Newsletter n°34 - December 2016

Editorial                                  

It was a great pleasure to meet so many participants at the SWM Conference in Les Diablerets this summer. The quality of exchanges and the outstanding attendance show the liveliness and collaborative dynamic thriving in the MaNEP Network.

The MaNEP topical meeting which took place a few days ago at the University of Zurich on « Topological Quantum Phenomena » is a further sign of the Network’s vitality and I deeply thank the organizing team. I take this opportunity to encourage you all to apply for support from MaNEP if you have an idea for a short topical meeting or workshop.

We have again a solid list of publications in high profile journals, and I thank our colleagues from ETHZ who share with us two highlights in this edition. We also have a report on a successful collaboration between UNIGE and Bruker Biospin AG who achieved a Europe premiere, developing a superconducting coil able to reach a magnetic field of 25 Tesla.

On December 5, the Swiss Free Electron Laser will be inaugurated at PSI. This is a great moment for our entire community, opening new research avenues with a state-of-the-art facility in our field.

Do not miss the Winter School in Saas-Fee this coming January with its exciting program. It offers unique networking and training opportunities to PhD students and postdocs. I strongly encourage group leaders to motivate their team to apply - registrations are closed, but you still may contact Christophe Berthod for post-deadline registrations.

I wish you all a most deserved break for Christmas and a Happy new Year !

Christoph Renner

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What's going on in the Network

Three years after begin of the civil construction, the SwissFEL enters its commissioning phase!

Three years after begin of the civil construction, the SwissFEL enters its commissioning phase!

by Luc Patthey, PSI
The new Swiss Free Electron Laser facility SwissFEL is a unique light source which will provide new opportunities for cutting-edge research, and aims at providing solutions to important scientific and technological challenges facing modern society in the fields of Matter and Materials, Energy and the Environment, and Human Health. SwissFEL will open the door to …

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Topical meeting on Topological Quantum Phenomena: a successful event

by Johan Chang, Hugo Dil and Titus Neupert
More than 50 physicists, from all over Switzerland, joined the topical MaNEP meeting on Topological Quantum Phenomena, on November 21-22, 2016. The meeting – held over two days at the Irchel campus of the University of Zurich – brought together experimentalists and theorists, including PhD students, Postdocs and professors, to discuss recent …

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People

Marta Gibert receives the Swiss Physical Society (SPS) prize

Marta Gibert awarded by the Swiss Physical Society

Marta Gibert received the Swiss Physical Society (SPS) Prize sponsored by IBM for her research on magnetic coupling at oxide interfaces, particularly in the interface engineering of heterostructures combining nickelates and manganites. The results led to …

 
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Work in the Network

Find new positions.

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Discoveries & Innovation

Metal with chains

by Tomáš Bzdušek, ETH Zürich
The microscopic distinction between ordinary insulators and metals is understood since the early years of quantum mechanics by the so-called band theory. Semimetals form a natural boundary between the two, and they attracted much attention in recent years due to their unusual electronic structure. Now, a team of physicists from ETH Zürich has proposed a new class of semimetals which should exhibit unusual magnetoeletric properties and anomalous Hall effect on the surface.

Read more.

Optical switching of antiferromagnetism

by Sebastian Manz and
Manfred Fiebig, ETH Zürich Antiferromagnetism is magnetic order, yet without a macroscopic magnetization as in iron. The absence of the field has interesting technological potential, but it also makes the antiferromagnetic state harder to control and set in a certain direction. Light, however, can do this if antiferromagnets from a special class of materials called multiferroics are selected.

Read more.

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In the Spotlight - research and industry

Switzerland winds up superconductivity

This is the success story of a strong collaboration between academic and industrial partners, both members of MaNEP Network.
Together, they successfully developed and tested the first superconducting coil able to reach a magnetic field of 25 Tesla. A first in Europe. Read the interview of Carmine Senatore, UNIGE and Ricardo Tediosi, Bruker Biospin AG.

Read the interview.

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Who got published ?

Discover MaNEP Network's researches and innovations through some publications highlights published between May and November 2016. 

See the publications highlights.

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Events - The place to be

MaNEP Winter School on Quantum Materials at the Nanoscale
January 8-13, 2017, Saas-Fee

5th German-Swiss conference on Crystal Growth
March 7-10, 2017, Freiburg, Germany

SPS meeting
August 21-25, 2017, Geneva

Bose-Einstein Condensation 2017
September 2-8, 2017, Sant Feliu de Guixols

EUCAS 2017
September 17-21, 2017, Geneva

SWM
August 2018, Les Diablerets


(© photos and graphics : L.Windels-UNIGE, PSI, University of Zurich, ETHZ)

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