Practical training, August 24-26 at PSI

The practical training takes place at the Paul Scherrer Institut and allows participants to do experiments in groups at the large facilities, such as the spallation neutron source SINQ, the Swiss Muon Source SμS as well as the Swiss Light Source SLS.
The participation fee for the practical training of CHF 200.00 has to be paid cash upon arrival to the School on Saturday, August 17, 2013.
The fee covers the entire practical training, including accommodation for 3 nights (August 23 - 26, 2013) at the PSI Guesthouse (incl. breakfast, lunches and dinners).
Transportation from Zuoz to PSI on Friday, August 23, 2013 is not included.
The following practical training sessions will be offered:
Facility | Beamline | Title / Abstract |
SLS - photons | MS X-ray diffraction |
The effect of the change in the structure factors of GaAs to diffraction signal in the neighbourhood of the K-absorption edges of Ga and As We will record the (311) and (222) diffraction peaks of GaAs powder as a function of photon energy in the range of the absorption edges of Ga and As, that is, from 10 to 12 keV. Where the magnitude of the complex structure factors of Ga and As are equal, at about 11.5 keV, the x-rays "see" a diamond structure instead of a zincblende structure. In the former, the (222) reflection is forbidden, while in the latter, it is nonzero. |
SLS - photons | SIM |
Imaging Magnetic Nanostructures using soft x-ray Photoemission Electron Microscopy You will measure the element-specific magnetic spin configurations in bilayers of two exchange coupled ferromagnetic materials. You will determine the spin orientation of each individual layer by recording images at different azimuthal angles and measure X-ray absorption spectra of individual domains. You will observe the influence of size and aspect ratio in the resulting magnetic domain configuration. |
SLS - photons | PolLux |
Spectromicroscopy at PolLux Scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) provides high resolution imaging with a range of novel contrast mechanisms based on X-ray spectroscopy. The summer school experiment at the PolLux STXM will involve measuring magnetic nanostructures, demonstrating the use of X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) to image both physical properties and nano-scale structure. The methods demonstrated are applicable to a broad range of sample materials of interest to subject areas such as chemistry, biology, physics, geology and archaeology. |
SINQ-neutrons | Rita-II |
Dispersion of acoustic phonons in a single crystal of Lead The practical training aims at providing insight into the lattice dynamics of crystals and the technique of neutron spectroscopy by the measurement of a phonon dispersion. In 1955 Bertram N. Brockhouse was the first to measure a phonon dispersion in a single crystal by using a neutron triple-axis spectrometer. For his outstanding contributions in developing the method of neuron spectroscopy he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1994. |
SINQ-neutrons | AMOR |
Depth profile of the density in a layered Ni/Ti film Neutron reflectometry (NR) is a method to probe the laterally averaged nuclear and magnetic depth profiles close to a flat surface. The power of the method will be demonstrated on the example of the depth-profile of the nuclear potential of a Ni/Ti multilayer. |
SINQ-neutrons | DMC |
Determination of long range antiferromagnetic order by powder neutron diffraction During the practical training we will try to reproduce the one of the neutron diffraction experiments performed during 1946-1951 for which C.G. Shull was honored with the Nobel Prize in 1994. We will perform neutron diffraction experiment with MnS using the powder diffractometer DMC/SINQ. From the analysis of the nuclear and magnetic Bragg peak intensities and positions we will verify the crystal and magnetic structures of manganese sulfide and determine the size of the magnetic moment on manganese. |
SμS-muons | Dolly |
μSR - application to magnetism During this demonstration experiment, we will be using μSR to determine the temperature dependence of the order parameter of a magnetic system. The experiment will be performed on the DOLLY instrument of the Swiss Muon Source SμS. |