Faculty of Physics
Welcome to the website of the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw
The Faculty of Physics is a large research and teaching center. It consists of The Institutes of Theoretical Physics, Experimental Physics, Geophysics, The Astronomical Observatory and The Department of Mathematical Methods in Physics.
The Faculty is regarded as one of the best in the country, recognized internationally for the high quality of research and education.
News
From branches to loops. The physics of transport networks in nature.
An international team of researchers from the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw, the Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes, and the Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans described how loops, crucial for the stability of such networks, occur in transport networks found in nature. The researchers observed that when one branch of the network reaches the system's boundary, the interactions between the branches change drastically. Previously repelling branches, begin to attract each other, leading to the sudden formation of loops. The findings were published in the prestigious journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”. The process described appears in a surprisingly large number of systems - from electrical discharge networks to instabilities in fluid mechanics, to biological transport networks like the canal system in the jellyfish Aurelia aurita. | More
Dr. Marek Szczepańczyk is a laureate of the Polish Returns program of the National Agency for Academic Exchange
The seventh edition of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange program Polish Returns has been decided, thanks to which outstanding Polish scientists who have previously developed their scientific careers abroad can continue their research at domestic universities and scientific and research institutes. As part of this year's edition of the program, out of 30 submitted applications, 11 scientists received funding for their research. | More
Super-precise spectrometer enabled by latent information carried by photons
Two researchers at the University of Warsaw developed a quantum-inspired super-resolving spectrometer for short pulses of light. The device designed in the Quantum Optical Devices Lab at the Centre for Quantum Optical Technologies, Centre of New Technologies and Faculty of Physics UW offers over a two-fold improvement in resolution compared to standard approaches. In the future, it can be miniaturized on a photonic chip and applied in optical and quantum networks as well as in spectroscopic studies of matter. The research has been published in the “Optica” journal. | More
'HMF-25’ conference at the Faculty of Physics UW
From 16 to 20 September 2024, the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Physics will host the 25th International Conference on High Magnetic Fields in Semiconductor Physics (HMF-25), supported by the Institute for Advanced Studies. This is a satellite event of the “International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors” (ICPS-2024) in Ottawa, Canada, which is part of a series of events initiated by Gottfried Landwehr in Würzburg, Germany, in 1972. | More
Innovative perovskite waveguides with edge lasing effect
Integrated photonic circuits operating at room temperature combined with optical nonlinear effects could revolutionize both classical and quantum signal processing. Scientists from the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw, in collaboration* with other institutions from Poland as well as Italy, Iceland, and Australia, have demonstrated the creation of perovskite crystals with predefined shapes that can serve in nonlinear photonics as waveguides, couplers, splitters, and modulators. The research results, published in the prestigious journal Nature Materials, describe the fabrication of these innovative structures and the edge lasing effect. In particular, this effect is associated with the formation of the condensate of exciton-polaritons, which are quasiparticles behaving partly like light and partly like matter. | More
Tachyons “enfant terrible” of modern physics
Tachyons are hypothetical particles that travel at speeds greater than the speed of light. These superluminal particles, are the “enfant terrible” of modern physics. Until recently, they were generally regarded as entities that did not fit into the special theory of relativity. However, a paper just published in “Physical Review D” by physicists from the University of Warsaw and the University of Oxford has shown that many of these prejudices were unfounded. Tachyons are not only not ruled out by the theory, but allow us to understand its causal structure better. | More
Korean delegation visited FUW
A delegation from the KEPCO International Nuclear Graduate School (KINGS) visited the Faculty of Physics UW. The guests from South Korea met with representatives of the University authorities, the dean authorities of the Faculties: Physics, Chemistry and the Faculty of Oriental Studies, as well as the National Centre for Nuclear Research. The talks concerned the Nuclear Collaboration Centre, a European training centre for nuclear energy, being built at the UW's Faculty of Physics. | More
Fluctuations shape looping networks?
Understanding how transport networks, such as river systems, form and evolve is crucial to optimizing their stability and resilience. It turns out that networks are not all alike. Tree-like structures are adequate for transport, while networks containing loops are more damage-resistant. What conditions favour the formation of loops? Researchers from the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw and the University of Arkansas sought to answer this question. The findings, published in “Physical Review Letters,” show that networks tend to form stable loop structures when flow fluctuations are appropriately tuned. This finding will allow us to understand the structure of dynamic transport networks better. | More
Is dark matter made of black holes?
