Researchers from Augsburg and Japan have achieved a breakthrough by writing and reading magnetic information in antiferromagnets using only light. The new method, based on the momentum of laser pulses, could enable faster, low-energy data storage and directly link optical communication with magnetic memory technologies. The research was recently published in the renowned journal Nature Materials.

In an exciting competition, the Chair of Experimental Physics V secured first place. With strong teamwork, dedication, and skillful play, the team prevailed against its competitors and claimed this year’s championship.

Following the completion of his doctorate last year, Felix Schilberth, an outstanding young scientist from the University of Augsburg, is taking the next step in his academic career by moving to Japan.

A Japanese–German research consortium aims to harness a special class of magnetic materials for ultrafast, energy-efficient data processing: antiferromagnets. The network is coordinated by Prof. Dr. István Kézsmárki at the University of Augsburg and brings together five leading research groups from Japan and Germany.

Physicists at the University of Augsburg together with collaborators from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Rutgers University, USA, have successfully switched an antiferromagnetic state in an insulator by voltage pulses, within just a few tens of billionths of a second. Their findings were recently published in Physical Review Letters. 

Physikerinnen und Physiker aus Augsburg, Bonn, Köln, Dresden, Genf und Prince George (Kanada) haben einen exotischen Quantenzustand der Materie in einer Festkörperverbindung entdeckt – sogenannte repulsiv gebundene Magnonen. Diese spektakuläre Beobachtung wurde in der renommierten Fachzeitschrift Nature veröffentlicht. Hauptautor ist Prof. Dr. Zhe Wang von der Technischen Universität Dortmund.

Researchers at the Universities of Augsburg and Groningen have been able to show that the standard picture of magnetisation reversal needs to be expanded. Their findings were published in the journal Nature Communications and not only enrich basic research, but also open up new perspectives for components in the electronics of the future.

A major new research project led by the University of Augsburg with the Technical Univer-sity Munich (TUM) as partner is dedicated to a key topic of the future: the research and de-velopment of new types of materials whose properties are characterised by quantum ef-fects. In the long term, they could serve as the basis for very powerful computers. The University of Augsburg is involved in another three Collaborative Research Centres.

In a recently published article in the leading physics journal "Nature Physics", a team of researchers with the participation of the University of Augsburg reports about unexpectedly universal correlations between the thermal expansion and the glass-transition temperature of glass-forming materials, providing new insights into the complex nature of the transition from the liquid into the solid glass.

Researchers from the University of Augsburg and ETH Zurich have discovered giant conductivity of nanometre-sized domain walls separating polar regions in a non-oxide ferroelectric material. The high sensitivity of these walls to applied magnetic fields enables gigantic switching of the sample resistance, thus providing a route to new nanoelectronic building blocks. Such behaviour is unprecedented in non-oxides, which are less hampered by defects and deviations in composition than oxides.

Physiker der Universität Augsburg haben mit Kollegen von der australischen James Cook University eine neue Diagnose-Methode auf Malaria entwickelt. In einer Feldstudie in Papua-Neuguinea haben sie das Verfahren nun an rund 1000 Personen getestet. Demnach ist es ähnlich treffsicher wie etablierte Ansätze und zugleich sowohl kostengünstig als auch einfach in der Handhabung. Die Studie ist nun im renommierten Fachjournal Nature Communications erschienen.

Wenn dem „besten Freund des Menschen“ eine Pfote oder gar ein ganzes Bein fehlt, ist das eine Qual für Tier – und auch für die Halter. Zwei Studierende der Universität Augsburg entwickeln im Rahmen des Projekts „Pawsthesis“ Prototypen von Beinprothesen. Dies könnte mittelfristig eine gute Lösung für derart gehandicapte Hunde werden.