Fondements de la nature

A l’Institut Paul Scherrer, les scientifiques cherchent des réponses à la question essentielle des structures élémentaires de la matière et des principes fondamentaux de fonctionnement dans la nature. Ils étudient la structure et les propriétés des particules élémentaires – les plus petits composants de la matière – ou se penchent sur la question de savoir comment les molécules biologiques sont structurées et remplissent leur fonction. Les connaissances qu’ils acquièrent de la sorte ouvrent de nouvelles pistes de solution en sciences, en médecine ou dans le domaine des technologies.

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simulation of a vortex structure

Direct Determination of Large Spin-Torque Nonadiabaticity in Vortex Core Dynamics

We use a pump-probe photoemission electron microscopy technique to image the displacement of
vortex cores in Permalloy discs due to the spin-torque effect during current pulse injection. Exploiting the
distinctly different symmetries of the spin torques and the Oersted-field torque with respect to the vortex
spin structure we determine the torques unambiguously, and we quantify the amplitude of the strongly

Nature Physics Cover Picture

Moving Monopoles Caught on Camera - researchers make visible the movement of monopoles in an assembly of nanomagnets

For decades, researchers have been searching for magnetic monopoles; isolated magnetic charges, which can move around freely in the same way as electrical charges – since magnetic poles normally only occur in pairs.

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High-resolution method for computed nano-tomography developed

A novel nano-tomography method developed by a team of researchers from the Technische Universität München (TUM), the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the ETH Zurich opens the door to computed tomography examinations of minute structures at nanometer resolutions. The new method makes possible, for example, three-dimensional internal imaging of fragile bone structures. The first nano-CT images generated with this procedure was published in the renowned journal Nature on September 23, 2010.

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Understanding plastic semiconductors better

New method allows important insights into polymer semiconductors

Semiconductors made from polymer materials are becoming increasingly important for the electronics industry – as a basis for transistors, solar cells or LEDs – showing important advantages when compared to conventional materials: they are lightweight, flexible and very cheap to produce.

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New X-ray technique distinguishes between that which previously looked the same

A new method forms the basis for the widespread use of an X-ray technique which distinguishing types of tissue that normally appear the same in conventional X-ray images