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Quantum materials are a fascinating platform for future technologies, as they host a variety of exotic phenomena beyond the reach of classical physics. Among them, van der Waals heterostructures stand out: They are created by stacking different two-dimensional layers that can be only one atom thick. These structures are remarkably easy to manipulate, offering unprecedented tunability and a vast realm for exploration. A team from the Max-Planck-Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) and Columbia University has found that van der Waals heterostructures can naturally serve as cavities for long-wavelength terahertz (THz) light. This work has been published in Nature Physics. more

13 school students took part in this year’s Girls’ and Boys’ Day at the MPSD. They got to try out experiments involving light refraction, magnet-battery motors, atomically thin graphene as well the transmission speeds of signals - and they had a lot of fun in the process.  more

MPSD researchers discover a long-lived superconducting state in K₃C₆₀ at a temperature five times higher than the one at which superconductivity sets in without photoexcitation. This metastable state, produced with a new type of laser, lasts nearly 10.000 times longer than previously achieved. more

Researchers have managed to control and detect oscillations inside an atomic nucleus, as well as the gamma radiation emitted, to within 1.3 zeptoseconds. A zeptosecond is the thousandth part of a billionth of a billionth of a second. more