Congratulations to Dr. Eng. Aleksander Szpakiewicz-Szatan on receiving his academic title. On March 21, 2025, he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Physics of the Warsaw University of Technology (WUT), titled: "Nanocomposites from pressure-formed sodium-phosphate and bismuth glasses for applications in energy storage and conversion devices." A summary of the dissertation is available at the provided link. More information here.
Supervisors: Prof. Jerzy Garbarczyk, (Faculty of Physics, Warsaw University of Technology) and Prof. Sylwester Rzoska (Institute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences).
The conferment of the PhD degree was approved today (April 24, 2025), by the Scientific Discipline Council of the Faculty of Physics, WUT.
The dissertation was developed as part of an ongoing collaboration between the NL-10 Laboratory (X-Press Matter) at the Institute of High Pressure Physics, PAS, and the Solid State Ionics Division of the Faculty of Physics, WUT. This collaboration will continue under a joint research grant.
We are pleased to inform about the work on spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization published recently in Materials: P. Strak, P. Kempisty, K. Sakowski, J. Piechota, I. Grzegory, E. Monroy, A. Kaminska, S. Krukowski, Spontaneous and Piezo Polarization Versus Polar Surfaces: Fundamentals and Ab Initio Calculations, Materials2025, 18(7), 1489; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18071489
The study discusses the fundamental properties of spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization as well as surface polarization. It has been shown that Landau’s definition of polarization as dipole density can be applied to infinite systems. Two components of polarization were distinguished: bulk polarization and surface polarization. This division is consistent with numerous experimental data. A local model of spontaneous polarization was introduced and used to calculate spontaneous polarization in the form of electric dipole density. This model correctly predicted the values of spontaneous polarization for wurtzite-type nitride semiconductors. At the same time, the model showed zero polarization for the zinc blende lattice. The values of spontaneous polarization obtained for wurtzite group III nitrides were consistent with previous calculations carried out using the Berry phase method. First-principles calculations for wurtzite nitride superlattices using the Heyd–Scuseria–Ernzerhof approximation were performed to calculate polarization fields in regularly strained lattices, showing good agreement with the polarization results. These data were used to determine the piezoelectric parameters of wurtzite nitrides, yielding values consistent with earlier results.
The 2025 Materials Research Society Spring Meeting and Exhibit is a forum for materials scientists from around the world. It will be held April 7-11 in Seattle, Washington, USA. The 2025 MRS Spring Meeting will feature 67 symposia and 11 tutorials on topics related to currently developing technologies for various materials.
Our colleague dr hab. inż. Julita Smalc-Koziorowska,prof. IWC PAN from the NL-12 Semiconductor Characterization Laboratory will give an invited lecture “Developing InGaN Pseudo-substrates for Tailoring Red and Longer Wavelength Nitride-Based Devices” as part of the EL-11 symposium “Wide and Ultra-Wide Bandgap Materials, Devices and Applications”.
We are pleased to announce the signing of the agreement with Syntropiq regarding the improvement of spinal implants, including the use of the technology developed in the Institute of High Pressure Physics PAS, presented in the attached leaflet.
Syntropiq manufactures and markets novel technology and devices for spinal interbody fusion procedures. Complex spinal implants from the elemental titanium powder are produced using advanced additive manufacturing.
The Laboratory of Nanostructures of our Institute has developed an innovative technology for the synthesis of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles and the technology for nanohydroxyapatite layer fabrication. Thanks to an innovative method of sonochemical nanoparticle deposition we can apply coatings on materials such as titanium, ceramics, glass, polymers, as well as temperature-sensitive biodegradable polymers. The results of in-vivo studies showed that the application of GoHAPTM nanoparticles layer on the polymer implant highly accelerated the bone defect overgrowth process.
The joint effort undertaken by Syntropiq and Institute of High Pressure Physics PAS will improve the spinal implants.
We are delighted to share that the work coauthored by the researchers from our Institute, published in physica status solidi (b) basic solid state physics, has ranked within the top 10% of most-viewed papers published by the journal in 2023*:
*Among work published in physica status solidi (b) basic solid state physics between January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2023, up to 12 months after publication.
We are proud to announce that an employee of our Institute, Dr. Konrad Sakowski, has been recognized by the Rector of the University of Warsaw for inspiring scientific research and outstanding achievements. The ceremonial presentation of diplomas took place at the Kazimierzowski Palace on Wednesday, April 2., 2025. Dr. Konrad Sakowski, in addition to his scientific work at the IWC PAN, is also an assistant professor at the Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Mechanics of the University of Warsaw.
We congratulate Konrad on this distinction and wish him continued success in his work. We are proud that he is part of our team.
10th International Conference on Superconductivity and Magnetism - ICSM 2025 will be held in Fethiye-Oludeniz, Turkey from 26th April to 3rd May 2025. This conference will cover a wide range of physics topics, including superconductivity, magnetism, and quantum materials and technological communities, and create networking opportunities and strengthen connections between all career levels. This year again, Dr. Shiv Singh from our Institute is organizing a special session: “Advances in Iron-based Superconductors: Growth, fundamental and applied research”. You can find more details about this session here.
Furthermore, in this conference, Dr. Shiv Singh will have an invited talk entitled "Impurity Effects on the Superconducting Properties of Stoichiometric CaKFe4As4 by Conventional and High-pressure Growth Methods”. Recently, Dr. Singh’s research team has proved that the high-pressure growth technique can be an effective method to enhance the superconducting properties of high-Tc superconductors as well as the sample quality. More details about the program and the speakers can be found here.
IXth Winter Workshop Kalatówki 2025 on Physics and Applications of Nitride Semiconductors will be organized on March 23-28, 2023in Zakopane (Poland).
The Winter Workshop Kalatówki gathers researchers from the Institute of High Pressure Physics Polish Academy of Sciences and from the collaborating scientific institutes. It serves as a platform for the exchange of information and ideas among the laboratories of the Institute over the years.
Scientific topics discussed encompass the physics and technology of AlInGaN semiconductor quantum structures, particularly within the realm of light emitters. Epitaxy, device processing and theoretical modelling will be highlighted for better understanding of the underlying physics and paving the way to novel concepts realization both in optoelectronics and nitride-based electronics.
This year, we will host many prominent nitride experts:
Prof. Tomasz Czyszanowski (Lodz University of Technology),
Prof. Marta Gładysiewicz-Kudrawiec (Wroclaw University of Technology),
Dr. Carsten Richter (Leibniz-Institut für Kristallzüchtung),
Prof. Ulrich Theodor Schwarz (Technische Universität Chemnitz),
Prof. Anna Szerling (Institute of Microelectronics and Photonics, Łukasiewicz Reseach Network),
Prof. Henryk Teisseyre (Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences)