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On January 24, 2017,  Nature Communications published a paper called Fractal Nematic Colloids written by Uroš Jagodič, Igor Muševič and Miha Ravnik, associates of the Department for Condensed Matter Physics (F5) at the “Jožef Stefan” Institute and of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Ljubljana in collaboration with the associates of the Sharif University of Technology in Iran. They used two-photon laser lithography to create colloidal particles in the shape of fractal Koch stars, which they studied in liquid crystal. The fractal particles influence the ordering of the liquid crystal and create topological defects, whose number increases exponentially in accordance with the fractal order of particles. This is the first time that fractal states were created in soft matter.

The Physical Review Letters published a paper called Low-Temperature Global Symmetry Reduction in the Kagome Antiferromagnet Herbertsmithite by Andrej Zorko and Matjaž Gomilšek, associates of the Department for condensed matter physics at the “Jožef Stefan” Institute. In collaboration with groups from Croatia, USA and France, they were the first to observe symmetry brake in a Herbertsmithite crystal, which is known as the paradigm of a quantum antriferromagnet on a Kagome spin lattice, where the theory predicts a magnetic disordered ground state of spin liquid. Such break could hold the key information on the essential nature of the magnetic ground state of this crystal. After more than a decade of intensive research, this discovery offers a completely new insight into the enigmatic ground state of a spin liquid on a Kagome spin lattice.

The journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America published a paper entitled Working stroke of the kinesin-14, ncd, comprises two substeps of different direction, written by Andrej Vilfan, associate of the F5 Department, in collaboration with two groups from Dresden and Warsaw. Molecular motors such as myosin, kinesin and dynein transform chemical energy into mechanical work performed through longitudinal movement along the citosceletal fillaments. In many cases, the torque also causes the fillaments to swivel. The article talks about the measurments performed on the kinesin-14, a motor involved in the cell division. By observing the translation and rotation in different chemical circumstances, we can use theoretical modeling to reconstruct the work cycle of the motor. The results show how measurements on a larger ensemble allow us to determine the characteristics of an individual molecules.

On October 20, 2016, the Scientific Counsil of the J. Stefan Institue warded the Honorary distinction of the ‘Jožef Stefan’ Intitute to dr. Janez Pirš. Dr. Janez Pirš was awarded the Honorary distinction for his contribution to development of new high-tech products based on scientific and technological achievements of the ‘Jožef stefan’ Institute. Dr. Janez Pirš worked for a long time at the F5 department and was the instigator of the first real collaboration with Slovene industry in 1980.  His most important achievement was the collaboration between the Institute and the Balder d.o.o. company, which was in 1997 created as a sipin-off company od the Institute for development, production and selling of protictive weldinf filters. Thanks to dr. Janez Pirš, the ‘Jožef Stefan’ Insitute and Balder d.o.o. have been successfully collaborating from the very begining, and this collaboration continued also after 2012, when Balder d.o.o. became part of the international company Kimberly Clark Proffesional.

1.  Urban Mur, Simon Čopar, Miha Ravnik, Miha Čančula, Slobodan Žumer, “Unveiling details of defect structures in chiral and achiral nematic droplets by improving simulations of optical images”, In: Liquid crystals XX, San Diego, California, United States, August 28-30, 2016, (Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering, vol. 9940),  p. 9 [COBISS.SI-ID 3021924]

     2.  Miha Ravnik, Mitja Štimulak, Urban Mur, Miha Čančula, Simon Čopar, Slobodan Žumer, “Photonic crystals, light manipulation, and imaging in complex nematic structures”, In: Emerging Liquid Crystal Technologies XI, Tuesday-Wednesday 16-17 February 2016, San Francisco, California, United States, (Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering, vol. 9769), pp. 97690B-1-97690B-10. [COBISS.SI-ID 2931556]