NUST MISIS has been awarded a so-called megagrant by the Russian government. Funded by the megagrant, a new laboratory on “Functional Quantum Materials” will be set up. The new laboratory will be led by Rüdiger Klingeler, Professor of Experimental Physics at Heidelberg University, Germany. An international research team will be established to exploit the particular quantum nature of novel materials as a new route towards innovative materials and devices with unprecedented properties that are a prerequisite for quantum technologies.
According to Prof. Klingeler, the project will identify, investigate and tune materials whose properties are governed by quantum cooperative effects. It is indeed the quantum nature of matter which manifests itself in the emergence of superconductivity, magnetism, ferroelectricity and related phenomena such as quantum liquids, charge density waves, multiferroic and topological effects, and which can bring information and energy-saving technologies to a new level, he explains.
In their experiments, the researchers will be focusing on controlling quantum ground states through structural effects exploiting doping, high-pressure, and magnetostriction as well as dimensionality tuning.
In general, the project will yield the microscopic mechanisms governing electronic quantum ground states in solids so that technologically relevant quantum phases can be identified and tuned, Prof. Klingeler noted. The results will enable the exploitation of new functions evolving in quantum materials and open a broad field of research relevant both for fundamental and applied sciences.
The megagrant project will continue a long-term scientific collaboration between Prof. Klingeler’s group at Heidelberg University and a Russian research team led by Aleksand Vassiliev, leading expert at NUST MISIS, Chair of Low-Temperatures Physics and Superconductivity Department and Division of Solid State Physics at Lomonosov Moscow State University. The international team also includes researchers from NUST MISIS, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Institute of Experimental Mineralogy of Russian Academy of Sciences, and Uppsala University Sweden.
The laboratory on “Functional Quantum Materials” will become the sixths laboratory at NUST MISIS to be funded by a megagrant.
This year, a total of 43 new research projects will be launched and new state-of-the art laboratories will be set up at Russian universities and research institutions under the megagrant program.
The megagrant program was launched in 2010 with the issue of the Decree No. 220 by the Government of the Russian Federation. It is intended to serve several purposes, from attracting renowned international scientists to Russian institutions to building the country’s research capabilities.
