Latest News

PDI's Van Dong Pham has been selected for the 2025 Rising Stars Collection of Applied Physics Letters (APL). His paper, “Scanning tunneling microscopy of ultrathin indium intercalated between graphene and SiC using confinement heteroepitaxy,” was chosen as one of just 30 papers highlighted in this year’s edition.

Congratulations to Andrea Ardenghi, who successfully defended his dissertation, “Doping, Phase Control, and Point Defects in Ga₂O₃ Thin Films Grown by Plasma-Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy" on October 8th, 2025, at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and PDI, under the supervision of Oliver Bierwagen and Piero Mazzolini.

Congratulations to Ekaterina Paysen, who successfully defended her doctoral thesis, “Electron Tomography for Investigating Morphology and Chemical Width of Epitaxial Heterointerfaces,” on October 28th, 2025. Ekaterina completed her PhD jointly at PDI and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, conducting her research under the supervision of Achim Trampert at PDI.

Researchers from the Core Research Area (CReA) Novel Functional Oxide Materials at PDI, together with international collaborators, have uncovered new insights into how charge carriers move and interact in gallium oxide (Ga₂O₃), a key material for the next generation of high-power electronics and ultraviolet optoelectronics. The findings represent a significant step forward in understanding charge-carrier dynamics in ultrawide bandgap oxides.

We’re pleased to announce that PDI has received funding from the European Regional Development Fund (EFRE) to establish a new Application Lab for Thermal Laser Epitaxy (ATLAS). This capability opens up new opportunities for creating high-quality thin films and expanding the range of materials that can be grown epitaxially, laying the foundation for next-generation electronic, optoelectronic, and quantum devices.

A new study published in ACS Nano, led by researchers from PDI with collaborators from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, and QZabre AG, Switzerland, demonstrates the successful growth of above-room-temperature ferromagnetic Fe₃GaTe₂ thin films using molecular beam epitaxy. The findings provide a deeper understanding of 2D ferromagnetic materials and open new pathways toward scalable spintronic heterostructures.

Following an initiative by the Equal Opportunity Officers across the Forschungsverbund Berlin (FVB), all FVB institutes now appoint an Equal Opportunity Representative within their Scientific Advisory Boards (SAB). This role ensures that equality, diversity, and family-friendliness are actively considered in all SAB discussions and decisions, helping to make evaluation and advisory processes fair and transparent.

Last month, we were delighted to welcome the co-founders of Bizmuth MBE Ltd., Faebian Bastiman and Isabella Lorente, to PDI. Over the course of two days, they toured the MBE Lab and held in-depth discussions with the team regarding the ongoing collaboration between PDI and Bizmuth to advance the automation of MBE growth using a custom-built AI system.

The 2026 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit will bring together materials researchers from around the world for a week of cross-disciplinary collaboration and scientific exchange. Taking place in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, from April 26–May 1, 2026, the conference is one of the leading global events in materials science. PDI’s Roman Engel-Herbert and Joao Marcelo Lopes are among the invited speakers, and Nadire Nayir serves as one of the symposium organizers.

Congratulations to Serkan Sirt, who successfully defended his dissertation, “Signatures of Coulomb Screening in the Quantum Hall Effect" on September 11th, 2025, at Freie Universität Berlin. Serkan's PhD was supervised at PDI by Stefan Ludwig.