News

Ursula Keller wins “Swiss Nobel” Marcel Benoist Prize- for pioneering work in ultrafast lasers

Farewell: the NCCR MUST ended - on June 30, 2022

MUST2022 Conference- a great success!

New scientific highlights- by MUST PIs Wörner, Chergui, and Richardson

FELs of Europe prize for Jeremy Rouxel- “Development or innovative use of advanced instrumentation in the field of FELs”

Ruth Signorell wins Doron prizefor pioneering contributions to the field of fundamental aerosol science

New FAST-Fellow Uwe Thumm at ETH- lectures on Topics in Femto- and Attosecond Science

International Day of Women and Girls in Science- SSPh asked female scientists about their experiences

New scientific highlight- by MUST PIs Milne, Standfuss and Schertler

EU XFEL Young Scientist Award for Camila Bacellar,beamline scientist and group leader of the Alvra endstation at SwissFEL

Prizes for Giulia Mancini and Rebeca Gomez CastilloICO/IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Optics & Ernst Haber 2021

Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to RESOLV Member Benjamin List- for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis

Hans Jakob Wörner invited to give the „New Horizons Solvay Lectures” - online, October 5, 12 and 19

Unusual keynote talk at an international scientific conference- Do photons show gender bias?

NCCR MUST at Scientifica 2021- Lightning, organic solar cells, and virtual molecules

Research overview

The Grand Challenges aim at increasing our understanding of molecules, liquids, and solids, at the level of electrons and atoms, and define two main research strategies. First, Structural Dynamics, which includes all theoretical and technological developments and scientific questions that are concerned with dynamic rearrangements of both the electronic charge distribution and the position of atomic constituents upon photo-excitation. Second, Charge, Energy, and Signal Transfer, which includes, for example, electron transfer reactions, but also signal transport within proteins.

Briefly, the Grand Challenges are:

First-principles molecular dynamics simulations of ultrafast processes,
protein dynamics from the electronic system to the scaffold,
properties of biological, interfacial, and bulk water as an important part of proteins in their natural environment,
charge transfer mechanisms, such as attosecond electron dynamics or bimolecular electron transfer,
controlling the dynamics of molecules in solution, at surfaces, and at interfaces and solids through tailored light pulses,
valence order in strongly correlated electron systems.

The SwissFEL X-ray laser, which is now well underway at PSI and is planned to go into operation by the end of 2017 (middle of MUST Phase II), will be a powerful tool for ultrafast structural and X-ray spectroscopic studies of chemical and biochemical systems. The sub-nm spatial resolution and chemical specificity provided by the XFEL represent an ideal extension of the laser-spectroscopic methods developed in MUST, and many MUST PIs are directly involved in planning the SwissFEL experimental program. On the other hand, the realization of ultrafast time-resolved scattering and spectroscopic methods at SwissFEL benefits greatly from the knowledge and experience being generated within MUST. This is true in terms of the properties and concepts important in ultrafast chemistry, the experimental methods pertinent to ultrafast spectroscopy and the theoretical techniques needed to model ultrafast interactions.
.

In 2017, the NCCR MUST researchers wrote 12 collaborative review articles for a special issue of Structural Dynamics. The collection of articles in this special issue is intended to summarize and review the research carried out within the NCCR MUST and also to give perspectives for future research directions.

Feurer, T. and U. Keller (2017). Preface to Swiss National Center of Competence in Research: Molecular Ultrafast Science and Technology. Struct. Dynam. 4: 061401. (10.1063/1.5018454)

Feurer-2017.

Karandashev, K., Z.-H. Xu, M. Meuwly, J. Vaníček and J. O. Richardson (2017). Kinetic isotope effects and how to describe them. Structural Dynamics 4: 061501. (10.1063/1.4996339)

Karandashev-2017.

Gallmann, L., I. Jordan, H. J. Wörner, L. Castiglioni, M. Hengsberger, J. Osterwalder, C. A. Arrell, M. Chergui, E. Liberatore, U. Röthlisberger and U. Keller (2017). Photoemission and photoionization time delays and rates. Struct. Dynam. 4: 061502. (10.1063/1.4997175)

Gallmann-2017.

