News
The annual Scientific Members Meeting of the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL; Grenoble, France) took place in Paris on 19th June 2025. The main topics of the agenda included recent scientific and technical developments at the ILL, covering the advancement of experimental infrastructure, nuclear reactor operation, and strategic plans for the facility's future development. ILL directors provided updates to the representatives of the member countries on progress in key areas, with particular emphasis on the recently approved extension of ILL operation until 2033. This was followed by a professional discussion on the presented topics.
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.
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.
In last months we have succeeded in implementation of a new experimental method - measurement of structural parameters upon application of high pressure. This method uses the commercially bought diamond anvil pressure cell (DAC) from Almax easyLab bv company in combination with the Rigaku Rapid II diffractometer in our X-ray laboratory. The nominal pressure of the cell is 20 GPa. Nevertheless, the highest pressure reached so far with real sample and measured XRD pattern was 30 GPa. By using this cell we are able to obtain pressure dependence of the lattice constants and distinguish a pressure-induced structural transition or sign of the pressure-induced valence transition.
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.
On Monday 27th January 2025, our PhD student Daniel Staško successfully defended his doctoral thesis, completing his study cascade at our department and faculty. His research path began in 2017 within the student faculty project and was followed by his bachelor thesis and his master work. In 2020, Daniel, together with his supervisor Milan Klicpera, delved into the study of frustrated pyrochlore oxides. This research culminated in the successful defence of his doctoral thesis "Crystallographic and electronic properties of rare-earth A2B2O7 oxides under extreme conditions".
A recent ACS Nano publication (featured on a cover) shows how assemblies of radical organic molecules on a superconducting surface can host distinct quantum states. The study demonstrates that varying molecular distance and orientation alters magnetic coupling, inducing transitions between singlet and doublet ground states. This discovery provides a novel strategy for controlling and engineering quantum materials—an essential step toward future applications in quantum electronics and spintronics.
Our recent paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), titled “Superconducting critical temperature elevated by intense magnetic fields,” explores how intense magnetic fields influence superconductivity in unconventional systems, shedding new light on the physics of superconductors.
Our department isn’t focused solely on basic research – we’re also dedicated to advanced automation that pushes the boundaries of science. The Charles Automata team has prepared an original Christmas video for you, in which a robot precisely arranges hundreds of crystals into the shape of a Christmas tree, all set to a melody inspired by Jingle Bells.
Our department in collaboration with Technical University of Munich organized the third edition of the Czech-Bavarian Mini-School on large research infrastructures and open data. Students acquired skills ranging from crystal growth to advanced neutron techniques and learned how to analyze data in accordance with F.A.I.R. principles.
