Dear colleagues
The Large Facility scene in Europe will change significantly in the next few years. In this editorial I would like to make a few very general statements about these changes and how we at PSI are involved or affected by them.
The Swiss X-ray Free Electron Laser SwissFEL at PSI is in its final stage of construction and will together with XFEL in Hamburg bring novel capability to Europe. A new high brilliance photon source will shortly be inaugurated in Lund Sweden and PSI - with the SLS 2.0 project - among others are studying how existing facilities can be upgraded to follow suite.
The European Spallation Source in Lund is finally established as a European Project, the first very big ERIC facility, and all neutron centres in Europe ...
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Next calls for proposals
SLS: PX-beamlines
deadline: March15, 2016
SLS: non-PX beamlines
deadline: April 15, 2016
more information
SINQ
deadline: May 15, 2016
more information
SLS/SINQ: joint X+N powder diffraction
deadline: February 15, 2016
more information
SµS
deadline: June 2016
more information
An overview about all proposal submission deadlines of the PSI facilities can be obtained here.
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Nanostructure surveys of macroscopic specimens by small-angle scattering tensor tomography
 SLS - Probing 3D macroscopic samples
The mechanical properties of many materials are based on the macroscopic arrangement and orientation of their nanostructure. This nanostructure can be ordered over a range of length scales. In biology, the principle of hierarchical ordering is often used to maximize functionality, such as strength and robustness of the material, while minimizing weight and energy cost. Methods for nanoscale imaging provide direct visual access to the ultrastructure (nanoscale structure that is too small to be imaged using light microscopy), but the field of view is limited and does not easily allow a full correlative study of changes in the ultrastructure over a macroscopic sample. Other methods...
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Néel-type skyrmion lattice with confined orientation in the polar magnetic semiconductor GaV4S8
 SINQ - Unique features of a new SkL
Following the early prediction of the skyrmion lattice (SkL) - a periodic array of spin vortices - it has been observed recently in various magnetic crystals mostly with chiral structure. Although non-chiral but polar crystals with Cnv symmetry were identified as ideal SkL hosts in pioneering theoretical studies, this archetype of SkL has remained experimentally unexplored...
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Direct evidence for a pressure-induced nodal superconducting gap in the Ba0.65Rb0.35 Fe2As2 superconductor
 SμS - Novel high pressure μSR experiments
The superconducting gap structure in iron-based high-temperature superconductors (Fe-HTSs) is non-universal. In contrast to other unconventional superconductors, in the Fe-HTSs both d-wave and extended s-wave pairing symmetries are close in energy. Probing the proximity between these very different superconducting states and identifying experimental parameters that can tune them is of central interest...
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Put in perspective
 SwissFEL - Visualization of THz light
Researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have succeeded in using commercially available camera technology to visualise terahertz light. In doing so, they are enabling a low-cost alternative to the procedure available to date, whilst simultaneously increasing the comparative image resolution by a factor of 25. The special properties of terahertz light make it potentially advantageous for many applications, from safety technology to medical diagnostics. It is also an important tool for research...
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PEARL beam line: excited states at interfaces of a metal-supported ultra thin oxide film
SLS
Layer-resolved measurements of the unoccupied electronic structure of ultrathin MgO films grown on Ag(001) have been performed at the Photoemission and Atomic Resolution Laboratory (PEARL) beam line situated at bending magnet X03DA of the Swiss Light Source. The metal-induced gap states at the metal/oxide interface, the oxide band gap, and a surface core exciton involving an image-potential state of the vacuum are revealed through resonant Auger spectroscopy of the Mg K L23 L23 Auger transition. Our results demonstrate how to obtain new insights on empty states at interfaces of metal-supported ultrathin oxide films.
Original publication: T. Jaouen et al, Physical Review B 91, 161410(R) (2015), DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.91.161410
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HRPT diffractometer at SINQ: stroboscopic mode of operation
SINQ
At HRPT - the high-resolution powder neutron diffractometer at SINQ - a new mode of operation has been realized and tested. This mode is intended for studies of crystal or magnetic structure transformations occurring in short (down to some tens milliseconds), but multiply repeating processes triggered by some external effect, e.g. voltage, magnetic field, thermal heat pulse, etc. The diffraction data corresponding to different time slices after a certain repeating strobo signal are stored in the different histogram memory blocks (up to about 70000 independent diffraction patterns).
In our tests, we could successfully slice time down to 10 milliseconds with an overall experiment duration of several hours. So the processes, or existence ranges of phases in the order of tens of milliseconds, seconds, minutes etc. can now be addressed effectively by neutron diffraction at HRPT.
The stroboscopic mode of operation at HRPT may now be considered fully operational. For further information or in case of interest please contact the beam line staff.
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New low temperature and low background sample environment for the instrument DOLLY
SμS
For the second part of the DOLLY beamtime in 2015, a new 3He insert has been successfully put into operation. This user-friendly new sample environment equipment dramatically extends the accessible temperature range of the instrument, with a lowest temperature of 0.24 K. A special arrangement of beam windows and sample mounting has been developed for this 3He insert to conserve the very low background conditions of the instrument.
