Tools for Analysis of Coherent Excitations

Wednesday 9 Jul 2025, 15:30 → 18:00 Europe/Stockholm

Bella Center

In cold neutron spectroscopy, the main obstacle for understanding the acquired data is often connected to their analysis and theoretical modeling. In the field of magnetism, this hurdle has grown more significant as research shifts from conventional coherent excitations toward more complex phenomena—such as those observed in low-dimensional quantum magnets and advanced functional materials. On the theoretical front, recent advancements have introduced powerful new tools and software that provide unprecedented capabilities for tackling these unconventional magnetic excitations. However, spreading awareness of these tools and integrating these developments into experimental workflows is essential to unlocking their full potential.

This mini-symposium aims to bring together theorists, software developers, experimentalists, and data scientists to chart a roadmap for improving access to advanced modelling tools for magnetic excitations. Such a shared roadmap could pave the way toward a cohesive, cross-facility strategy that reduces barriers to analysing inelastic neutron spectroscopy data on magnetic excitations — ultimately increasing the scientific output of cold neutron spectrometers.

We warmly invite researchers with a strong interest in unconventional magnetic excitations or cold neutron spectroscopy to join us. Space is limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Welcome session¶

Allen Scheie: Challenges and opportunities in experimental cold-neutron magnetic scattering data analysis¶

Dr. Allen Scheie earned his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 2019, where he focused on frustrated pyrochlore magnets. Following this, he joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory to advance his research on quantum magnets through neutron spectroscopy. Since 2022, Dr. Scheie has served as a staff scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he continues to investigate quantum materials using neutron scattering and bulk measurement techniques. His work has profoundly influenced the field of quantum magnetism, particularly in pioneering methods to measure quantum entanglement via neutron scattering.

Abstract_ AllenScheie.pdf

Bruce Normand: Recent theoretical developments in modelling magnetic excitations¶

Bruce Normand is a condensed-matter theorist with broad interests in strongly correlated electronic materials and quantum magnetism. He received his BA from the University of Cambridge and his PhD from MIT, where he worked in the then-nascent field of high-temperature superconductivity. He has worked in Japan, Switzerland and Germany, and before moving to PSI was a professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing. He has contributed significantly to the study of magnetic quantum phase transitions, quantum spin liquids and the excitation spectra of quantum magnets. Throughout his career he has worked closely at the interface between theory and experiment, in the modelling, interpretation and prediction of observable results, which ensures a good match with the broad spectrum of quantum materials research under way at the large-scale facilities of PSI and elsewhere.

BruceNormand_Abstract.pdf