2021
2021
- The physics competition‘Katja’s Big Throw’, for pupils aged 10 to 14, has begun. It is organised by the Working Group on Physics Didactics and Science Communication. Those interested can register for the competition in groups of up to three until 17 December. The competition itself is scheduled for 15 February (see www.presse.uni-oldenburg.de/mit/2021/215.html)
Participants are tasked with helping Katja get her birthday present for Anna across the River Hunte, whilst fulfilling a series of conditions. In doing so, they will imagine themselves back in a time when Oldenburg was surrounded by marshland and moorland and there were no bridges across the River Hunte. With a spirit of experimentation and a love of tinkering, they are to construct a tower from which to throw the present across the river.
The group with the best solution will receive prize money of 200 euros. Second place will be rewarded with 150 euros, and third place with 100 euros. Full details and a video explaining the task can be found at uol.de/diphywi/schuelerwettbewerb.
The competition was organised by Anna Maroti and Katja Seidel, who are completing their Voluntary Academic Year (FWJ) in the Physics Education Working Group. They are accepting entries ( or ) and are available to answer any questions. The competition is also part of the BMBF project AHOI_MINT, which aims to promote regional education in the so-called STEM subjects (www.ahoi-mint.de/) and is co-led by the Physics Education Working Group.
- Extremely thin crystals as laser light sources
Crystals consisting of just three layers of atoms can emit light at room temperature that resembles that of a laser. These novel materials therefore have the potential to be used as light sources in miniaturised circuits or even in future quantum applications. This is reported by an international team led by the Oldenburg physicists Dr Hangyon Shan, Prof. Dr Christian Schneider and Dr Carlos Anton-Solanas in the journal *Nature Communications*.
www.presse.uni-oldenburg.de/mit/2021/194.html
www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26715-9 - Half of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Professor Giorgio Parisi of the University of Rome. One of his key areas of research, for which Professor Parisi received the Nobel Prize, is spin glasses.
Anyone wishing to explore the physics of spin glasses in a fun way can play the board game “Spinglas – Meine Party!”, which was developed at the University of Oldenburg. The game can be purchased from the Computer Physics Research Group (directly from Prof. Dr Alexander Hartmann), or downloaded free of charge to make your own. - Many lasers oscillate together as if they were a single laser
The development of a topological, vertically emitting laser array, involving scientists from the Quantum Materials Research Group at the University of Oldenburg, was published in the journal *Science*:
doi.org/10.1126/science.abj2232
phys.org/news/2021-09-tiny-lasers-topological-vertical-cavity.html
uol.de/en/quantum-materials - The “Applied Photonics” Summer School, organised by Prof. Dr Walter Neu of the University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer and the University of Oldenburg, will take place in Bad Honnef from 5 to 10 September 2021. Last-minute participants can still register via the website: www.appliedphotonics.de/
- There will be a two-week preliminary course in maths for all first-year students in the 2021/22 winter semester!
- On the website of the Young German Physical Society (jDPG), a former student and doctoral candidate from our Institute of Physics, Daniela Poppinga, is interviewed about her physics studies and her career.
Here isthe link to the jDPG podcast. - On the way to the smallest possible laser
Physicists in Oldenburg create an exotic quantum state in a crystal made from a single atomic layer
www.presse.uni-oldenburg.de/mit/2021/075.html
uol.de/en/quantum-materials
Here is also the link to the original publication
www.nature.com/articles/s41563-021-01000-8 - Online International Conference: “European Hyperloop Technology”
Development of Large-Scale Research Infrastructure
with Minister Björn Thümler and Vice-President Martin-Georg Fränzle.
Registration: indico.cern.ch/event/1000964/registrations/69507/
Organisers: University of Oldenburg
Emden/Leer University of Applied Sciences, Institute for Hyperloop Technology
Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture
The conference programme can be found here.
Further information is available here.
A welcome message from the Minister for Science can be found here.
The conference presentations can be downloaded here.