Leading scientists and talented experts received awards, which include financial support for their research, from Radomír Pánek, President of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Lukáš Palatinus received the prestigious Praemium Academiae Award, while Filip Křížek received the Lumina quaeruntur Award. Both award winners work at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Lukáš Palatinus is engaged in research in the field of electron crystallography. In the coming years, he and his team aim to achieve significant advances in three areas of structural analysis with a key impact on materials, chemical, and pharmaceutical research.
First, he wants to incorporate machine learning methods into the solution of crystal structures, as he intends to achieve a crystallographic model for complex substances with low-quality crystals.
The team's second goal is to develop electron crystallography methods for imperfect crystals. This work builds on the significant achievements the team has already made to make accurate structural analysis more accessible for poorly crystalline substances.
The third and biggest challenge is the 3D imaging of non-periodic material at atomic resolution. Lukáš Palatinus' team wants to tackle this by developing methods of electron ptychography and ptychotomography. In electron ptychography, a very narrow beam of electrons is moved across the surface of the sample, recording a complete two-dimensional diffraction image at each point. The result is a four-dimensional dataset (two image dimensions and two dimensions in diffraction space). Electron ptychotomography works on the simple principle that the recording of the aforementioned dataset and the subsequent ptychographic reconstruction can be performed at different sample inclinations. By combining the individual projections, a three-dimensional image of the examined material is obtained.
“I find it pleasantly symbolic that Václav Petříček, who is not only an outstanding scientist and my crystallography guru, but also one of the first four winners of the Academic Award in 2007, used part of the funds received as part of the award to support the launch of my electron crystallography project. So I think that in the form of the award given to me, the Academic Award program is entering its second generation, where one award leads to successes that lead to another. I am personally very pleased about this," said Lukáš Palatinus during his acceptance speech.
Filip Křížek specializes in the development of hybrid material systems for quantum technologies. His goal is to design a new generation of quantum components based on previously little-explored combinations of superconductors, magnets, and semiconductors.
The basic idea is to incorporate magnetic elements and spintronic concepts into established superconducting-semiconductor devices. This approach opens the way to solving fundamental questions, for example in the design of qubit (quantum bit) architectures controlled by magnetic flux or in the development of nonreciprocal superconducting components (i.e., elements with unidirectional electrical signal conduction analogous to classical diodes). The proposed hybrid systems will also provide a universal platform for studying interactions between superconductivity and the so-called altermagnetism – a newly described form of magnetism.
During his doctoral studies at the University of Copenhagen (where he still works), Filip Křížek participated in the development of semiconductor-superconducting nanowire networks led by Microsoft, which are still being researched as a platform for new types of qubits. At the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, he focuses on the development of magnetic materials for spintronics and the study of their properties at the microscopic level. He also gained experience during a postdoctoral fellowship at ETH Zurich funded by IBM.
We congratulate both award-winning colleagues and look forward to the benefits of their future research!
Praemium Academiae
The purpose of the Academic Award, as a strictly selective tool for financial and moral support of scientific excellence at the Czech Academy of Sciences, is to support outstanding scientists who conduct research at the highest international level and to create conditions in which they can better develop their potential for the benefit of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Czech science as a whole. The award winners can draw on the grant of up to CZK 30 million over the next six years to cover costs related to research, salaries, or the purchase of technical equipment.
Lumina quaeruntur
The Lumina quaeruntur award is aimed at scientists on the threshold of middle age, including those returning to active careers after parental leave. It is intended to help laureates establish their own research groups, with support of up to CZK 4 million per calendar year for a maximum period of five years. At least 20% of the budget is covered by the academic institution where the laureate will work.
Photo: Jana Plavec, External Relations Division of CAS
Source: Czech Academy of Sciences
