Institute and Research News

The director of the MPSD’s Theory Department, Ángel Rubio, has been elected as a fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc), a body which aims to strengthen European science and scientific cooperation. more

Research group leader Kartik Ayyer has conceived a new method to image much smaller biomolecules at an unprecedented  resolution. It involves new algorithms as well as  2D crystals or gold, as he describes in his paper in Optica. more

Review by 18 leading researchers from 16 institutions in Science Advances demonstrates that inter-exciton coherences are too short-lived to have any functional significance in photosynthetic energy transfer and points to impulsively excited vibrations instead. more

Two scientists at the MPSD have contracted Covid-19. Their diagnoses were confirmed this week. All staff members who have been in touch with the two researchers have been informed by the Institute’s management and told to stay in home quarantine. more

Electron spin is one of the most fundamental quantities defining the properties of molecules. A new study by a research team from Germany, Canada, Poland, and Lebanon offers a detailed understanding on how changes in spin states affect the nuclear configuration as a probe of the change in electron distribution by directly observing the atomic motions and changes in the molecular structure, driven by change in electron spin. more

The MPSD is reducing its operations to a minimum level until further notice to protect its staff, guests and partners during the current public health emergency sparked by the corona virus. There are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the MPSD as of yet. The wind-down has been decided as a precaution. more

Laser light with a broad colour spectrum turns the insulating quasi two-dimensional material La₂CuO₄ (LCO) into a three-dimensional metal. The research, now published in PNAS, reveals that specific vibrations of the crystal lattice are involved in this metallization process. more

Two young researchers from the MPSD’s Theory Department have been chosen for Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellowships. Franco Bonafé and Jin Zhang came to the MPSD in 2019. Their proposals competed with nearly 10.000  applications for the prestigious fellowships. more

The Berry curvature - an important property of quantum materials - can be imaged with chiral light. An international research team has predicted the outcomes of photoelectron spectroscopy experiments and showed that the resulting images reveal information about the microscopic structure of electronic wavefunctions inside atomically thin, two-dimensional materials.  more

Researchers reveal that the possibilities created by stacking two sheets of atomically thin material atop each other at a twist are even greater than expected. Their work provides new insights into the question how a correlated system crosses over from two dimensions to one. more