News : Solid state physics, surfaces and interfaces

Wireless sensor networks and smart sensors are at the core of the Internet of Things, requiring low cost, compact and low power electronic components. The most power consuming parts are the wireless communication transmitter and receiver modules, which remain active more or less permanently, while actual communication takes place only during a limited amount of […] >>

Two-dimensional atomically thin materials such as graphene are very promising materials for future applications.  Among them, 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (2D-TMDs), such as MoS2 and MoSe2, have attracted tremendous attention for their exceptional optical and electronic properties ranging from semiconducting, to metallic or superconducting. The physical properties of these 2D layers are first defined by […] >>

In the monolayer limit, two dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (2H-MX2, with M=Mo, W and X=S, Se) are semiconductors with a sizeable (1-2 eV) and direct electronic bandgap as well as (degenerate) valleys at the K+/K- corners of the Brillouin zone. Beyond their use as classical semiconductors, this peculiar electronic structure opens new and exciting […] >>

Research on graphene and 2D materials is currently very dynamic, as these materials show high potential for future 2D electronics. Due to their high surface-to-volume ratio and unique electronic structure, 2D materials show radically new proximity effects when they are combined into multilayers. Very recently, the first 2D ferromagnets have been discovered. This opens important […] >>

The precise knowledge of magnetic properties of ferromagnetic materials is necessary for the optimum design of space cryocoolers. Adiabatic magnetization refrigerators (ADR) achieve temperatures lower than 100 mK (-273°C), which are necessary for the space detectors to achieve a high sensitivity necessary to astrophysics observations. Magnetic fields on the order of 1 T are generated […] >>