News

In everyday life, we typically encounter water in one of three familiar states – solid, liquid or gas. But there are in fact many more phases, some of which – predicted to exist at high temperature and pressure – are so strange they’re referred to as exotic. State-of-the-art neutron spectrometers and sample environment infrastructures at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) have enabled the first experimental observation of one of these exotic phases – plastic ice VII.

On 11 February 2025, the ILL was honoured to welcome the highest representatives of Germany in France from the General Consulate of Germany in Lyon, General Consul Jessica Engel and Consul Ulrike Johag. The visitors were hosted by ILL's German Associate Director Andreas Meyer.

On 5 and 6 February, the ILL was at Tech&Fest, hosted at Alexpo in Grenoble, with the slogan "Celebrating the best of innovation, together".

Multiferroic materials will be at the heart of new solutions for data storage, data transmission, and quantum computers. Understanding the origin of such properties at fundamental level is key for developing applications, and neutron scattering techniques are a powerful tool. The story of so-called layered perovskites and the breakthrough results now published in 'Communication Materials' are a paradigmatic example. The experiments were fully conducted at the ILL, using five different instruments and taking advantage of advanced sample environment technologies.

Elhoucine Hadden, PhD student at the ILL and the University of Vienna, successfully defended his PhD thesis on 28 January 2025.

By linking theoretical predictions with neutron experiments, researchers have found evidence for quantum spin ice in the material Ce2Sn2O7. Their findings could inspire the technology of tomorrow, such as quantum computers. The results have been published in the journal ‘Nature Physics’.

Bacteria may soon replace viruses as primary pandemic concern. In our shrinking antibiotic arsenal, polymyxin B stands out as a last-resort drug capable of breaching the bacterial outer membrane – though not without side effects. A study now published brought together expertise from different neutron facilities to examine this process at the molecular scale using neutron scattering on model bacterial membranes. This work was also featured as a cover image for the journal issue.

ILL is currently involved in 17 EU-funded projects, which will increase to 18 as of 1 March 2025. Among these, this article will focus on three current Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) EU-funded initiatives that demonstrate ILL's commitment to advancing neutron research and training the next generation of scientists through collaborative interdisciplinary projects.

The EU-funded project EU-CONVERSION aims to supply European research reactors with safe, low-enriched uranium fuels - for their conversion and long-term operation, and to secure the supply of medical radioisotopes. The project kick-off meeting has now taken place at the Bavarian representation to the EU in Brussels.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are used to treat a large variety of diseases. In order to allow patients to inject these therapeutic molecules autonomously, it is crucial to understand the origin of and to control their viscosity. An international team of researchers used an interdisciplinary approach to understand how molecular interactions and motions influence the viscosity of different mAbs. The study has now been published in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.

Foams are highly complex systems, and an essential component of many different drinks and foods. Collaboration between the ILL and Aarhus University has connected unique capabilities to investigate foam with critically relevant food science challenges, bringing a greener food future a step closer.

Members of COFREND (Confédération Française pour les Essais Non Destructifs) were at the ILL for a visit focused on our imaging instrument NeXT (Neutron and X-ray Tomography). This group of professionals in the field of Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) had the opportunity to tour the ILL's experimental facilities and get insights into the powerful complementarity of neutron and X-ray techniques when applied to industrial research.