Transition énergétique

Abandon de l’énergie nucléaire, développement de l’énergie solaire et éolienne, production d’énergie à partir de la biomasse, réduction de la consommation d’énergie. D’ici 2050, la Suisse doit atteindre la neutralité climatique. Un objectif ambitieux, rendu plus urgent que jamais par une situation géopolitique de plus en plus difficile. Comment faire pour mettre en place ces prochaines années un approvisionnement énergétique durable et résistant pour la Suisse? Comment les énergies renouvelables peuvent-elles être utilisées de manière optimale? Quelles sont les nouvelles technologies les plus prometteuses? Au PSI, des chercheurs s’efforcent de trouver des réponses à ces questions décisives.

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Electrons with opposite spins move in opposite directions

In one dimension, there are only two ways to move: left or right. This leads to some peculiar properties for one-dimensional systems on the atomic scale.

Phonon squeezing

Photon squeezing has been the subject of intense interest in the field of quantum optics, since it serves as a unique demonstration of the quantum nature of light. On a practical level, squeezing offers opportunities to make interferometric measurements much more precise than would normally be allowed by quantum uncertainty limits.

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Putting the squeeze on phonons

Photon squeezing has been the subject of intense interest in the field of quantum optics, since it serves as a unique demonstration of the quantum nature of light. On a practical level, squeezing offers opportunities to make interferometric measurements much more precise than would normally be allowed by quantum uncertainty limits. In principle, the physics of squeezing may be applied to many different types of bosons.

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A fast selenium derivatization strategy for crystallization and phasing of nucleic acid structures

The growing number of biologically important nucleic acid sequences (DNA and RNA) demands a fast and reliable method for their de novo three-dimensional structure determination. In this work, we described a fast and inexpensive strategy for the crystallization and phasing of structures of nucleic acid and nucleic acid/protein complexes.

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Exciting Heavy Metal

Photocatalysts play an important role in a broad range of applications, from photochemical conversion of light energy into chemical energy through to initiating novel chemical reactions. One family of compounds that has attracted much attention is the dinuclear d8-d8 platinum, rhodium and iridium complexes that have a highly reactive electronic excited state.

Femtosecond molecular spin crossover

X-ray absorption spectroscopy is a powerful probe of molecular structure, but it has previously been too slow to track the earliest dynamics after photoexcitation. We investigated the ultrafast formation of the lowest quintet state of aqueous iron(II)tris(bipyridine) upon excitation of the singlet metal-to-ligand-charge-transfer (1MLCT) state by femtosecond optical pump/x-ray probe techniques based on x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES).

Building blocks

Building blocks of an artificial kagome spin ice: Photoemission electron microscopy of arrays of ferromagnetic islands

Arrays of dipolar coupled ferromagnetic islands arranged in specific geometries provide ideal systems to
directly study frustration. We have examined with photoemission electron microscopy the magnetic configurations
in three basic building blocks of an artificial kagome spin ice consisting of one, two, and three rings.
The kagome spin ice arrangement is particularly interesting because it is highly frustrated and the three