Laura Heyderman elected Royal Society Fellow
Laura Heyderman, who leads the Mesoscopic Systems Group at PSI and ETH Zurich, has been elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). Her nomination recognises almost 30 years of research into magnetic materials and magnetism on the nanoscale, most notably, in the field of artificial spin ice.
Laura Heyderman is best known for her breakthroughs with nanomagnets - minute bar magnets that are a few hundreds of times smaller than the width of a human hair. Her research group, shared between Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and ETH Zurich where she became full professor in 2013, use these to create elaborate structures and devices. With the help of the large research infrastructures at PSI (X-rays, muons and neutrons) they then investigate the novel phenomena that they exhibit. The tiny magnetic systems they create can have a range of technological applications, such as for computation, communication, sensors or actuators.
Text: Paul Scherrer Institute / Miriam Arrell