Latest News

PDI is pleased to announce that actor and playwright Mary Kelly has been selected as the 2024/2025 PDI Artist-in-Residence. This marks the inaugural year of PDI's Artist-in-Residence Program, which offers a unique opportunity for artists to immerse themselves in the scientific process, collaborate with researchers, and access cutting-edge nanotechnology facilities at one of the world’s leading institutes in semiconductor technology.

Lawyer Martin Böhnke has been officially appointed as the new Managing Director of the Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB). Martin began serving in this role on an interim basis in April 2024, following the departure of Dr. Nicole Münnich. The FVB is comprised of seven Leibniz Institute members, including PDI. The organization focuses on combining excellent research in the natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, and environmental sciences with efficient science management.

Dr. Elke Arenholz, a member of PDI's Scientific Advisory Board and a renowned scientist specializing in magnetic materials and X-ray spectroscopy, has been named Director of the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), a U.S. U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science user facility at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Interview with Prof. Safa Shoaee: expert in the photophysics and optoelectronics of disordered semiconductors. Prof. Shoaee holds a joint position at PDI and the University of Potsdam, where she serves as an Associate Professor of Physics. At PDI, Prof. Shoaee leads the Heterostructure Semiconductor Physics research group, dedicated to the development and understanding of low-cost, large-area photovoltaic technologies.

PDI researchers have discovered a novel modulation regime in semiconductor-based lasers, characterized by "acceleration beats". The universal effect, observed experimentally for the first time, suggests potential for new high-frequency spectral features and quantum control protocols, with implications extending to cosmic and high-energy particle phenomena.

We are delighted to announce that PDI guest scientist Madeleine Msall has been named Josiah Little Professor of Natural Sciences at her home faculty, Bowdoin College, Maine. This prestigious recognition highlights her exceptional contributions to science and education at home and abroad.

An international research team led by Roman Engel-Herbert has reported previously unobserved phenomena in an ultra-clean sample of the correlated metal SrVO3. The study challenges existing theoretical models by providing new insights, suggesting a need to re-evaluate current theories on electron interactions. The breakthrough was achieved using an innovative growth technique, leading to the synthesis of SrVO3 with unprecedented purity, enabling detailed exploration of its true properties.

From 26th to 31st May, the International Workshop on Gallium Oxide and Related Materials (IWGO 2024) took place at the spectacular Palais am Kulturbrauerei in Berlin. The fifth chapter of the premier international forum was organized by GraFOx — the Berlin-based research network managed by PDI and the Leibniz-Institut für Kristallzüchtung (IKZ) — which focuses on the creation and exploration of oxide systems for new generations of electronic devices.

Researchers have observed a time crystal on a microscale semiconductor chip oscillating at a rate of several billion times per second, unveiling exceptionally high non-linear dynamics in the GHz range. The experiment results, published today in Science, establish a firm connection between formerly uncorrelated areas of non-linear exciton-polariton dynamics and coherent optomechanics at GHz frequencies.

An invited paper by PDI Senior Scientist Esperanza Luna Garcia de la Infanta was recently selected as Featured article (Journal Editors’ choice) in a special issue of the Journal of Applied Physics. The research conducted at PDI marks the second-ever published experimental confirmation of Bi_Ga hetero-antisites and provides a crucial step towards enhancing material quality and facilitating applications.