An international team of scientists has investigated the topological properties of grey tin (α-Sn), a low-temperature form of tin. They have successfully stabilized this form at room temperature by applying small compressive forces. Through a combination of complementary experimental techniques, the researchers demonstrated that α-Sn belongs to the class of Dirac topological semimetals and, under the influence of an external magnetic field, transforms into a Weyl semimetal phase. A significant part of the experiments exploring the fascinating electronic properties of this material was conducted at the URANOS beamline of the SOLARIS National Synchrotron Radiation Centre.

The research team working under the leadership of Prof. Anna Zielińska-Jurek from the Faculty of Chemistry at Gdańsk University of Technology, in cooperation with scientists from ASTRA beamline, developed and characterized a new semiconductor material based on bismuth orthovanadate (BiVO₄) and copper oxide sub-nanoclusters (CuO_x). This material, when exposed to visible light, is able to effectively remove pharmaceuticals in water. Measurements made at the SOLARIS synchrotron using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) revealed the oxidation state of copper oxides. The research results were published in the journal "Separation and Purification Technology" from Elsevier publisher.

A group of scientists from the Academic Centre for Materials and Nanotechnology of the AGH University of Kraków, led by prof. dr. hab. Konrad Szaciłowski, with the help of specialists from the SOLARIS National Synchrotron Radiation Center, published the results of research on the unusual switching mechanism of memristors based on nickel complexes with dibenzotetraase[14]annulenes. The work was published in the journal Advanced Electronic Materials published by Wiley.

Scientists from the CIRI beamline are developing a method to calculate the orientation of macromolecules in three-dimensional space based on microscopic measurements using mid-infrared light polarized linearly at different angles. Reconstructing the experimental shape of the absorption dependency on polarization by fitting a nonlinear function to the data points obtained from the measurements allows for determining the angles that define the orientation of macromolecules in three-dimensional space, as well as a parameter describing the degree of sample organization. The measurements were conducted using an FPA array detector available at the FT-IR microscopy end-station on the CIRI beamline.

Department of the Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris, France in collaboration with scientists from URANOS SOLARIS Centre have published in Physical Review Letters the results of their research on the Valley-Polarized Quantum Hall Phase Dirac System. The different local band minima – called valleys – of a multivalley 2D topological insulator have been independently characterized using ARPES experiments. An efficient control over their electronic population using mechanical strain has been demonstrated.