The European metrology programme for innovation and research (EMPIR) is the current main programme for European research on metrology. In 2016, within the EMPIR call, the project 'Metrology for inductive charging of electric vehicles' (MICEV) was approved and it started in September 2017. Inductive charging is a wireless charging technology that will be widely used with electric vehicles (EVs) in the near future, offering many advantages over traditionally fuelled and current EVs. The project aims to advance inductive power transfer (IPT) for EV charging by developing metrology techniques for measuring power transfer efficiency and reliable demonstration of compliance with existing safety standards for human exposure. The main research topics are: measurement of the power transmitted on-board, transmission efficiency, requirements for measurements in the dynamic charging, assessment of magnetic field exposure.

Magnetic skyrmions are nanosized topologically protected spin textures with particlelike properties. They can form lattices perpendicular to the magnetic field, and the orientation of these skyrmion lattices with respect to the crystallographic lattice is governed by spin-orbit coupling. By performing small-angle neutron scattering measurements, we investigate the coupling between the crystallographic and skyrmion lattices in both Cu2OSeO3 and the archetype chiral magnet MnSi. The results reveal that the orientation of the skyrmion lattice is primarily determined by the magnetic field direction with respect to the crystallographic lattice. In addition, it is also influenced by the magnetic history of the sample, which can induce metastable lattices. Kinetic measurements show that these metastable skyrmion lattices may or may not relax to their equilibrium positions under macroscopic relaxation times. Furthermore, multidomain lattices may form when two or more equivalent crystallographic directions are favored by spin-orbit coupling and oriented perpendicular to the magnetic field.