news 2021

Scientists in Switzerland and Germany have achieved efficient electron-beam modulation using integrated photonics - circuits that guide light on a chip. The experiments could lead to entirely new quantum measurement schemes in electron microscopy. The transmission electron microscope (TEM) can image molecular structures at the atomic scale by using electrons instead of light, and has revolutionized materials science and structural biology.

A multidisciplinary team led by researchers from the University of Geneva and MPIPKS has solved with a mathematical equation the mystery of how an organ changes its size depending on the size of the animal. The smallest fish in the world, the Paedocypris, measures only 7 millimeters. This is nothing compared to the 9 meters of the whale shark.

Quantum effects in superconductors could give semiconductor technology a new twist. Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and Cornell University in New York State have identified a composite material that could integrate quantum devices into semiconductor technology, making electronic components significantly more powerful.

In a large-scale fundraising campaign, popular YouTubers like Mister Beast and Mark Rober are currently trying to rid the oceans of almost 14,000 tonnes of plastic waste. That's about 0.15 per cent of the amount that ends up in the oceans every year. But it's not just our waters that are full of plastic.

Researchers at EPFL, China, Spain and the Netherlands have built a micro-device that uses vibrating molecules to transform invisible mid-infrared light into visible light. The breakthrough ushers in a new class of compact sensors for thermal imaging and chemical or biological analysis. Image: Artistic view of the nanoparticle-in-groove plasmonic cavities.

An international team led by scientists, has unveiled a unique quantum-mechanical interaction between electrons and topological defects in layered materials that has only been observed in engineered atomic thin layers. The phenomenon can be reproduced by the native defects of lab grown large crystals, making future investigation of Kondo systems and quantum electronic devices more accessible.

On 25 November 1996, the Center for Proton Therapy at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI treated a cancer patient using the spot-scanning technique for the very first time - a world premiere. This technique developed at PSI scans and irradiates deep-seated tumours with a pencil-thin beam of charged particles, killing cancer cells with extreme precision while preserving the surrounding healthy tissue.

By combining two microscopy methods, researchers are able to see what is happening inside a cell and on its membrane simultaneously, giving unprecedented insight into the cellular processes that occur during infection, for example. Cells are the fundamental component of living organisms and play host to a number of complex biological phenomena.

Geophysicists can use a new model to explain the behaviour of a tectonic plate sinking into a subduction zone in the Earth's mantle: the plate becomes weak and thus more deformable when mineral grains on its underside are shrunk in size. The Earth's surface consists of a few large plates and numerous smaller ones that are continuously moving either away from or towards each other at an extremely slow pace.

A team from the University of Geneva has implemented a new way to secure data transfers based on the physical principle of relativity. The volume of data transferred is constantly increasing, but the absolute security of these exchanges cannot be guaranteed, as shown by cases of hacking frequently reported in the news.

EPFL and Microsoft Research scientists demonstrated ultrafast optical circuit switching using a chip-based soliton comb laser and a completely passive diffraction grating device. This particular architecture could enable an energy-efficient optical datacenter to meet enormous data bandwidth requirements in future.

An international team with participation of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI shows how light can fundamentally change the properties of solids and how these effects can be used for future applications. The researchers summarise their progress in this field, which is based among other things on experiments that can also be carried out at the Swiss X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL, in the scientific journal Reviews of Modern Physics .

Led by scientists at Empa and the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, an international team of researchers from Switzerland, Portugal, Germany, and Spain have succeeded in building carbon-based quantum spin chains, where they captured the emergence of one of the cornerstone models of quantum magnetism first proposed by the 2016 Nobel laureate F. D.

A compositional link between planets and their respective host star has long been assumed in astronomy. For the first time now, a team of scientists, with the participation of researchers of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS from the University of Bern and the University of Zürich, deliver empirical evidence to support the assumption - and partly contradict it at the same time.

Scientists have developed a topology-based method that forces microwave photons to travel along a one way path, despite unprecedented levels of disorder and obstacles on their way. This discovery paves the way to a new generation of high-frequency circuits and extremely robust, compact communication devices.

Scientists at EPFL and Dartmouth College in the US have developed a system that can, for the first time, both pinpoint the exact location of a tumor and measure its depth. Their technology employs a high-tech camera developed at EPFL's Advanced Quantum Architecture Laboratory. A few years ago, Edoardo Charbon, an EPFL professor and head of the Advanced Quantum Architecture Laboratory, unveiled a new, ultra-high-power camera called SwissSPAD2.

Scientists at EPFL have shown that the powerful transient absorption spectroscopy technique can unravel ultrafast motion of electrons and nuclei in a molecule in real time and with atomic spatial resolution. The last few decades have seen impressive progress in laser-based technologies, which have led to significant advancements in atomic and molecular physics.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI are the first to have joined two proteins together by means of a free-standing, rigid link. The structural element holds the two protein molecules together at a defined distance and angle, much the way a barbell handle connects two weights. This type of linkage could help, for example, to develop so-called virus-like particles for vaccines.

If only it were less prone to error, quantum physics might already be giving us instant solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems. researchers are therefore working to develop systems that are more robust. In crude terms, our digitally driven information society is based on a simple binary opposition: 0 or 1.

Quantum physics opens our eyes to the holistic nature of reality. Nothing can be observed in isolation - and everything is governed by chance. We generally assume that the objects around us exist independently of us and of other objects. We can observe a glass as a well-defined object and investigate its chemical or physical properties in the lab.