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New EU project: Guiding light for the world’s brightest light sources
SwissFEL
EUCALL will build bridges between major laser and X-ray research centres: For the past half-century, two special kinds of light have changed the landscape of research. Advanced visible-spectrum optical lasers have propelled studies into ultrafast processes, new materials, telecommunications, and many other fields, while intense X-rays produced at synchrotrons have helped image tiny structures and otherwise invisible parts of matter, enabling huge leaps in biochemistry, pharmacology, and materials science. New developments have enhanced the generation of X-rays at optical-laser and accelerator facilities, resulting in the creation of large international research centres. The European Union is now funding a 7 million-euro effort to bring these research centres together through the European Cluster of Advanced Laser Light Sources (EUCALL) project. Read more.
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Dear colleagues
The Large Facility scene in Europe will change significantly in the next few years. In this editorial I would like to make a few very general statements about these changes and how we at PSI are involved or affected by them.
The Swiss X-ray Free Electron Laser SwissFEL at PSI is in its final stage of construction and will together with XFEL in Hamburg bring novel capability to Europe. A new high brilliance photon source will shortly be inaugurated in Lund Sweden and PSI - with the SLS 2.0 project - among others are studying how existing facilities can be upgraded to follow suite.
The European Spallation Source in Lund is finally established as a European Project, the first very big ERIC facility, and all neutron centres in Europe have started to design and construct the instrumentation for this facility. Swiss scientists will be involved in several ESS instruments – all synergetic with similar developments at SINQ. With the closure of two large European neutron facilities in Paris and Berlin by the end of 2019 and ESS only operational with a full set of instruments close to 2030, there will be an increasing demand on the remaining European neutron facilities. To prepare for this we are planning towards an upgrade of the SINQ neutron guide system in 2019 and will have a number of ongoing new instruments projects in operation by then.
MuSR has over the last few years established itself as a strong source of high profile papers, and we are experiencing a steady increase in the competition for beam time at SμS. The newly found Higgs particle seem to follow Standard Model predictions, leading to an increased interest in complementary ways to look for beyond standard model physics. This has brought precision experiments back into particle physics focus, especially Muons and ultra-cold neutrons, and a walk through the experimental Hall at PSI reveals a hectic activity in preparing new detector systems for a number of the key experiments in this field.
We clearly have exiting years ahead of us – even though the speed at which these many new opportunities can be realised may be slowed down due to the difficulties faced by the European economies. We can only strive to do our best and it is gratifying to see that the PSI facilities have performed extremely well in 2015, projects have progressed well and last but not least that the science output has remained high and of high quality. You our users have a large share of the credit for the latter.
I would like to conclude this editorial with seasonal greetings to all of our users and collaborators, we highly appreciate to work and interact with you, and look forward to seeing you again in 2016.
A Merry Christmas to you and your families, and best wishes for the New Year.
Kurt N. Clausen,
head of PSI research department 'Neutrons and Muons' NUM, PSI
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JUSAP - The Joint Users Association
 Funding opportunities under Horizon2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, are of relevance to the broader user community. The preparation of new Horizon2020 projects, provisionally entitled CALIPSO+ and NMI3-III coordinated by Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and Forschungszentrum Jülich, respectively, is currently in progress. The next meeting of the CALIPSO+ project consortium is scheduled in January 2016 at DESY (Hamburg, Germany). The core writing team, which is composed of representative persons from the European Synchrotron User Organization (ESUO) and the European light sources facilities, will discuss the content of the drafts of the work packages. It is anticipated the project proposal will be submitted to the European Commission by the end of March 2016.
The 9th ESUO meeting will take place on March 9-10, 2016 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF).
A web based “wayforlight” European light sources single entry point has been developed as a useful experiment planning resource for users. European Synchrotron Users Organization webpages are going to be created on the wayforlight portal, including one page of information per ESUO member country describing each national user community (with or without the presence of a national user organization). Other web based resources may also be of interest to the broader user community, including that for the Central European Research Infrastructure Consortium. Open access is available to CERIC-ERIC facilities, which include light and neutron scattering, as well as EPR and NMR capabilities.
With best wishes for 2016 from the JUSAP committee members,
Sarah Dunsiger (JUSAP committee chair) |
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RMCProfile Workshop
February 10-12, 2016, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
BIOIMAGING 2016: 3rd International Conference on Bioimaging
February 21-23, 2016, Rome, Italy
47th IFF Spring School 2016 on Memristive Phenomena - From Fundamental Physics to Neuromorphic Computing
February 22 - March 4, 2016, Juelich, Germany
36th Berlin School on Neutron Scattering
February 25 - March 4, 2016, Berlin, Germany
80th Annual Meeting and Spring Meeting of the German Physical Society (DPG)
March 6-11, 2016, Regensburg, Germany
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HERCULES 2016 - European School
March 29 - April 29, 2016, Grenoble, France
EPDIC15: 15th European Powder Diffraction Conference
June 12-15, 2016, Bari, Italy
DSL2016: 12th International Conference on Diffusion in Solids and Liquids
June 26-30, 2016, Split, Croatia
SXNS14: Annual International Conference on Surface X-ray and Neutron Scattering
July 10-14, 2016, Long Island, NY, USA
ECM-30: European Crystallographic Meeting
August 28 - September 1, 2016, Basel, Switzerland
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