Solid State Chemistry Group

ssc

We are working on the synthesis and characterization of ceramic and single crystal materials with novel electronic and magnetic properties. Numerous complex oxide materials have been successfully crystallized by the Traveling Solvent Floating Zone (TSFZ) method using an optical furnace. This includes cuprates, manganates, orthoferrites, cobaltites, borates and phosphates. Novel chalcogenide iron superconductors have been synthesized as powders and single crystals (Bridgman method). 

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Workshop crystal growth 2024

Tips and Tricks for the Crystal Growth of Inorganic Materials

We are happy to announce that the call for abstracts for the Workshop on Tips and tricks for the crystal growth of inorganic materials is now open. The workshop brings together experts from the Solid State Chemistry and Condensed Matter Physics communities in order to discuss the accomplished progress and perspectives for future developments in the synthesis and crystal growth of materials with novel and interesting physical properties. The event will take place at the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), Switzerland, 26th-27th of August 2024.

Igor_Plokhikh

Doctoral thesis award 2022 for Igor Plokhikh

Doctoral thesis award of the Dr. Alfons Paulus Foundation at the University of Regensburg, Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy for Igor Plokhikh 

On 14th of July 2022 Dr Igor Plokhikh (currently postdoc at SSCG, LMX PSI) has been awarded with the Doctoral thesis award of the Dr. Alfons Paulus Foundation at the University of Regensburg, Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy. He completed his doctoral studies at the group of Prof. Arno Pfitzner working on synthesis, crystal growth and characterization of crystal and magnetic structures of new magnetic Eu2+-containing compounds. This work resulted in discovery of over 10 new compounds, some of which exhibit complex magnetic phase diagrams.

RENiO3 single crystal

NCCR-MARVEL Highlight 2021

First-ever rare earth nickelate single crystals lead to first experimental evidence supporting predicted multiferroicity

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Maimone et al

Spin-orbit control of antiferromagnetic domains without a Zeeman coupling

Encoding information in antiferromagnetic (AFM) domains is a promising solution for the ever growing demand in magnetic storage capacity. The absence of a macroscopic magnetization avoids crosstalk between different domain states, enabling ultrahigh density spintronics while being detrimental to the domain detection and manipulation. Disentangling these merits and disadvantages seemed so far unattainable. We report evidence ...

Kagome_2024
•Fundamentals of Nature

Discovery of charge order above roomtemperature in the prototypical kagome superconductor La(Ru1−xFex)3Si2

The kagome lattice is an intriguing and rich platform for discovering, tuning and understanding the diverse phases of quantum matter, crucial for advancing modern and future electronics. Despite considerable efforts, accessing correlated phases at room temperature has been challenging. 

Shin et al

Ferromagnetic quantum critical point protected by nonsymmorphic symmetry in a Kondo metal

Quantum critical points (QCPs), zero-temperature phase transitions, are win- dows to fundamental quantum-mechanical phenomena associated with universal behaviour. Magnetic QCPs have been extensively investigated in the vicinity of antiferromagnetic order. However, QCPs are rare in metallic ferromagnets due to the coupling of the order parameter to electronic soft modes. Recently, antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling in noncentrosymmetric systems was suggested to protect ferromagnetic QCPs. Nonetheless, multiple centrosymmetric materials ...

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Katja Avatar

The video is from the Visitor Centre psi forum of the Paul Scherrer Institute, where a cartoon avatar of Ekatarina Pomjakushina, group leader of the Solid State Chemistry group, explains about her research to science enthusiasts.

Contact

Solid State Chem. Group
Laboratory for Multiscale materials eXperiments
PSI
CH-5232 Villigen PSI
Switzerland

Head of Group
Dr. Ekaterina Pomjakushina
+41 56 310 32 07
ekaterina.pomjakushina@psi.ch