Press releases
The efficient perovskite cells with a structured anti-reflective layer – another step towards commercialization on a wider scale
2023-10-06
Perovskite-based solar cells, widely considered as successors to the currently dominant silicon cells, due to their simple and cost-effective production process combined with their excellent performance, are now the subject of in-depth research. A team of scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy ISE and the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw presented perovskite photovoltaic cells with significantly improved optoelectronic properties in the journal "Advanced Materials and Interfaces". Reducing optical losses in the next-generation cells, as shown in the paper, is one of the key challenges for their broader implementation. | More
Discovery made by University of Warsaw scientists may enable network interface for quantum computers
2023-10-05
A team of scientists at the QOT Centre for Quantum Optical Technologies, including a student from the Faculty of Physics (University of Warsaw), made a device capable of the conversion of quantum information between microwave and optical photons. The results of research, published in “Nature Photonics” magazine, highlight a new microwave detection method with possible applications in quantum technologies, as a part of quantum network infrastructure, and in microwave radio-astronomy. | More
Unravelling the hidden growth of mineral dendrites
2023-07-10
An international research team involving scientists from the University of Warsaw's Faculty of Physics has described the process of growing three-dimensional manganese dendrites. The researchers found that it occurs through accretion of manganese oxide nanoparticles. Understanding the dynamics of the growth of three-dimensional mineral dendrites is important for various fields of science - physics, geology, material sciences and even the study of extraterrestrial environments. Not only are scientists gaining valuable insights into the history of rocks and minerals, the knowledge can also be used in industry, for example in the production of synthetic materials with new properties. | More
UW students have turned Schrödinger's cat on its head
2023-06-29
Students at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw (UW) and researchers from the QOT Centre for Quantum Optical Technologies have developed an innovative method that allows the fractional Fourier Transform of optical pulses to be performed using quantum memory. This achievement is unique on the global scale, as the team was the first to present an experimental implementation of the said transformation in this type of system. The results of the research were published in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters. In their work, the students tested the implementation of the fractional Fourier Transform using a double optical pulse, also known as a "Schrödinger's cat" state. | More
Unravelling the shapes of DNA minicircles
2023-06-26
A collaboration of researchers from the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw, Polish Academy of Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, University of Montana and University of Lethbridge show quantitatively that at very small scales the behaviour of DNA is determined by elastic forces. The results of the research, published in the journal “Nucleic Acids Research”, show how to study elastic properties of DNA using hydrodynamic measurements. | More
Science in the kitchen
2023-06-22
Take four brilliant physicists who specialize in fluid mechanics and put them in the kitchen. Give them pots, pans, basic foodstuffs, and a bottle of champagne. Add a COVID-19 pandemic, a pinch of boredom, and a handful of good ideas. Stir, wait, and voilà - you have a "delicious" publication that will teach you how bubbles are created in champagne, how to brew the perfect espresso, and how "kitchen revolutions" can contribute to innovations in many fields, including biomedicine and nanotechnology. | More
Researchers confirmed the role of long-chain fatty acids in cellular respiration
2023-06-02
Cellular respiration is a complex and highly regulated process that allows cells to draw energy from nutrition. An international team of scientists from Finland, Germany and Poland have investigated the important role of long-chain fatty acids in guiding this process. The findings, published in Nature Communications, will shed light on the understanding of mitochondrial function that involve disruptions in cellular energy metabolism. | More
Researchers at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw have created a new, highly efficient converter of quantum information carriers
2023-05-25
Researchers at the University of Warsaw's Faculty of Physics have developed a new, highly efficient technique that makes quantum information transmission dozens of times faster. The results of the research, published in the prestigious journal Nature Photonics, may in the near future contribute to the development of superfast quantum Internet connections. | More
Defying gravity
2023-04-17
Physicists from the University of Utrecht and the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw have observed - for the first time experimentally - the Brazil nut effect in a mixture of charged colloidal particles. Until now, it was thought that an influx of external energy was required to create this effect - but the researchers were able to confirm that the process can occur spontaneously. The findings, published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could find applications in a wide range of fields, from geology to soft matter physics. | More
Three time dimensions, one space dimension
2022-12-23
How would our world be viewed by observers moving faster than light in a vacuum? Such a picture would be clearly different from what we encounter every day. We should expect to see not only phenomena that happen spontaneously, without a deterministic cause, but also particles traveling simultaneously along multiple paths - argue theorists from universities in Warsaw and Oxford. Also the very concept of time would be completely transformed — a superluminal world would have to be characterized with three time dimensions and one spatial dimension and it would have to be described in the familiar language of field theory. It turns out that the presence of such superluminal observers does not lead to anything logically inconsistent, moreover, it is quite possible that superluminal objects really exist. | More