Welcome to the Condensed Matter Physics Group
Recent research highlights
Graphene and Other Two-Dimensional Materials
We found a new class of materials which is now referred to as 2D atomic crystals. Such crystals can be seen as individual atomic planes “pulled out” of bulk, 3D crystals. Despite being only one atom thick and unprotected from the immediate environment, these materials are stable under ambient conditions, exhibit high crystal quality and are continuous on a macroscopic scale (latest overviews in Physics World and Physics Today and our review in Nature Materials).
Selected publications - In the News
NanoOptics
We have nanofabricated a medium with strong magnetic response at visible-light frequencies, including a band with negative m. A medium is made of electromagnetically coupled pairs of gold dots with geometry and symmetry carefully designed at nanometre level. The 600-700Thz magnetic response arises due to the excitation of an antisymmetric plasmon resonance. The high-frequency permeability qualitatively reveals itself in a novel effect of optical impedance matching. Our approach shows for the first time the feasibility of magnetism at visible frequencies and paves a way towards magnetic and left-handed components for visible optics.
Selected publications - In the News
Mesoscopic Superconductivity
We developed a pioneering technique named ballistic Hall magnetometry, which allowed magnetisation measurements of individual superconductors of submicron size. This work has led to a number of surprising and counter-intuitive observations, such as giant, fractional and “negative” vortices and the paramagnetic Meissner effect.
Selected publications - In the News
Magnetic Levitation
Our educational experiments on magnetic levitation have attracted both intense attention of experts and massive media coverage and are featured in dozens of textbooks.
Selected publications - In the News
Gecko tape
We demonstrated a new microfabricated adhesive based on the same physics mechanism that underlies the amazing climbing ability of geckos. The work is rated by experts as the first proof of concept of dry adhesives based on van der Waals interaction.
Selected publications - In the News
Sub-atomic movements of magnetic domain walls
We have also exploited the technique of ballistic Hall micromagnetometry to detect sub-nanometre changes in the position of individual domain walls and observed how they move between adjacent Peierls valleys