Solid State Spectroscopy

Our team at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, in collaboration with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, has uncovered a fundamental link between charge order and the pseudogap phase in the stoichiometric cuprate superconductor YBa₂Cu₄O₈ (Y124). more

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. This makes it attractive for use in sustainable technologies, such as energy storage and fuel cells, but also in novel electronic components. In contact with transition metal-oxygen compounds, it can reversibly change electrical resistance or magnetism, thereby creating functionality. However, three fundamental questions always arise: how much hydrogen is in the material, in what form is it incorporated and how stable is the compound? more

In search of exotic quantum magnetism on a frustrated pyrochlore lattice, scientists from the Max Planck Institute discovered an unexpected valence bond state arising from unique quenching of bond degree of freedom. more

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The atomic structure of some crystals, such as quartz, can be recognized with the naked eye by looking at their facets. In others, these are difficult to distinguish, even by x-ray diffraction.  What happens when a second material is grown, atom by atom, on only slightly different facets of a single crystal? Are the physical properties of the deposited material changed? more