News: Institute of Physics

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.

The European Physical Society’s 2026 Europhysics Prize for outstanding contributions to condensed matter physics was awarded to Libor Šmejkal, Jairo Sinova and Tomáš Jungwirth for their discovery of altermagnetism, the third fundamental class of magnetic orders. Altermagnets combine the advantages of ferromagnets and antiferromagnets while exhibiting unique properties not found in either of those classes.