News

A new study by researchers at IFW Dresden and the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat shows that although PtBi₂ looks like an ordinary shiny gray crystal, the electrons moving across its surfaces behave in ways never seen before. Intriguingly, the edges of the superconducting surfaces host long-sought Majorana particles — promising candidates for fault-tolerant quantum bits (qubits) in future quantum computers.

Professor Roderich Moessner, director of the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden and a Principal Investigator of the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat, will be awarded the 2026 Max Born Prize in recognition of his outstanding scientific contributions to physics.

At ct.qmat, five esteemed members have been named among the world’s most frequently cited scientists.

Topological insulators could form the basis for revolutionary electronic components. However, as they generally only function at very low temperatures, their practical application has been severely limited to date. Researchers at the University of Würzburg have now developed a topological insulator that also works at higher temperatures.

In keeping with the international quantum year "Quantum 2025", around 600 children experienced the fascinating phenomena of quantum physics live at the Würzburg children's university.

An international research team, including scientists from the IFW Dresden and the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat, has discovered a new transport phenomenon in the material platinum-bismuth (PtBi₂).

Frauenpower für die Quantenphysik: Vom 30. Juni bis 2. Juli 2025 wurde der Hubland-Campus der Universität Würzburg zum Treffpunkt für Quantenphysikerinnen aus aller Welt. Zum zweiten Mal hatte das Grete-Hermann-Netzwerk des Exzellenzclusters ct.qmat – Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter der Universitäten Würzburg und Dresden zu einem Workshop eingeladen.

Karl Leo, professor of optoelectronics at TU Dresden and a principal investigator of the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat, has been awarded the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the region’s research landscape. The honor was presented by Minister President Michael Kretschmer to 13 individuals closely connected to Saxony during a ceremony at Dresden’s Royal Palace on June 17, 2025.

Claudia Felser, one of the principal investigators of the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat and a scientific vice president of the Max Planck Society, has been awarded the prestigious international For Women in Science prize by the L’Oréal Foundation and UNESCO. The award ceremony took place today in Paris.

A research team from ct.qmat, in a collaboration with an international team, has detected optical quasiparticles on the surface of an antiferromagnetic quantum material for the very first time. Previously, scientists only knew that these excitons could form inside these materials. The breakthrough results have been published in Nature Materials.

The Equal Opportunities in Physics Taskforce is committed to promoting diversity in science by raising the visibility of role models. The Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat is a proud partner in this initiative, which received the University of Würzburg’s 2025 Gender Equality Award.