Research

The family of magnetic materials has been traditionally divided into the ferromagnetic branch known for several millennia and the antiferromagnetic branch known for nearly a century. Researchers from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, together with international collaborators, have recently made a discovery of a new branch of the magnetic family, termed altermagnetic.

A research team from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, led by Hana Lísalová from the Laboratory of Functional Biointerfaces (LFB) of the Division of Optics, has developed a new polymeric nanocoating. It effectively prevents the accumulation of proteins and bacteria on the surface of biomaterials while promoting desirable immune cell responses and supporting the growth of bone-forming cells. 

Justin C. Feng from the Department of Cosmology and Gravitational Physics at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences and independent researcher Chris Reiss have co-authored a study on using time dilation from special and general relativity to travel between stars without extreme aging differences between travelers and their home civilization.

Jan Ebr, Jakub Vícha, and Jiří Blažek from the Department of Astroparticle Physics at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences contributed to an article published recently in Nature Reviews Physics.

The team from the Division of Optics of the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences has succeeded with a project proposal titled Enhancing the Efficiency of Latent Fingerprint Visualization Methods. The project aims to improve the detection of invisible (latent) fingerprint traces, particularly on challenging surfaces, thereby contributing to greater success in forensic investigations.

Imagine flipping a dial to make a material behave like a perfect conductor, a complete blocker, or something intriguingly in-between that could help us to better understand the puzzling quantum world. That’s the idea behind a new study in Physical Review Letters, co-authored by FZU researcher Filip Křížek within an international collaboration.

The team led by Hana Lísalová from the Optics Section of the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with scientists from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University, used surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and a molecular probe to map hidden defects in polymer nanobrushes and demonstrated how these defects can be prevented in the future.

On Tuesday, October 7, 2025, a joint conference of the Institute of Physics (FZU) and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (IOCB) of the Academy of Sciences took place. Its aim was to find potentially interesting topics on which to build long-term cooperation between the two institutes of the Academy of Sciences.

A recent study published in Advanced Science unveils a groundbreaking approach to designing responsive materials by manipulating atomic vibrations.