News

Ursula Keller wins “Swiss Nobel” Marcel Benoist Prize- for pioneering work in ultrafast lasers
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
NCCR MUST at Scientifica 2021- Lightning, organic solar cells, and virtual molecules

About NCCR MUST

The NCCR MUST (Molecular Ultrafast Science and Technology) is an interdisciplinary research program launched by the Swiss National Science Foundation in 2010. It brings together 26 Swiss research groups working in Ultrafast Science across the fields of physics, chemistry, material science and biology. Our themes are:
  • Watching atoms and electrons in molecules and solids at work
  • Observing the fastest processes in nature
  • Controlling atomic and electronic motion
.
MUST scientists create new experimental and theoretical tools and to apply them to unravel the fastest processes in the physics and chemistry of natural and manmade matter. Experimental tools rely on ever-shorter sources of electromagnetic radiation, be it ultraviolet, visible, infrared or even bursts of X-rays. Currently, we are witnessing further huge steps forward in these technologies. New sources of femtosecond X-ray pulses, such as the slicing scheme at synchrotrons, or the X-ray free electron laser (XFEL), are built or planned - one of them at the PSI (SwissFEL). Electron diffraction reaches ultrafast time scales, techniques similar to NMR are extended into the IR and UV/VIS spectrum, attosecond pulses of light bring us to the time scales of electron motion, and intense THz pulses allow for direct excitation of structural modes. Improved, and even novel, theoretical tools emerge from constantly growing computational capabilities, which in turn enable us to tackle previously unsolved problems.

In Switzerland every modern aspect of Ultrafast Science is covered by the MUST network and Swiss researchers are among the leaders in the field. The research goals of MUST include examining the structural dynamics of the building blocks in nature, and how changes in structure are related to function. Moreover, MUST will shed light on the role of electrons, specifically the rearrangement of the electron density during changes in structure. MUST will also try to measure how fast electrons are transported within molecules to tackle problems related to electron transport.

Such science is fundamental in nature but relates strongly to a number of major challenges which our society faces. A detailed understanding of the structural dynamics of molecules will help developing alternative sources of energy, synthesizing complex drugs, or designing electronics in the post-Moore’s law era.

The NCCR MUST network is developing outreach projects to promote science in schools, and activities to promote the recruitment, retention and advancement of women in science.
NCCR MUST Office : ETHZ IQE/ULP-HPT H3 | Auguste-Piccard-Hof 1 | 8093 Zurich | E-Mail
The National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCR) are a research instrument of the Swiss National Science Foundation