The German Research Foundation (DFG) is establishing 14 new Priority Programmes (SPP) for the year 2020. This was decided by the DFG Senate in Bonn. One of the 14 new programs, selected from 50 submitted initiatives, was set up with the contribution of Prof. Christoph Stampfer (a member of the Aachen Graphene & 2D Materials Center) and focuses on 2D material based heterostructures. The new program is entitled “2D Materials – Physics of van der Waals Heterostructures (2DMP)” and it is coordinated by Prof. Dr. Thomas Heine (TU Dresden).
Press release on the website of the DFG.
Novel Types of Quantum Bits
The research team of Professor Markus Morgenstern, chair of experimental physics (solid state physics) at RWTH Aachen University, discovered new possibilities for quantum electronics, with the support of colleagues from the Technical University of Vienna and the University of Manchester. The physicists combined two ultrathin materials, namely graphene and Boron-Nitride, in a way which makes it possible to switch individual electrons between two states. For the first time, this allowed them to invert the so-called valley degree of freedom of the electron. The new discovery could be useful for advanced information processing. The research results have now been published in the scientific journal ‟Nature Nanotechnology”.