Programme Johannes Amos Comenius - Cutting-edge research
AMULET
The initial kick-off meeting on Monday 4 March 2024 marked the start of the OP JAC project entitled AMULET: Advanced MUltiscaLe materials for key Enabling Technologies. The project focuses on advanced engineering of multi-scale materials from sub-nanometer design to integration into functional architectures for real-world applications in Key Enabling Technologies, which are innovative technology areas with significant impact on the EU economy and competitiveness.
The Laboratory of Tandetron (LT) of the Nuclear Physics Institute of the CAS participates mainly in research projects focused on multiscale engineering of advanced materials, where the use of ion beams is expected to create complex hierarchical systems at the micro and nano level with applications in sensors, microelectronics and optics. In parallel, the LT is involved in a research work-package dealing with materials for photocatalysis and, for example, materials for hydrogen production.
Preparations are currently underway for the purchase and installation of instruments that the laboratory has been seeking for many years, namely a small scanning electron microscope with elemental mapping capability and an instrument for in situ analysis of surface morphology at the nm level by AFM with simultaneous detailed analysis by Raman spectroscopy. Both instruments will open up entirely new possibilities for the analysis of nano and microstructures prepared in the Tandetron Laboratory, with the possibility of new scientific results in linking targeted ion beam modification of surfaces to the subsequent generation of desirable physical properties.
The project is coordinated by the J. Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry of the CAS, other partner institutions besides the NPI are: the The University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS, the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics and the Faculty of Science of Charles University, the Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the CAS, the Institute of Physics of the CAS and the Faculty of Science of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem.
NPI Project manager: Anna Macková
E-mail: mackova@ujf.cas.cz
More on the web page: www.projekt-amulet.cz
FERRMION
Scientists from the Neutron Physics Laboratory (NPL) of the Nuclear Physics Institute are involved in the OP JAC project FerrMion: ferroic multifunctionalities. The project focuses on research and development of technical applications of ferroic materials, such as ferroelastic alloys with shape memory or multiferroics combining unique electrical, magnetic and mechanical properties. The planned research covers a wide range of physical and engineering fields and promises applications in energy, medicine and robotics.
The NPL of the NPI is involved in the problems of multiscale description and microstructural engineering of ferroic materials and in material design using accelerated particles.
Since the first day of the project, the NPI team has also been working on tenders for the purchase of important instrumentation units of the project, in particular the MBE (Molecular Beam Epitaxy) system. This will be used for the preparation of ferroic hybrid layers of rare earth metals and fullerene C60, or for the creation of special ferroic composites for Li-ion battery components.
The coordinator of the FerrMion project is the Institute of Thermomechanics of the CAS. In addition to the Nuclear Physics Institute the Institute of Physics of the CAS, Charles University and the Czech Technical University in Prague also participate in the project.
NPI Project manager: Pavel Strunz
E-mail: strunz@ujf.cas.cz
More about the project on the coordinator's website here.
FORTE
The Department of Nuclear Spectroscopy of the NPI is involved in a project of the OP JAC called FORTE: Fundamental constituents of matter through frontier technologies.
Scientists involved in the FORTE project focus on key questions in the field of elementary particle physics and cosmology. Their aim is to deepen understanding of the fundamental constituents of matter in the Universe and the interacting forces. To achieve this goal, they plan to improve measurements of some parameters of the Standard Model and to search for new particles that could lead to breakthroughs in its understanding.
Specifically, the NPI team will be involved in studying the properties of quark-gluon plasma and the strong interaction in the ALICE experiment at the LHC accelerator at CERN.
The coordinator of the project is the Institute of Physics of the CAS, other partners besides the NPI are scientists from the Czech Technical University in Prague, Charles University and Palacký University in Olomouc.
NPI Project manager: Jana Bielčíková
E-mail: bielcikova@ujf.cas.cz
The full text of the coordinator's press release is here.
RES-HUM
The initial meeting of the expert team launched the OP JAC project entitled RES-HUM: Ready for the future: understanding long-term resilience of the human culture. The radiocarbon dating team from the Department of Radiation Dosimetry (DRD) is involved in the solution. The project is coordinated by Masaryk University, other partners besides the Institute of Archaeology of the CAS and the National Museum in Prague.
The group from DRD is involved in the application and development of radiocarbon dating, especially for use in archaeology and paleoecology, with an emphasis on the development of methods for dating very small samples.
A major challenge of the project will be the planned purchase of a preparative liquid chromatograph and the implementation of molecular-specific bone dating methodologies using the amino acid hydroxyproline. This will allow accurate dating even of bones with very low collagen content or high content of exogenous contaminants.
NPI Project manager:
E- mail: svetlik@ujf.cas.cz
Information about the project on the coordinator's website here.
