Physics

For a long time it has been suspected that fullerene and its derivatives could form naturally in the universe. These are large carbon molecules shaped like a football, salad bowl or nanotube. An international team of researchers using the Swiss SLS synchrotron light source at PSI has shown how this reaction works. The results have just been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Around the world, the race is on to achieve a decisive breakthrough in quantum research. ETH Zurich is spearheading its own challenge.

In a new approach to security that unites technology and art, EPFL researchers have combined silver nanostructures with polarized light to yield a range of brilliant colors, which can be used to encode messages.

The Standard Model of particle physics describes our visible universe with incredible precision. Yet researchers are not entirely satisfied with it and are trying to find gaps in the theory. PSI’s unique infrastructures play a key part in their mind-boggling experiments.

Researchers at EPFL have developed a new technique that can visualize and control the rotation of a handful of spins arranged in a vortex-like texture at the fastest speed ever achieved. The breakthrough can advance “spintronics”, a technology that includes new types of computer memory, logic gates, and high-precision sensors.