In the run-up to 2025 - the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology - the Jülich quantum sensor from PGI-3 has been named as one of the highlights of 2024 in the Quantum Blog of physicsworld.

Manganese bismuth telluride (MnBi₂Te₄) is a promising material in topological quantum research. However, previous measurements have yielded conflicting results. Researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have now found a possible explanation.

We look for excellent candidates who are interested in experimental work on superconductivity. Samples will be fabricated on site, with lithographic patterning performed at the Helmholtz Nanofacility (HNF), a state-of-the-art cleanroom, and studied in our scanning tunneling microscopes, at low temperatures and in magnetic fields.

We welcome candidates with a Master’s degree in Physics to apply for a DFG‑funded project that explores unconventional two‑dimensional magnetism in van‑der‑Waals heterostructures. The work will involve fabricating twisted stacks of emerging 2D magnets on diverse substrates and applying state‑of‑the‑art scanning tunneling microscopy to uncover their atomic‑scale, potentially altermagnetic, properties.

Ballistic electrons are among the most fascinating phenomena in modern quantum materials. Unlike ordinary electrons, they do not scatter off imperfections in the material and therefore travel from A to B with almost no resistance – like a capsule in a pneumatic tube. Researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University have now developed a model that can detect this distinct flow of electrons under realistic conditions.

Forschungszentrum Jülich has awarded Dr Anja Meier its Excellence Prize. As part of her doctoral thesis, the chemist made a significant contribution to advancing photoemission orbital tomography (POT). This technology now allows the chemical properties of molecules to be analysed in much greater detail and is also more versatile than before.

"Can a molecular quantum dot on the STM tip image surface polarizability?" Answering this question, Stefan Schulte, PhD candidate at PGI-3, was awarded the spinQUeST Award for Young Scientists at the spin based quantum science and technology (spinQueST) conference 2025, held in Ascona, Switzerland. In his poster, he shows how resonant transport through an STM tip functionalized with an organic molecule (NTCDA) reveals orbital structures and the tip geometry, and further, that the electron-phonon coupling increases the sensitivity of the molecule-functionalized STM, ultimately providing a polarizability map of NTCDA layers on the sample linking “dark” molecules to a higher charge density distribution.

Physicist Dr. Taner Esat from Forschungszentrum Jülich has been honoured with the "Gerhard Ertl Young Investigator Award 2022". The award, named after the German Nobel Prize winner and surface physicist, recognises young scientists for outstanding achievements in surface science and has been presented by the Surface Physics Association of the German Physical Society (DPG) since 2010.

Observing incredibly fast quantum processes and chemical reactions at the highest resolution: That is the goal of the "Orbital Cinema" project, for which physicists from the coordinating Forschungszentrum Jülich and the universities in Marburg, Regensburg and Graz today received one of the prestigious Synergy Grants from the European Research Council (ERC).

In a scientific breakthrough, an international research team from Germany's Forschungszentrum Jülich and Korea's IBS Center for Quantum Nanoscience (QNS) developed a quantum sensor capable of detecting minute magnetic fields at the atomic length scale. This pioneering work realizes a long-held dream of scientists: an MRI-like tool for quantum materials. Dr. Taner Esat from Jülich’s Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI-3) explains what it is all about.

The next-generation photoemission analyser, NanoESCA MARIS, enables both pulse and real-space spectroscopy. The instrument was delivered before Christmas and finally installed at PGI-3 in February 2024 by an expert from Scienta Omicron. From now on, PGI-3 scientists will perform photoemission orbital tomography experiments as part of the ERC Synergy project "Orbital Cinema".

In the run-up to 2025 - the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology - the Jülich quantum sensor from PGI-3 has been named as one of the highlights of 2024 in the Quantum Blog of physicsworld.