Gravitational wave detectors, LIGO and Virgo, have detected a population of massive black holes whose origin is one of the biggest mysteries in modern astronomy. According to one hypothesis, these objects may have formed in the very early Universe and may compose dark matter, a mysterious substance filling the Universe. A team of scientists from the OGLE (Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) survey from the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Warsaw have announced the results of nearly 20-year-long observations indicating that such massive black holes may comprise at most a few percent of dark matter. Another explanation, therefore, is needed for gravitational wave sources. The results of the study were published in two articles, in Nature and the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. | More
Warsaw University and Heidelberg University Professors Honored with the 2024 Copernicus Award
Professors Andrzej Udalski from Warsaw University and Joachim Wambsganss from Heidelberg University have become the laureats of the prestigious 2024 Copernicus Award, granted by the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), for their groundbreaking contributions to astrophysics through their collaborative research on gravitational microlensing and the discovery of exoplanets. | More
The discovery of a record-breaking Cepheid in the Milky Way
Astronomers from the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Warsaw involved in the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) project have discovered a classical Cepheid with the longest pulsation period in our Galaxy. The new, record-braking star was identified by Professor Igor Soszyński, the world leader in the variable star field. The Cepheid was designated as OGLE-GD-CEP-1884 and pulsates with a period of 78.14 days, nearly 10 days longer than the pulsation period of the previous record-holding Cepheid, S Vulpeculae. | More
Optically trapped quantum droplets of light can bind together to form macroscopic complexes
Scientists from CNR Nanotec in Lecce and the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw used a new generation of semiconductor photonic gratings to optically tailor complexes of quantum droplets of light that became bound together into macroscopic coherent states. The research underpins a new method to simulate and explore interactions between artificial atoms in a highly reconfigurable manner, using optics. The results have been published in the prestigious journal “Nature Physics”. | More
Upcoming events
2024-09-27 (13:00) :: PhD Thesis
Interaction of ⁶He with hydrogen isotopes at 26 MeV/n energy / Oddziaływanie ⁶He z izotopami wodoru przy energii 26 MeV/n
2024-09-30 (11:00) :: PhD Thesis
Topologically non-trivial black hole spacetimes / Topologicznie nietrywialne czasoprzestrzenie zawierające czarne dziury
2024-09-30 (15:00) :: PhD Thesis
Relativistic aspects of time in quantum mechanics / Relatywistyczne aspekty czasu w mechanice kwantowej
2024-10-02 (11:00) :: PhD Thesis
Hydrodynamic techniques in the study of elastic macromolecules / Narzędzia hydrodynamiki w badaniach elastycznych makromolekuł
2024-10-03 (11:30) :: Joint Seminar on Quantum Information and Technologies
On microscopic heat engines
2024-10-04 (10:15) :: Solid State Physics Seminar
Properties and applications of PbTe/CdTe nanocomposite
2024-10-11 (13:15) :: Atmospheric Physics Seminar
Estimation of methane emissions using mobile ground-based and airborne analysers
2024-10-25 (13:15) :: Atmospheric Physics Seminar
Local scale Computational Fluid Dynamics modeling of aerosol transport over complex urban areas using CODE_SATURNE
Research Highlights
Abade G.C., Albuquerque D.G.
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 2024, vol. 150 (763), pp. 3450-3474
DOI: 10.1002/qj.4775
Kasztelanic R., Nguyen H.T., Pysz D., Thienpont H., Omatsu T., Buczynski R.
Advanced Science 11(33), 2024, art. 2402886
DOI: 10.1002/advs.202402886
Pituła E., Janik M., Sikora J., Kasztelanic R., Stępniewski G., Gong Y., Olszewski M., Buczyński R., Koba M., Śmietana M.
Measurement, 2025, vol. 240, art. 115569
DOI: 10.1016/j.measurement.2024.115569
Michał Lipka, Michał Parniak
Optica 11, 1226-1234 (2024)
DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.522555
S. Kurzyna, B. Niewelt, M. Mazelanik, W. Wasilewski, and M. Parniak
Quantum 8, 1431 (2024)
DOI: 10.22331/q-2024-08-02-1431
Upcoming Conferences & Events
Job offers
2024-09-11 :: Assistant professor, research [83_2023_VII]
2024-07-12 :: Assistant professor, research [73_2024]
2024-07-11 :: University professor, teaching and research [72_2024]