Today, the NNV and the Dutch Physics Council (DPC) announced that AMOLF tenure track group leader Wiebke Albrecht is one of the two recipients of the Minerva prize 2021. She shares the prize with Natalia Chepiga (Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft). The Minerva Prize is awarded to an outstanding young female or non-binary physicist in the Netherlands with an overall performance that scientifically excels in any subfield of physics. Both experimental and theoretical scientific physics research are taken into account. Albrecht and Chepiga share the prize money of € 5000.
At AMOLF Albrecht leads the group Hybrid Nanosystems. She investigates the interaction between light and matter at the atomic level. By combining several techniques Albrecht is able to focus on defects at the atomic level and to understand what the consequential effects are on the material properties.
The award ceremony of the first NNV/DPC Minerva Prize, takes place at Physics@Veldhoven 2022.
Read more about the Minerva Prize
Four PhD students defended their thesis and are about to take the next steps in their career. Congratulations to Colin Meulblok (Mechanical Metamaterials), Francesca Scalerandi (Hybrid Nanosystems), Vashist Gangigude Ramesh (Interacting Photons), and Parisa Omidvar (Hypersmart Matter). We wish you all the best in your next steps!
AMOLF group leaders Professor Wiebke Albrecht and Professor Bruno Ehrler have received an NWO ENW-M2 grant for their joint research project, The Dynamic Atomic Interface between Halide Perovskites and Metals. The insights gained will pave the way for sustainable, high-performance solar energy and information technology. Wiebke and Bruno will each hire a PhD student for this project. The grant amounts to €800.000.
On October 8, Professor Wim Noorduin and his collaborator Professor Arian van Asten (University of Amsterdam) presented their scientific journey in a video to the audience at the ‘Avond van Wetenschap en Maatschappij’. They did so alongside the other nominees for the Huibregtsen Prize.
Silicon solar panels are rigid and heavy, and many rooftops cannot support them. This creates a need for thin, flexible solar cells that can be integrated into building materials. However, making silicon solar cells thinner makes it harder to trap light inside the material. Researchers in the 3D Photovoltaics group found a fascinating way to overcome this challenge using a phenomenon called hyperuniform disorder. They publish their findings in the journal ACS Photonics.
The researchers were able to make highly efficient silicon solar cell materials that are 30 times thinner than conventional ones. They managed to do this by integrating a layer of nanometer sized structures on top of the material. Up close, this pattern looks random, but it is remarkably when you step back: no clumps, no gaps, and no repeating pattern. This is called hyperuniform disorder (or HUD).
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