PSI Scientific Report 2008
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Cover photo:
Control room of the Low Emittance
Gun test stand, where critical
components for XFELs electron
source are being tested.
PSI Scientific Report 2008
PSI Scientific Report 2008
Published byPaul Scherrer Institute
EditorPaul Piwnicki
English language editingTrevor Dury
CoordinationEvelyne Gisler
Design and LayoutMonika Bltry
Photographs Paul Scherrer Institute
Printing Ostschweiz Druck AG, Wittenbach
Available fromPaul Scherrer InstituteCommunications Services5232 Villigen PSI, SwitzerlandPhone +41 (0)56 310 21 11www.psi.ch
PSI public [email protected]
Communications officerDagmar Baroke
ISSN 1662-1719
Copying is welcomed, provided the source is acknowledged and an archive copy sent to PSI.
Paul Scherrer Institute, April 2009
4 Building on our past to prepare our future
Foreword from the director
7 PSI-XFEL
17 Research focus and highlights
18 Synchrotron light
28 Neutrons and muons
36 Particle physics and nuclear chemistry
42 Micro- and nanotechnology
46 Biomolecular research
50 Radiopharmacy
54 Large research facilities
56 Proton therapy
60 General energy
70 CCEM-CH
72 Nuclear energy and safety
84 Environment and energy systems analysis
91 User facilities
92 PSI accelerators
96 Swiss Light Source SLS
98 Spallation Neutron Source SINQ
100 Swiss Muon Source SS
101 Ultra-Cold Neutron Source
102 Tandem accelerator
105 Technology transfer
113 Facts and figures
114 The year 2008 in numbers
116 Commission and committees
119 Publications
Table of contents 3
The year 2008 marked the 20th anniversary of the Paul Scher-
rer Institute, PSI, and my colleagues seized the opportunity
to organise and run several special events during the year,
with the ultimate goal of giving the Institute a higher visibil-
ity in the neighbourhood, among critical non-scientific stake-
holders and within Switzerland in general. At the same time,
important scientific and technological results have been ob-
tained, of which you will learn more in this report. Finally, 2008
was also a special year for me, as I was honoured with the
Directorship of the Institute.
20 years Paul Scherrer Institute
In 1988, PSI was founded by the merger of the Swiss Institute
for Nuclear Research and the Federal Institute for Reactor
Research. The cultures of both institutes were very different
at that time, making a new, joint beginning quite difficult.
However, from todays point of view, the amalgamation was
the right decision: With the focus on the research areas of
solid-state research and materials sciences, particle physics,
life sciences, energy research and environmental research,
a sagacious decision can be judged to have been made.
Nowadays, PSIs concept of focusing on its large-scale facilities
the neutron and muon sources around the proton accelera-
tor and the Swiss Light Source SLS is considered a success.
The Institute focuses, on the one hand, on providing service
for external research groups, which receive the support they
need as they use the facilities, beamlines and research instru-
ments, whereby it is our strategy to excel in a number of se-
lected disciplines, rather than trying to serve the needs of all
users. On the other hand, PSIs own research concentrates on
those research topics where an advantage in terms of inter-
national competition can be gained by employing our own
in-house large-scale and complex research equipments.
In addition, PSIs own research on the complex research equip-
ment itself results in the acquisition of experience that can be
used to develop our facilities still further, maintaining the
latters ability to compete internationally.
Three requirements that are essential for success
PSI serves as a successful example of how a research insti -
tute can continue to be an internationally acknowledged
scientific hub by simply remaining flexible and thus safe-
guarding its own existence. Three prerequisites are essential
for this:
Firstly, a well-defined scientific goal and a clear understanding
of the Institutes role in the Swiss research landscape, espe-
cially its relationship with the universities; secondly, political
decision-makers who understand the importance of basic
and applied research for the progress of society, and conse-
quently support us; thirdly, excellent staff. Only with highly
qualified, experienced and motivated personnel is success in
performing cutting-edge research possible.
Based on these three factors, within the course of the last
20 years PSI has been able on the one hand to generate out-
standing fundamental research results and on the other hand
to develop key technologies and introduce them successfully
to the market. To give you two examples:
Firstly, the development of compact accelerators for the pro-
ton therapy of tumours. PSI is a technology leader in this area,
and recent developments can be seen on page 56. Several
Building on our past to prepare our future
hospitals have already expressed their intention to establish
this technology on their own sites.
And secondly, we have developed detectors that are orders
of magnitude more sensitive than those existing previously.
One such example is the MYTHEN X-ray detector, which is
presented on page 26. In combination with recent develop-
ments at the SLS, MYTHEN is opening up wholly new perspec-
tives for diffraction experiments.
Both products have already been successfully introduced to
the market. It should, however, not go unmentioned that both
technologies are the belated offspring of the basic research
undertaken in the field of particle physics. As such, they are
the results of a development phase of more than 20 years.
Where else would such a long-term endeavour be possible, if
not at a publicly funded research institute?
Interesting and surprising findings
As to our scientific achievements in 2008, let me just highlight
a couple, details of which you will find in the individual chap-
ters in this report: Interesting and even surprising findings
around superconductivity and magnetism revealed using
neutron scattering and muon spin resonance accompanied us
throughout the year (p.2831); using the high spatial resolu-
tion of synchrotron light at the SLS it was possible on the one
hand to create new nano-structures (p.4245) and on the
other hand to reveal microscopic details of the functioning of
photo-catalysts (p.20), fuel cells (p.68) and bio-molecules
(p.23) with unprecedented accuracy. To complement the work
performed at our large-scale facilities, various complemen-
tary methods are currently developed in Biology, Energy, or
Environmental Sciences. For example, by using selected iso-
topes it is now possible to date glacier ice with unequalled
precision (p.40), to enhance the NMR sensitivity for potential
medical diagnosis (p.32), to develop efficient SPECT tracers
(p.50), or to assess the long-term safety of radioactive waste
repositories (p.82). On the operational side of the PSI accel-
erators, two world records were achieved: The proton facility
surpassed its own world record, with a new beam power of
1.3 MW, and the SLS operating team announced a significant
improvement of beam quality, resulting in a world-record low
vertical emittance of 2.5 pm rad.
For the time being, PSI fulfils all the criteria necessary for
remaining amongst the worlds top research institutes for the
next 20 years. For us, one such criterion is the development
and construction of a novel and ambitious large-scale research
installation for dynamical studies with femtosecond and
atomic resolution: the free electron laser PSI-XFEL, whose
commissioning is planned for 2016 (p. 7).
As a good and longstanding tradition, I shall end this foreword
with my sincere thanks: Thanks to the PSI staff, who have
made everything possible on which we proudly report in this
volume, and Thank you to our research and development
partners in academia and industry worldwide, to our home
canton of Aargau for its manifold support, and to the Board
of the ETH and the Swiss Federal Government for their con-
tinued support.
Jol Mesot, Director
Foreword 5
One of the key ingredients
in the success story of PSI
is the quality of its staff
The PSI-XFEL is planned to be the next large-scale facility at the Paul
Scherrer Institute and will contribute to the vitality of the laboratory
during the coming decades. The project represents a continuation of
PSIs excellence in the field of synchrotron radiation research, estab-
lished through the outstanding performance of the Swiss Light Source
(SLS), which began operation in 2001.
The PSI-XFEL will complement the SLS by being ideally suited for
experiments where the combina
