches Forscherteam hat zum ersten Mal präzise beobachtet, wie die physikalischen Eigenschaften einer Substanz von der Zahl dieser Schichten abhängen. Dass sich die physikalischen Charakteristika nun auch auf diese Weise kontrollieren lassen, eröffnet neue Möglichkeiten, Stoffe zu identifizieren, aus denen die Computerchips der Zukunft gemacht sein könnten.This news release is only available in French and German.

13.12.2010

•5 min

In the future: processing and memory on a single chip

•Large research facilities

Researchers have shown that a magnetically polarised current can be manipulated by electric fields. This important discovery opens up the prospect of simultaneously processing and storing data on electrons held in the molecular structure of computer chips à combining computer memory and processing power on the same chip. This may allow for the development of new devices with high power efficiency and reduced weight.

01.12.2009

•3 min

Service to the scientific community

SINQ

SLS

Neutrons, synchrotron light and muons are very useful for researchers in a variety of disciplines. Using these probes, we can determine the structure of crystals, they help us understand magnetic processes, or they can reveal the structures of biological materials. However, producing these probes is so difficult that most research groups will not have a neutron, muon or synchrotron light at their own scientific centre.

23.02.2009

•6 min

Entsteht Supraleitung doch ganz anders?

Publikation in Nature Materials. Ergebnisse vom Paul Scherrer Institut stellen gängige Theorien der Hochtemperatursupraleitung in Frage.This news release is only available in German.

24.11.2008

•9 min

Was beim Computer im Kopf vorgeht