Institute and Research News

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) have developed an innovative method to study ultrafast magnetism in materials. They have shown the generation and application of magnetic field steps, in which a magnetic field is turned on in a matter of picoseconds. more

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in collaboration with DTU Electro, the University of Sheffield and the University of Copenhagen, have proposed a novel method for efficiently generating single photons in the mid-infrared (MIR) range. This theoretical breakthrough, published in Science Advances, has the potential to revolutionize quantum technologies by enabling new applications in molecular sensing, precision metrology, and quantum communication. more

Simon Vendelbo Bylling Jensen, a postdoctoral researcher in the Theory Department at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD), has been awarded a Humboldt Research Fellowship to investigate the cutting-edge field of attoscience in liquid crystals. more

A collaborative team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD), Nanjing University, Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory (SLAB), and international partners has introduced a new method to regulate exotic electronic states in two-dimensional materials. more

Professors Jie Shan and Kin Fai Mak, world leaders in the characterization and control of two-dimensional quantum materials, have become directors of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg, Germany. more

Chirality is a fundamental property of matter that determines many biological, chemical and physical phenomena. Chiral solids, for example, offer exciting opportunities for catalysis, sensing and optical devices by enabling unique interactions with chiral molecules and polarized light. These properties are however established when the material is grown, that is, the left- and right-handed enantiomers cannot be converted into one another without melting and recrystallization. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) and the University of Oxford have shown that terahertz light can induce chirality in a non-chiral crystal, allowing either left- or right-handed enantiomers to emerge on demand. The finding, reported in Science, opens up exciting possibilities for exploring novel non-equilibrium phenomena in complex materials. more

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) and MIT have successfully created a new, long-lasting magnetic state in an antiferromagnetic material using only light. This breakthrough holds significant promise for advancing information processing and memory chip technology. The team reports the direct stimulation of atoms in an antiferromagnetic material with a terahertz laser—a light source oscillating more than a trillion times per second. By tuning the laser’s frequency to match the natural vibrations of the material’s atoms, they induced an ultrafast change in the atomic structure, ultimately driving the system into a novel magnetic state. Their work has been published in Nature. more

Angel Rubio, Director of the Theory Department at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) and Managing Director of the Institute, has been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher 2024 by Clarivate. Joining him on this prestigious list are Jie Shan and Kin Fai Mak from Cornell University, all three of them are Principal Investigators at the Max Planck - New York Center for Non-Equilibrium Quantum Phenomena. These researchers have demonstrated broad and lasting influence, with their publications ranking in the top 1% for citations over the past decade. more

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter have made a groundbreaking advancement in light-controlled superconductivity, demonstrating that superconducting properties can be enhanced by coupling materials with quantum light in optical cavities. This study uses magnesium diboride (MgB₂), a well-known phonon-mediated superconductor, and employs state-of-the-art quantum electrodynamical density-functional theory (QEDFT) to reveal how photon vacuum fluctuations inside an optical cavity can increase its superconducting transition temperature. more

Mariana Rossi, head of a Lise-Meitner Excellence group in MPSD, has been awarded a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant worth €2 million. The funding will support her project, “Steering the Quantum Dynamics of Confined Molecular Materials” (QUADYMM), over the next five years.  The research aims to uncover how to drive the atomic motion of molecular materials in confinement, in order to modify reaction rates and electronic transport properties with the goal of finding new ways to optimize sustainable technological materials. more