News

1.  Jure Aplinc, Field structures in active and passive liquid crystals: doctoral dissertation, Ljubljana, 2018 (mentor Miha Ravnik).

2.  Lovro Fulanović, Relaxor-ferroelectric-based ceramic multilayer elements for viable electrocaloric cooling: doctoral dissertation, Ljubljana, 2018 (mentor Barbara Malič; co-mentor Vid Bobnar).

3.  Matjaž Gomilšek, Quantum spin liquids on geometrically frustrated kagome lattices: doctoral dissertation, Ljubljana, 2018 (mentor Andrej Zorko).

4.  Marta Lavrič, Stabilization of cholesteric blue phases by nanoparticles and nematic caloric effects induced by external fields: doctoral dissertation, Ljubljana, 2018 (mentor Zdravko Kutnjak).

5.  Janez Lužnik, Physical properties of hexagonal high-entropy alloys: doctoral dissertation, Ljubljana, 2018 (mentor Janez Dolinšek).

6.  Luka Mesarec, Impact of curvature on nematic topological defects: doctoral dissertation, Maribor, 2018 (mentor Samo Kralj; co-mentor Aleš Iglič).

7.  Melita Sluban, One-dimensional Ti,O-based nanostructures: synthesis and application: doctoral dissertation, Ljubljana, 2018 (mentor Polona Umek).

Nature Physics published an article entitled Observation of two types of fractional excitation in the Kitaev honeycomb magnet by members of the Condensed Matter Physics Department at Jožef Stefan Institute, Nejc Janša, Andrej Zorko, Matjaž Gomilšek, Matej Pregelj and Martin Klanjšek, and colleagues from Switzerland. The article describes the first clear confirmation of the existence of two types of anyonic quasiparticle in a layered crystal α-RuCl3, which is known as the best realization of the Kitaev honeycomb lattice. A decade old famous Kitaev prediction spurred numerous experimental efforts to confirm the existence of anyons. The discovery is important also as the braiding operations with anyons offer one of the most promising platforms for topological quantum computing.

An image captured by the Calorimetry and dielectric spectroscopy group of the F5 Department was published on the cover of the August issue of the Liquid Crystals Journal. An article of frustrated liquid-crystalline TGB phase stabilisation in the presence of nanoparticles was published in the same issue, based on the study by Maja Trček, George Cordoyiannis, Brigita Rožič, Vassilios Tzitzios, George Nounesis, Samo Kralj, Ioannis Lelidis, Emmanuelle Lacaze, Heinz Amenitsch and Zdravko Kutnjak. The background of the image shows the texture of the TGB order as captured with a camera under a polarised optical microscope. The foreground of the image shows a schematic rendering of the TGB phase structure. The TGB phase is stabilised in a mixture of chiral liquid crystal and nanoparticles. The nanoparticles populated the topological defects of the screw dislocations which are located between the blocks in smectic order.

At the international C-MAC Days 2017 conference held at the end of November in Athens, Primož Koželj, PhD, was awarded the Best Oral Presentation Award in the Young Scientists category. In his invited lecture, Dr. Koželj spoke about the magnetism of eutectic high-entropy alloys CoCrFeNiZrx and proved the existence of multi-component magnetic structure inside them, which is the consequence of a complicated microstructure consisting of the eutectic matrix made from two phases and dendrites. The presented research was based on a collaboration between the associates of the Department of Condensed Matter Physics at the JSI (P. Koželj, S. Vrtnik, A. Jelen, J. Luzar, A. Kocjan, J. Dolinšek) and their Slovene colleagues at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the University of Ljubljana and the Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics, as well as international collaboration with Swedish (Chalmers University of Technology) and South Korean (Korea Basic Science Institute) scientists.

1.  Alen Ajanović, Jaka Konda, Gašper Fele-Žorž, Anton Gradišek, Matjaž Gams, Ana Peterlin, Karolina Počivavšek, Mojca Matičič, “Application for sexually transmitted infection risk assessment”, Informatica (Ljublj., Tisk. izd.), 41, 2, 253-254, 2017. [COBISS.SI-ID 30605351]

     2.  Cristobal Alessandri, Sara Fathipour, Huamin Li, Iljo Kwak, Andrew Kummel, Maja Remškar, Alan Seabaugh, “Reconfigurable electric double layer doping in an  nanoribbon transistor”, IEEE trans. electron devices, 64, 12, 5217-5222, 2017. [COBISS.SI-ID 30952231]

     3.  Fatima Ezahra Annanouch, Sergio Roso, Zouhair Haddi, Stella Vallejos, Polona Umek, Carla Bittencourt, Christopher Blackman, T. Vilic, Eduard Llobet, “p-Type PdO nanoparticles supported on n-type  nanoneedles for hydrogen sensing”, Thin solid films, 618, part B, 238-245, 2017. [COBISS.SI-ID 29909799]

     4.  Bouchra Asbani, Y. Gagou, J. -L. Dellis, Maja Trček, Zdravko Kutnjak, M. Amjoud, A. Lahmar, D. Mezzane, Mimoun El Marssi, “Lead free  ferroelectric ceramics exhibiting high electrocaloric properties”, J. appl. phys., 121, 6, 064103, 2017. [COBISS.SI-ID 30250023]

     5.  Franci Bajd, Martin Škrlep, Marjeta Čandek-Potokar, Igor Serša, “MRI-aided texture analyses of compressed meat products”, J. food eng., 27, 108-118, Aug. 2017. [COBISS.SI-ID 30406439]

     6.  M. Becerril-Valle, E. Coz, Andre S. H. Prevot, Griša Močnik, Spyros N. Pandis, A. M. Sánchez de la Campa, A.… Read the rest “Original article – 2017”