news 2018

Stresses and strains can drastically alter the properties of a material, and TU Wien has now developed a method to make these internal deformations visible. Two-dimensional materials such as graphene, which consist of only one or a few atomic layers, have been a very promising aspect of materials science over recent years.

TU Wien can now produce porous structures in monocrystalline silicon carbide. This opens up new possibilities for the realization of micro-and nanomachined sensors and electronic components, but also for integrated optical mirror elements to filter certain colours. Extremely fine porous structures with tiny holes - resembling a kind of sponge at nano level - can be generated in semiconductors.

On the way to an intelligent laboratory, physicists from Innsbruck and Vienna present an artificial agent that autonomously designs quantum experiments. In initial experiments, the system has independently (re)discovered experimental techniques that are nowadays standard in modern quantum optical laboratories.

At TU Wien, a major step has been taken towards linking electrical and magnetic material properties, which is crucial for possible applications in electronics. It's not exactly a new revelation that electricity and magnetism are closely linked. And yet, magnetic and electrical effects have been studied separately for some time now within the field of materials science.