Paul Scherrer Institute

The Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) is a multi-disciplinary research institute which belongs to the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain covering also ETH Zurich and EPFL. It was established in 1988 through the merger of EIR (Eidgenössisches Institut für Reaktorforschung, Federal Institute for Reactor Research, established in 1960) and SIN (Schweizerisches Institut für Nuklearphysik, Swiss Institute for Nuclear Physics, established in 1968). It is based in Villigen and Würenlingen.

The PSI is a multi-disciplinary research centre for the natural sciences and technology. In national and international collaboration with universities, other research institutes and industry, PSI is active in solid-state physics, materials sciences, elementary particle physics, life sciences, nuclear and non-nuclear energy research, and energy-related ecology.

It is the largest Swiss national research institute with about 1,900 members of staff as of 2014^[update], and is the only one of its kind in Switzerland.

PSI is a User Laboratory, offering access to its facilities to researchers affiliated to many different institutions, and it runs several particle accelerators. The 590 MeV cyclotron, with its 72 MeV companion pre-accelerator, is one of them. As of 2011^[update], it delivers a proton beam of up to 2.2 mA, which is the world record for such proton cyclotrons. It drives the spallation neutron source complex. The Swiss Light Source (SLS), built in 2001, is a synchrotron light source with a 2.4 GeV electron storage ring. It is one of the world's best with respect to electron beam brilliance and stability. An X-ray free-electron laser called SwissFEL is currently under construction and is slated to begin operation in 2016.

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