Teuscher, J., J. C. Brauer, A. Stepanov, A. Solano, A. Boziki, M. Chergui, J.-P. Wolf, U. Röthlisberger, N. Banerji and J.-E. Moser (2017). Charge separation and carrier dynamics in donor-acceptor heterojunction photovoltaic systems. Structural Dynamics 4: 061503. (10.1063/1.4996409)

Teuscher-2017.

Carbone, F., M. Hengsberger, L. Castiglioni and J. Osterwalder (2017). Femtosecond manipulation of spins, charges, and ions in nanostructures, thin films, and surfaces. Struct. Dynam. 4: 061504. (10.1063/1.4995541)

Carbone-2017.

Crassee, I., L. Gallmann, G. Gäumann, M. Matthews, H. Yanagisawa, T. Feurer, M. Hengsberger, U. Keller, J. Osterwalder, H. J. Wörner and J. P. Wolf (2017). Strong field transient manipulation of electronic states and bands. Struct. Dynam. 4: 061505. (10.1063/1.4996424)

Crassee-2017.

Johnson, S. L., M. Savoini, P. Beaud, G. Ingold, U. Staub, F. Carbone, L. Castiglioni, M. Hengsberger and J. Osterwalder (2017). Watching ultrafast responses of structure and magnetism in condensed matter with momentum-resolved probes. Struct. Dynam. 4: 061506. (10.1063/1.4996176)

Johnson-2017.

El Hage, K., S. Brickel, S. Hermelin, G. Gaulier, C. Schmidt, L. Bonacina, S. C. van Keulen, S. Bhattacharyya, M. Chergui, P. Hamm, U. Rothlisberger, J.-P. Wolf and M. Meuwly (2017). Implications of short time scale dynamics on long time processes. Struct. Dynam. 4: 061507. (10.1063/1.4996448)

El-Hage-2017.

Wörner, H. J., C. A. Arrell, N. Banerji, A. Cannizzo, M. Chergui, A. K. Das, P. Hamm, U. Keller, P. M. Kraus, E. Liberatore, P. Lopez-Tarifa, M. Lucchini, M. Meuwly, C. Milne, J.-E. Moser, U. Röthlisberger, G. Smolentsev, J. Teuscher, J. A. van Bokhoven and O. Wenger (2017). Charge migration and charge transfer in molecular systems. Structural Dynamics 4: 061508. (10.1063/1.4996505)

Worner-2017.

Antipov, S. V., S. Bhattacharyya, K. El Hage, Z.-H. Xu, M. Meuwly, U. Röthlisberger and J. Vaníček (2017). Ultrafast dynamics induced by the interaction of molecules with electromagnetic fields: Several quantum, semiclassical, and classical approaches. Struct. Dynam. 4: 061509. (10.1063/1.4996559)

Antipov-2017.

Bircher, M. P., E. Liberatore, N. J. Browning, S. Brickel, C. Hofmann, A. Patoz, O. T. Unke, T. Zimmermann, M. Chergui, P. Hamm, U. Keller, M. Meuwly, H.-J. Wörner, J. Vaníček and U. Röthlisberger (2017). Nonadiabatic effects in electronic and nuclear dynamics. Struct. Dynam. 4: 061510. (10.1063/1.4996816)

Bircher-2017.

Hamm, P., M. Meuwly, S. L. Johnson, P. Beaud and U. Staub (2017). Perspective: THz-driven nuclear dynamics from solids to molecules. Struct. Dynam. 4: 061601. (10.1063/1.4992050)

Hamm-2017.

Abela, R., P. Beaud, J. A. van Bokhoven, M. Chergui, T. Feurer, J. Haase, G. Ingold, S. L. Johnson, G. Knopp, H. Lemke, C. J. Milne, B. Pedrini, P. Radi, G. Schertler, J. Standfuss, U. Staub and L. Patthey (2017). Perspective: Opportunities for ultrafast science at SwissFEL. Struct. Dynam. 4: 061602. (10.1063/1.4997222)

Abela-2017.
.