News

How does a superconducting transistor work?

2024. October 31.

Experiments of the Nanoelectronics Research Group at the BME Institute of Physics reveal the switching mechanism of superconducting transistors. Published in Nature Communications.

 

Detailed report at the university news portal bme.hu, in Hungarian.

 
Tosson Elalaily, Martin Berke, Ilari Lilja, Alexander Savin, Gergő Fülöp, Lőrinc Kupás, Thomas Kanne, Jesper Nygård, Péter Makk, Pertti Hakonen & Szabolcs Csonka 
Switching dynamics in Al/InAs nanowire-based gate-controlled superconducting switch
Nature Communications 15, 9157 (2024)
 
A recent review paper of this research field, co-authored by BME researchers:
Leon Ruf, Claudio Puglia, Tosson Elalaily, Giorgio De Simoni, Francois Joint, Martin Berke, Jennifer Koch, Andrea Iorio, Sara Khorshidian, Peter Makk, Simone Gasparinetti, Szabolcs Csonka, Wolfgang Belzig, Mario Cuoco, Francesco Giazotto, Elke Scheer, Angelo Di Bernardo
Gate control of superconducting current: Mechanisms, parameters and technological potential
https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.13734

 

Link: 
https://www.bme.hu/hirek/241029/bme-ttk-fizika-tanszek-kutatas-szupravezeto-tranzisztorok

Physics Nobel Prize for neural networks

2024. October 09.

In 2024, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to American physicist John J. Hopfield and British-Canadian computer scientist Geoffrey E. Hinton, for their discoveries that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.
 
This might sound surprising, since machine learning belongs more to the field of computer science than to physics. This contradiction is resolved by the fact that the award-winning artificial neural networks were inspired by statistical physical models. Hopfield created his memory model based on one of the simplest and most-studied statistical physics model, the so-called Ising model. The thorough understanding of Hopfield's results was made possible by methods developed in the theory of spin glasses. Hinton developed a stochastic extension of Hopfield's model, in which another cornerstone of statistical physics, the Boltzmann distribution, plays the key role.
 
Physics was not only an inspiration for creating these machine learning models, but also relies on them in applications. "The laureates’ work has already been of the greatest benefit. In physics we use artificial neural networks in a vast range of areas, such as developing new materials with specific properties,” says Ellen Moons, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics.
 
Statistical phyiscs as well as machine learning plays a pivotal role BME's physics BSc, physicist-engineer BSc, and physicist MSc training, e.g., in the form of the courses Statistical Physics 1 and 2, Physics of Disordered Systems, Introduction to Machine Learning, and Artificial Intellingence in Data Science. Researchers of BME Institute of Physics apply and develop methods of machine learning: an application example is a neural-network-based method for malaria diagnostics, and a development example is the realistic simulation of a memristor-based Hopfield neural network. 
 
Press release on the webpage of the Nobel Prize: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2024/summary/ 
 
Link: 
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2024/summary/

Imaging antiferromagnetic domains

2024. October 01.

BME researchers observed exceptionally strong non-reciprocal light absorption in LiCoPO4. They exploited this optical contrast to detect antiferromagnetic domains, which are usually hidden for conventional microscopy techniques. The findings were published in the Physical Review B as a Letter, as Editors' Suggestion, and a synopsis also highlights this study in the Physics Magazine.
 

B. Tóth, V. Kocsis, Y. Tokunaga, Y. Taguchi, Y. Tokura, and S. Bordács
Imaging antiferromagnetic domains in LiCoPO4 via the optical magnetoelectric effect
 
Summary in Physics Magazine:
Charles Day
Imaging Antiferromagnetic Domains

 

Link: 
https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.110.L100405

Laser-based research in the Institute of Physics

2024. September 21.

Researchers of the Department of Atomic Physics and the Department of Physics report on their laser-based projects in the September issue of Fizikai Szemle. 

 

Barócsi Attila, Bokor Nándor, Bordács Sándor, Erdei Gábor, Gádoros Patrik, Holló Csaba, Koppa Pál, Kornis János, Lenk Sándor, Maák Pál, Papp Zsolt, Sarkadi Tamás, Simon Ferenc
Lézeres kutatások a BME TTK Fizikai Intézetében
Fizikai Szemle, p. 312., 2024/9 (in Hungarian)
Article as a pdf.

 

Link: 
https://fizikaiszemle.elft.hu/szemle/132

Novel light source in the terahertz range

2024. September 02.

BME researchers have created a new, diamond-based light source, operating in the terahertz range of electromagnetic radiation. Published in Science Advances.

 

Summary at bme.hu (in Hungarian): https://www.bme.hu/hirek/240827/terahertz-sugarzas-kutatas-ttk

Press release in English: pdf.

