From bachelor thesis to publication: Discovery of moiré ferroelectricity in misfit layered compounds

Researchers from the groups of Klára Uhlířová and Tim Verhagen have become the first to discover moiré ferroelectricity in single crystals of chalcogenides with incommensurate crystal structures. The phenomenon was first identified during the work on a bachelor thesis, though the path to publication was a longer journey including detailed crystal structure characterization. A key strength of this discovery is that, unlike artificially engineered moiré lattices, ferroelectricity can now be studied in naturally grown single crystals with ultimately clean interfaces. Local material polarizability was demonstrated using piezoresponse force microscopy, and further studies—carried out during master’s and doctoral research—explored polarizability using electron beam lithography. A subsequent study even revealed catalytic behaviour linked to specific polar domain orientation. Electrical transport and other physical properties of these materials are currently under further investigation.

Tuchotice Garden Party

Last Saturday, there was a Garden party organized by our group head Ross Colman for (not only) our department colleagues in Tuchotice yard. This already traditional meeting complements our friendly collective relationship on more informal basis and brings more open atmosphere within our group.

Bernard Bolzano Endowment Fund Prize awarded to Michal Vališka

The Bernard Bolzano Endowment Fund Prize was awarded to Michal Vališka on March 12, 2025, for his outstanding contributions in research of unconventional superconductor UTe₂. This recognition follows the publication of key findings in PNAS, Nature Communications, and other high-impact journals, which resulted from a fruitful collaboration between our department and the University of Cambridge. The award was presented by doc. Mirko Rokyta, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics.

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The Magnetism Group studies physical phenomena originating from the behavior of electrons in matter. Throughout the group, we prepare and study a range of materials ranging from: lanthanoid and uranium-based intermetallics, magnetic-shape-memory Heusler alloys, and frustrated magnetic oxides, to van der Waal and misfit layer materials. Using both our range of preparation and crystal growth facilities, as well as our extensive suite of properties measurements instruments, we are steadily building bridges-of-understanding linking the electronic structure of this wide range of materials to the observed magnetic and electronic properties. We also investigate the tuning of these properties using both high-magnetic fields and high pressures.

## Students wanted!!

Choose one of our topics:

Topological superconductivity in unconventional superconductors.
Magnetism in unconventional superconductors.
Correlated electron systems with unconventional superconductivity.
Topological phases in correlated electron systems.
Quantum criticality in unconventional superconductors.
Non-Fermi liquids in unconventional superconductors.
Exchange interactions in unconventional superconductors.
Phase diagrams of unconventional superconductors.
Superconductivity in the presence of disorder.
Unconventional superconductivity in low dimensional systems.

Actual offer of students' theses:

Upcoming seminars

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What do we explore?

magnetism
superconductivity
quantum effects
frustrated systems
layered 2D structures including Van der Waals systems and misfit layers

How do we go about it?

Preaparation of unique samples, often as high-quality single crystals
Studies down to extremely low temperatures
The application of strong magnetic fields and external pressures
Hydrogenation as a mechanism to expand metallic lattices
Cooperation with the theoretical group for explanation of the observed effects

What do we offer?

A wide range of sample preparation and crystal growth techniques to prepare interesting new materials
The possibility to measure with a wide range of techniques, as well as under multi-extreme conditions
A young and dynamic scientific team with numerous visiting foreign nationals
Operation with specific instruments in the home laboratory and foreign infrastructures as well (sources of neutron and synchrotron radiation)