Prof. dr. Svjetlana Fajfer, the Department of Theoretical Physics of the Jožef Stefan Institute gave a Theory Summary talk at the Electroweak Interactions & Unified Theories 2024 conference, which took place from March 24 to 31, 2024 in La Thuile, Italy. The Rencontres de Moriond are series of the most prestigious conferences in the field of particle physics around the world, which every year present important results, more than 100 lecturers appeared with presentations of collaborations from CERN ATLAS, CMS, LHCb, Belle II, BaBaR, astroparticle experiments LUXE, LUXE 2, neutrino experiments Katrin, T2K, No a, CUORE, FASER, ICECUBE, Alpha-g, search for axions in experiments LIDA and 21 cm. There were a total of 77 talks of which 54 were from the field of experimental research and 23 from the field of theoretical research. Young researchers presented their results in young scientist forums as five-minute lectures. In the closing lecture of the conference, Svjetlana Fajfer presented an overview of the theoretical talks at the conference and the prospects of theoretical physics of elementary particles. |
On March 4, 2024, the kick-off meeting of the new European doctoral network “Magnetic Soft Matter for Robotics” (MAESTRI) took place at the East Bavarian Technical University (OTH) Regensburg. This doctoral network responds to the existing need to train a new generation of experts in the emerging subfield of soft robotics, which is based on the control of material properties through a magnetic field - magnetic soft robotics. The materials involved are elastomers and complementary fluids filled with micro- and nanometer-sized magnetic particles. The consortium consists of seven academic and two industrial partners in five countries (Denmark, Germany, Italy, Austria, Slovenia), who come from the fields of biology, materials science, physics and robotics. Another three associated partners from the USA, Germany, and Slovenia (The Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School) are involved in research and teaching transferable skills. In this project, Department for Materials Synthesis, JSI, (Prof. Darko Makovec, Prof. Darja Lisjak) is responsible for synthesis of the magneto-responsive materials. |
Dr. Urška Trstenjak from Department for Advanced Materials Department at Jožef Stefan Institute, together with the Electronic Materials research group (PGI-7) from, has published a paper entitled Heterogeneous Integration of Graphene and HfO₂ Memristors in Advanced Functional Materials. Using pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) the team successfully syntheiszed HfO₂ thin films on graphene/SiO₂/Si templates via quasi van der Waals growth. By analyzing the data obtained from Raman spectroscopy in detail, they found that the defects induced in the graphene by the HfO₂ deposition are predominantly sp²-type, and are formed due to the high kinetic energy of the plasma-plume particles. They showed that by replacing oxygen with argon during PLD growth of hafnia, the hafnia layer remains sufficiently oxidized, while the underlying graphene is well preserved and can be used as a bottom electrode for memristive devices. The findings of the study, that graphene can be used for the heterogeneous integration of crystalline HfO₂ thin films, can be ulitized for the design of other graphene-containing electronic devices. |
At the Department of Knowledge Technologies and the Department of Intelligent Systems at Jožef Stefan Institute they have kick-started the new year with work on the SEEDS project — Cost-effective and replicable RES-integrated electrified heating and cooling systems for improved energy efficiency and demand response. The project is funded within the EU Horizon Europe programme and brings together 26 partners from 8 different countries, with a total budget of 14.3 € million, 0.75 € million of which is shared between the two departments at JSI. The main focus within SEEDS is on creating a methodology for offering locally distributed energy flexibility services to various market players. These services play a crucial role in enhancing grid stability but come with challenges such as dynamic resource allocation, aggregation, adherence to controllers, and collaboration among numerous stakeholders. To address these complexities, they will employ advanced techniques and multi-criteria decision modeling. The solution will undergo testing at the Slovenian pilot site alongside Petrol d.d. and Elektro Celje d.d., paving the way for large-scale implementation of these services. |
