SOLEIL Highlights 2025

Table of contents

4-5 Editorial
6-14 Key figures for 2025
15-21 SOLEIL II

Life Sciences

24-25 Cellular-resolution tomography of an entire mouse brain made publicly accessible
26-27 Real-time deep-UV microscopy reveals faster glucanase enzyme diffusion in plant-like conditions
28-29 Amyloid-like DNA bridging: a new mode of DNA shaping
30-31 Intracellular symbiotic bacteria obtain carbohydrates through membrane networks inside host cells
32-33 Titanium nanoparticles detected in human, animal and infant formula milk, despite their ban from food application
34-35 A targeted dual-action Pt(IV)-Mn(II) prodrug displays enhanced in vivo anticancer activity
36-37 Structural basis of poxvirus fusion regulation and A16/G9-antibody mediated neutralization
38-39 A rationally designed myosin inhibitor that stops drug addiction
40-41 Structure of the nucleosome-bound human BCL7A

Advanced Materials

44-45 Decoding the phase transition route in VO2
46-47 When Tiny Scratches Sabotage Your Quantum Dot transistor’s Whole Existence
48-49 Moiré enhanced flat band in rhombohedral graphene
50-51 Universal collective electronic excitations in cuprate high-temperature superconductors – tracking the “waterfalls”
52-53 Bilayer orthogonal ferromagnetism in CrTe2-based van der Waals system
54-55 Orbital-Resolved Electronic and Spin Configurations of Single Rare-Earth Adatoms Probed
by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy
56-57 Surface plasmon-enhanced x-ray ultraviolet nonlinear interactions
58-59 Twisted Magnets: 3D-printed nanomaterials reveal new magnetic states
60-61 Low-temperature mean valence of nickel ions in pressurized La3Ni2O7
62-63 Direct measurement of the longitudinal exciton dispersion in h-BN by resonant inelastic x-ray scattering
64-65 Deep strain field induced by surface reconstruction

Cultural & Natural Heritage

68-69 Micro-CT analysis of kink-band defects and degradation in archaeological flax fibres
70-71 Reading the Unreadable: First Application of Synchrotron XRF to Salt-Encrusted Cuneiform Tablets

Environment & Geosciences

74-75 At the origin of soot formation in flames: direct detection of resonance-stabilized radicals at DESIRS
76-77 Imaging biomineralizing bacteria with nanobeam-scanning X-ray microscopy and liquid cell devices
78-79 Upscaling: how initial microstructure influences strain accommodation in a porous limestone?
80-81 Polyethylene plastic degradation: The dual pathways from macroplastics to nanoplastics

Sustainable Energy

84-85 How irradiation creates metastable nano-particles in alloys
86-87 Water oxidation – a promising electrocatalyst based on clay nanotubes
88-89 Shuttling atoms in nanocrystals yields new electrocatalysts for alkaline water splitting
90-91 Multi-scale structural investigation of (U1-yPuy)O1.98 oxides with high plutonium content
92-93 Selectively monitoring the operando temperature of active metal nanoparticles during catalytic reactions
by X-ray absorption nanothermometry
94-95 Monitoring Interfacial Dynamics of a Zinc-Ion Battery Cathode Using in Situ Grazing Incidence X-Ray Absorption
Spectroscopy: A Case Study of Manganese Dioxide
96-97 Operando structural dynamics of Pt nanoparticles during ammonia oxidation
98-99 Ambipolar behavior of hematite surface induced by water adsorption

Fundamental Processes in Isolated Systems

102-103 Probing Reactive Arylium Intermediates: Singlet-Triplet Energetics of the Phenylium Cation
104-105 On the shallow surface of isolated nanodiamonds

Accelerators, Engineering & Instrumentation

108-109 Accelerators performance
110-111 Development and performance evaluation of a multi-element germanium detector
112-113 Bi-periodic undulator: A new compact undulator for wide spectral range beamlines
114-115 A high transmission tender X-ray monochromator employing a matched pair of multilayer grating and mirror
116-117 Fastosh: a software to treat XAFS data of environmental relevance or acquired in operando conditions