Paul Scherrer Institute

About: Paul Scherrer Institute is a facility organization based out in Villigen, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Neutron & Large Hadron Collider. The organization has 9248 authors who have published 23984 publications receiving 890129 citations. The organization is also known as: PSI.

Fossil and non-fossil sources of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in Göteborg, Sweden

Abstract: . Particulate matter was collected at an urban site in Goteborg (Sweden) in February/March 2005 and in June/July 2006. Additional samples were collected at a rural site for the winter period. Total carbon (TC) concentrations were 2.1–3.6 μg m−3, 1.8–1.9 μg m−3, and 2.2–3.0 μg m−3 for urban/winter, rural/winter, and urban/summer conditions, respectively. Elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), water-insoluble OC (WINSOC), and water-soluble OC (WSOC) were analyzed for 14C in order to distinguish fossil from non-fossil emissions. As wood burning is the single major source of non-fossil EC, its contribution can be quantified directly. For non-fossil OC, the wood-burning fraction was determined independently by levoglucosan and 14C analysis and combined using Latin-hypercube sampling (LHS). For the winter period, the relative contribution of EC from wood burning to the total EC was >3 times higher at the rural site compared to the urban site, whereas the absolute concentrations of EC from wood burning were elevated only moderately at the rural compared to the urban site. Thus, the urban site is substantially more influenced by fossil EC emissions. For summer, biogenic emissions dominated OC concentrations most likely due to secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation. During both seasons, a more pronounced fossil signal was observed for Goteborg than has previously been reported for Zurich, Switzerland. Analysis of air mass origin using back trajectories suggests that the fossil impact was larger when local sources dominated, whereas long-range transport caused an enhanced non-fossil signal. In comparison to other European locations, concentrations of levoglucosan and other monosaccharide anhydrides were low for the urban and the rural site in the area of Goteborg during winter.

Commensurate spin density wave in LaFeAsO: a local probe study.

Abstract: We present a detailed study on the magnetic order in the undoped mother compound LaFeAsO of the recently discovered Fe-based superconductor ${\mathrm{LaFeAsO}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{F}}_{x}$. In particular, we present local probe measurements of the magnetic properties of LaFeAsO by means of $^{57}\mathrm{Fe}$ M\"ossbauer spectroscopy and muon-spin relaxation in zero external field along with magnetization and resistivity studies. These experiments prove a commensurate static magnetic order with a strongly reduced ordered moment of $0.25(5){\ensuremath{\mu}}_{B}$ at the iron site below ${T}_{N}=138\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{K}$, well separated from a structural phase transition at ${T}_{S}=156\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{K}$. The temperature dependence of the sublattice magnetization is determined and compared to theory. Using a four-band spin density wave model both, the size of the order parameter and the quick saturation below ${T}_{N}$ are reproduced.

Elevated CO2 increases tree‐level intrinsic water use efficiency: insights from carbon and oxygen isotope analyses in tree rings across three forest FACE sites

Abstract: Elevated CO₂ increases intrinsic water use efficiency (WUE(i) ) of forests, but the magnitude of this effect and its interaction with climate is still poorly understood. We combined tree ring analysis with isotope measurements at three Free Air CO₂ Enrichment (FACE, POP-EUROFACE, in Italy; Duke FACE in North Carolina and ORNL in Tennessee, USA) sites, to cover the entire life of the trees. We used δ¹³C to assess carbon isotope discrimination and changes in water-use efficiency, while direct CO₂ effects on stomatal conductance were explored using δ¹⁸O as a proxy. Across all the sites, elevated CO₂ increased ¹³C-derived water-use efficiency on average by 73% for Liquidambar styraciflua, 77% for Pinus taeda and 75% for Populus sp., but through different ecophysiological mechanisms. Our findings provide a robust means of predicting water-use efficiency responses from a variety of tree species exposed to variable environmental conditions over time, and species-specific relationships that can help modelling elevated CO₂ and climate impacts on forest productivity, carbon and water balances.

Current-driven dynamics and inhibition of the skyrmion Hall effect of ferrimagnetic skyrmions in GdFeCo films

Abstract: Magnetic skyrmions are swirling magnetic textures with novel characteristics suitable for future spintronic and topological applications. Recent studies confirmed the room-temperature stabilization of skyrmions in ultrathin ferromagnets. However, such ferromagnetic skyrmions show undesirable topological effect, the skyrmion Hall effect, which leads to their current-driven motion towards device edges, where skyrmions could easily be annihilated by topographic defects. Recent theoretical studies have predicted enhanced current-driven behaviour for antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled skyrmions. Here we present the stabilization of these skyrmions and their current-driven dynamics in ferrimagnetic GdFeCo films. By utilizing element-specific X-ray imaging, we find that the skyrmions in the Gd and FeCo sublayers are antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled. We further confirm that ferrimagnetic skyrmions can move at a velocity of ~50 m s-1 with reduced skyrmion Hall angle, {\theta}SkHE ~20°. Our findings open the door to ferrimagnetic and antiferromagnetic skyrmionics while providing key experimental evidences of recent theoretical studies.

Hygroscopicity of aerosol particles at low temperatures. 2. Theoretical and experimental hygroscopic properties of laboratory generated aerosols

Abstract: A Hygroscopicity Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer (H-TDMA) system has been used to measure hygroscopic growth curves and deliquescence relative humidities (DRH) of laboratory generated (NH4)2SO4, NaCl, and NaNO3 particles at temperatures T = 20 °C and −10 °C. Good agreement (better than 3.5%) between measured growth curves and Kohler theory was found using empirical temperature and concentration dependent values for water activity, solution density, and surface tension. The measured growth curves only experience a small temperature dependence in the observed temperature range. Therefore, to a first approximation, it is possible to neglect the temperature dependence of the water activity for theoretical calculations in the temperature range −10 °C < T < 25 °C. The small differences between experiment and theory, which were predominantly observed for NaCl particles, are probably caused by a small amount of water adsorbed on the “dry” crystals. It was also observed that these particles experience a sign...