Our colleague Antonio Šiber, in collaboration with Anže Božič from the Jožef Stefan Institute has published an article in prestigious journal, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The authors investigated how the infolding of the pollen grain depends on its mechanical design. Their elastic model of the grain showed that the elasticity and geometry of the grain must be precisely tuned in order to enable the infolding which reflect directly on the functionality and the evolution of the pollen.

Our colleagues Davor Čapeta and Marko Kralj, as part of international cooperation, published a paper in the prestigious journal ACS Nano. The paper demonstrates the possibility of forming a free-standing nano-membrane, which consists of a periodic network of metallic nano-clusters on graphene, additionally reinforced with protective layer of amorphous carbon.

Our colleagues Marin Petrović and Marko Kralj, in collaboration with researchers from Kyoto University, published a paper in Physical Review Letters. Intercalation and adsorption of alkali atoms has been utilized for the formation of a 2D material-alkali sandwich, which enabled strong localization of the system’s wavefunction and the formation of a pronounced multipole plasmon.

Our colleagues Marin Petrović and Marko Kralj, in collaboration with researchers from Kyoto University, published a study in high-ranking Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. Utilization of epitaxial graphene as a substrate for preparation of high-quality tetracene thin film enabled characterization of new processes relevant to exciton spectral diffusion in tetracene.

Our colleague Eduard Tutiš, in collaboration with scientists from Switzerland, Germany and Department of Physics of PMF in Zagreb, published paper in npj 2D materials and Applications. The paper provides the first experimental and theoretical insight into the state with electronic orbitals getting self-organized into metallic objects (the “Chains of Stars”) extending in direction perpendicular to layers.

Our colleague Dino Novko, in collaboration with scientists from Humboldt-University in Germany and Istituto di Struttura della Materia in Italy, has published a paper in prestigious journal Physical Review Letters. The authors investigate the unique hot phonon dynamics of E_2g mode in MgB₂ by using first-principle quantum-field theoretical approach.

Dino Novko, research associate at the Institute of Physics, published a paper in the prestigious journal Communications Physics, where he proved that the adiabatic Born-Oppenheimer approximation is not valid in transition metal dichalcogenides and that a strong nonadiabatic phonon renormalization is triggered at the Lifshitz transition.

Just before Christmas we recieved great news from our colleague Marin Petrović who, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Duisburg-Essen, came to new findings important for understanding of synthesis of single-layer hexagonal boron nitride. Research results have been published in Scientific Reports, where it is shown how the morphology of the substrate which is used in the synthesis determines the shape of the growing domains of the hexagonal boron nitride.

Ivan Balog, together with a collaboration of scientists from Sorbonne Université, Visage Technologies AB, CEA Saclay and the University of Montevideo, has published an article in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters. Authors have studied the convergence properties of the derivative expansion, an approximation which is often used for calculating the long wavelength properties in statistical physics, condensed matter and high energy physics.

Our colleague Damir Altus, together with Institute’s alumni M. Lihter and S. Marion, who currently work in the group of prof. A. Rađenović at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, published a paper in prestigious journal Nano Letters about DNA detection using a MoS₂ nanopore. DNA molecules are sensed by correlated signals from the ionic current through the nanopore and the transverse current through the nanoribbon. The resulting signal suggests a field-effect sensing scheme where the charge of the molecule is directly sensed by the nanoribbon.