News from FZU

Most wireless electronics would not work without varactors. An international team that includes Czech physicists has now developed a material for them that lets electronics use less energy. The study appeared in the prestigious journal Nature Electronics.

What happens to a paper after submission? This talk will give a behind-the-scenes window into what editors look for in a paper and how the peer review to publication process works. You will learn about the considerations we put in place during the initial screening of the manuscript, when inviting the reviewers and when reading their reports. It will also cover the difference between journals at the Nature Portfolio, how they interact, and how they cater to different audiences. The talk will also cover projects and ways to engage with the Nature Portfolio as an (early career) researcher. 

Every year, the Czech Academy of Sciences gives out the Otto Wichterle Award. It goes to exceptional scientists under 35 who achieve top results at the very start of their careers. This year’s laureate from the Institute of Physics of the CAS is Aleš Vlk, who has been focusing on halide perovskites since 2018, materials with the potential to fundamentally improve the efficiency of harvesting energy from the sun.

Billions of them are passing through our bodies right now, and yet they are almost impossible to catch. For this year's Dvořák Lecture, we hosted one of the world's leading experts on neutrinos, Professor Stefan Söldner-Rembold, who heads the Department of Physics at Imperial College London.

In the photovoltaic tent, visitors got to experience the principle of generating electricity from sunlight. On a black hole model, they spun marbles that raced along orbits on a taut canvas. At the superconducting train exhibit, they watched as it levitated above the tracks and traveled with almost no friction. This was this year's exhibition by the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (FZU) at the tenth-anniversary edition of the Science Fair (Veletrh vědy), the largest popular-science event in the Czech Republic.  

That was just one of the many burning questions tackled in last week’s conference ‘Re:vision of Science: From RDM to Evaluation Reform’ at the FZU. Guest speakers from across the Czech Academy of Sciences’ institutes and Czech universities as well as international keynote speakers shared best practice in open science, but also raised important points that need to be solved – such as the future of responsible data sharing and building truly global, resilient infrastructures.

Letošní Family Day se nesl ve znamení vesmírného dobrodružství. Téměř 150 návštěvníků z řad našich zaměstnanců a zaměstnankyň a jejich rodin strávilo 10. června odpoledne na FZU AV ČR, kde se děti i dospělí mohli vydat na cestu mezi hvězdy, planety a další tajemství vesmíru.

At the end of May, an atom probe tomography (APT) laboratory started operating at the Institute of Thermomechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences. It is an instrument that can examine a small piece of material atom by atom. The laboratory was funded by the OP JAK FerrMion project, in which the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences also plays a significant role.

Do you study at a secondary school or university and want to travel for science? The fund can support you on a short trip abroad. It can be a conference, a summer school, or a short research stay at a university or research institute.

Silence, the smell of books, and whispering readers. That is the traditional image of a classic library. But the Scientific Library Cukrovarnická at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences quickly proves this stereotype wrong. There is no quiet reading room here, and the idea of sacred silence is just a dream. In reality, it is an active workplace that provides solid support for research teams.

From 4 to 6 June 2026, the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (FZU) will be at the Science Fair every day from 10 am to 6 pm. Come and see what really goes on inside a physics laboratory.

She spent a year in the FZU laboratories, researching structures invisible to the naked eye, and advanced to the national round of the Students’ Professional Activities (SPA). How did Lucie Krejčová work her way to such a remarkable success?

The Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (FZU) is helping to organise the Month of Science on Wikipedia, a nationwide initiative to create and improve science articles on the Czech Wikipedia. The main editathon will be held on 14 May 2026 at our Prague site on Cukrovarnická. Everyone is welcome, whether you have edited Wikipedia before or not. The initiative runs from 1 May to 15 June 2026.

This year marks 65 years since Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly into space. He was 27 years old and the flight lasted 108 minutes. To celebrate the anniversary, the Institute of Physics (FZU) and the science outreach community Pátečníci put together an afternoon of talks at Dvořák Hall on 12 April. 

The Institute of Physics has received an award for a video about the testing of silicon sensors for CERN. The reason? The video, made for the institute's social media, explains the testing process in a way that is both clear and engaging. The award itself takes the form of a statuette resembling a film Oscar.