Latest News

Congratulations to Serkan Sirt, who successfully defended his dissertation, “Signatures of Coulomb Screening in the Quantum Hall Effect" in September at Freie Universität Berlin. Serkan's PhD was supervised at PDI by Stefan Ludwig.

PDI is excited to announce an open call for the 2026 RISE Professional program, offered by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). PDI has been hosting students within this framework for many years, providing summer research internships for Master's and PhD students from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Ireland. Through the program, participants receive the opportunity to engage in research-oriented projects aligned with their academic backgrounds.

A team of scientists led by PDI has cracked open the “black box” of precursor chemistry, revealing—for the first time—the hidden reaction pathways of a key compound used in the growth of complex oxides. Their predictive framework shifts synthesis from trial and error to a controllable, transparent process, paving the way for faster, more precise, and cost-effective manufacturing of advanced thin films.

PDI researchers have achieved the first epitaxial growth of scandium nitride in the unusual (113) orientation, expanding the possibilities for nitride materials research. Published in ACS Applied Electronic Materials, this breakthrough opens new pathways for designing nitride-based materials with tailored properties for future electronic and optoelectronic applications.

Three PDI scientists have secured two of the nine projects funded under the DFG Priority Programme Nitrides4Future (SPP 2477). These awards highlight PDI’s leading role in nitride semiconductor research and device innovation.

Today, on United Nations International Equal Pay Day, we take a moment to reflect on fairness and equality in the workplace.

A new study overturns a key assumption in solar cell design: that triplet excitons are always bad news. Researchers have discovered that, under the right conditions, these excited states don’t necessarily lead to large voltage losses—offering fresh insight into how organic solar cells can be made even more efficient.

The ZALKAL Application Lab team will be active at two major events this autumn, showcasing their expertise in ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors. Find out more about our participation at the IWUMD in Wrocław, and take the opportunity to visit PDI's labs as part of Photonics Days 2025 in October.

In June, researchers from Zurich Instruments joined us at PDI for two days of joint experiments, bringing one of their advanced signal generators to our labs for testing. Together, we explored how acoustic waves can be harnessed in hybrid quantum devices—first by generating complex surface patterns such as acoustic vortices, and then by probing the coupling between microwave and optical photons mediated by acoustic fields. These experiments showcase both the versatility of acoustics in quantum research and the value of close collaboration between instrument developers and fundamental science.

In a recent open-access study published in Nano Express, a team from PDI presented a detailed analysis of energy use in their molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) facility and outlined practical steps taken to reduce it—ranging from operational adjustments to targeted equipment upgrades. Their findings offer valuable insights for other laboratories seeking to improve sustainability without compromising research performance.