 

Sándor Kollarics, Bence Gábor Márkus, Robin Kucsera, Gergő Thiering, Ádám Gali, Gergely Németh, Katalin Kamarás, László Forró, Ferenc Simon
Terahertz emission from diamond nitrogen-vacancy centers
Science Advances 10, eadn0616 (2024)
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adn0616

 

Link: 
https://www.bme.hu/hirek/240827/terahertz-sugarzas-kutatas-ttk

Publication Award of Excellence

2024. July 31.

Our colleagues Robin Kucsera and Ferenc Simon receive one of the 2024 Publication Awards of Excellence of the Hungarian Physical Society (ELFT) for their educational article published in the monthly journal Fizikai Szemle of the Society.
 
Robin Kucsera, Ference Simon
Irreversibility and spin echo
in Hungarian, Fizikai Szemle, 2023 October
 
The other 2024 Publication Award of Excellence honors an article of Gabriella Pásztor (Eötvös University). 
 
Our earlier news item on the publication of Robin Kucsera and Ference Simon: https://physics.bme.hu/Echo2023?language=en
 
Link: 
http://elft.hu/tarsulatrol/dijak/a-tarsulat-altal-adomanyozhato-kituntetesek-es-dijak/marx-gyorgy-fizikai-szemle-nivodij/

Ultralong carrier lifetime in solar cells

2024. July 02.

Research on novel photovoltaic materials, done in collaboration between Semilab Zrt. and our Institute of Physics, is published in Advanced Energy & Sustainability Research. 
 
Novel, perovskite-based photovoltaic materials are expected to yield a new generation of solar cells with an increased efficiency, and harvesting a different part of the optical spectrum, compared to conventional silicon-based devices. One of the major research challenges in this field is to understand carrier lifetimes and the physical processes governing those. Scientists of BME Institute of Physics, in collaboration with Semilab Zrt. in Budapest in the framework of the Cooperative Doctoral Program, gained new insights along this research line. The study was published in June 2024 in the journal Advanced Energy & Sustainability Research, with open-access availability at this link.
 
András Bojtor, Dávid Krisztián, Ferenc Korsós, Sándor Kollarics, Gábor Paráda, Thomas Pinel, Márton Kollár, Endre Horváth, Xavier Mettan, Hidetsugu Shiozawa, Bence G. Márkus, László Forró, Ferenc Simon
Millisecond-Scale Charge-Carrier Recombination Dynamics in the CsPbBr3 Perovskite
Advanced Energy & Sustainability Research
 

 

Quantum Technology Summer in Budapest

2024. June 13.

Three subsequent quantum technology events take place between June 10th and 20th in Budapest, all co-organised by scientists of the BME Institute of Physics.
 
The Defects in Solids for Quantum Technologies (DSQT) conference takes place from June 10 to 14 at the Roland Eötvös University (ELTE). Research in the past few decades revealed that point defects in semiconductors can be used in all four main areas of quantum technology -- quantum computing, quantum simulation, quantum communication, as well as quantum sensing. The conference brings world-leading experts of the field to Budapest. Hungarian members of the international organizing committee hosting the event are Ádám Gali (HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics and BME Institute of Physics) and Viktor Ivády (ELTE).
 
On June 17-18, the meeting of the OpenSuperQPlus consortium, consisting of 28 European organizations, will take place in the BME Q building. The long-term goal of this Horizon Europe project, carried out in a strong  academic-industrial cooperation, is to develop a quantum computer based on superconducting technology, consisting of 1,000 quantum bits. Among the Hungarian research centers, BME's Institute of Physics and the  HUN-REN Wigner RCP participate in the OpenSuperQPlus project, providing theoretical support for the development of the quantum computer. The Budapest meeting is organized by János Asbóth and András Pályi on behalf of BME, and Orsolya Kálmán and Zoltán Zimborás on behalf of HUN-REN Wigner RCP.
 
On June 19-20, a conference on Recent Advances in Quantum Computing and Technology (ReAQCT) will take place at the Bosch Budapest Innovation Campus. The event is jointly organized by several universities and research centers in Budapest. BME is represented in the organizing committee by András Pályi (BME TTK), and in the program committee by János Asbóth (BME TTK) and Eszter Udvary (BME VIK).
 
The DSQT and ReAQCT conferences are supported by the Quantum Information National Laboratory of Hungary.
 

The legacy of Gordon Moore

2024. June 12.

Obituary of Gordon Moore, a key figure in the historical development of the semiconductor industry, has been published in Fizikai Szemle, co-authored by Prof. Ferenc Simon of the BME Institute of Physics. 

 

Fürjes Péter, Simon Ferenc, Volk János
Gordon Moore öröksége
Fizikai Szemle, May 2024, page 169
Article (in Hungarian) as a pdf: [pdf].

 

Link: 
https://fizikaiszemle.elft.hu/szemle/129

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