News: Institute of Physics

On September 22, Libor Šmejkal, Jairo Sinova, and Tomáš Jungwirth were awarded the 2026 Europhysics Prize by the European Physical Society for their outstanding contributions to condensed matter physics, specifically for their discovery of altermagnetism, the third fundamental class of magnetic order. All three laureates were affiliated with the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences at the time of their discoveries and the publication of their award-winning works. This is the first time that the EPS Europhysics Prize has been awarded to Czech scientists. 

Want to combine an enjoyable evening with supporting a worthy cause? That’s exactly what this benefit concert will offer. It will take place on October 2 at 7:00 p.m. at the Municipal Theater in Kolín. This evening filled with music will also help students who want to expand their knowledge, experience, and horizons.

The fifth HR Coffee & Talk took place at Slovanka and Cukrovarnická. Over the course of the afternoon, staff could ask about courses, grants and outreach. They also left with contacts for colleagues from other departments.

Researchers Dr. Benjamin Lowe and Dr. Oleksandr Stetsovych from FZU have built a QR code more than 1000 times smaller than the width of a human hair and nearly 800 times smaller than the current Guiness World Record holder.

Lukáš Palatinus, head of the electron crystallography laboratory at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, received the Gjønnes Medal for electron crystallography and the John Cowley Medal from the International Federation of Societies for Microscopy (IFSM). Czech crystallography has a long and strong tradition, and the Institute of Physics is one of its major centers. For decades, a team led by Václav Petříček developed crystallography here, and today Lukáš Palatinus’s team is continuing this tradition. Receiving two major international awards in a single year is a clear confirmation that Czech crystallography holds a very strong and respected position on the global stage.

Radiation that travelled through space for longer than the Sun and Earth have existed has now been captured by the LST-1 and MAGIC telescopes in the Canary Islands. It was emitted by the active galactic nucleus OP 313, powered by a massive black hole. No one has yet observed a more distant active galactic nucleus in the ultra-high-energy range.

In the last week of July, scientists from around the world converged on Prague. At the 11th Frontiers of Quantum and Mesoscopic Thermodynamics conference (FQMT'26), they explored what quantum mechanics tells us about the world today and how to turn it into the technologies of tomorrow.

An international collaboration supported by the Physics for Future (P4F) project has delivered a new diagnostic method for more precise control of plasma deposition processes. A Czech and Swedish research team combined two original approaches to plasma diagnostics to create an experimental system that helps refine the preparation of thin vanadium dioxide (VO₂) films. The method could improve the manufacture of thermochromic coatings for smart windows, as well as semiconductor and optical thin films used, for example, in optical sensors, detectors and photonic devices.