News

The first phase of admission to the Master's programme at Vilnius University will continue until 28 June, 10:00 AM.

Light Conversion, a major ultrafast laser technology company, together with the family of late academician Prof. Algis Petras Piskarskas (1942-2022), has made a donation of EUR 200,000 to the Vilnius University Foundation. At the request of the patrons, the donation has created a restricted endowment sub-fund in the name of Prof. Piskarskas, the returns of which will be allocated for the named scholarships to laser physics talents.

Prof. Piskarskas, known as the father of Lithuanian lasers and one of the country's most renowned scientists, has contributed significantly to the fact that Lithuania is today known as the country of laser science. Prof. Piskarskas has devoted a great deal of attention to the strategy of high-tech development and has strived to ensure the international competitiveness of the Lithuanian laser industry. Lithuanian lasers are today exported to more than 40 countries. This success would not have been possible without the contribution of Prof. Piskarskas and his students.

"In addition to creating world-class science and business, Prof. Piskarskas actively supported the idea of the first university’s endowment fund in Lithuania. In 2016, representing the company Light Conversion, Prof. Piskarskas signed the agreement establishing the VU endowment fund. Prof. Piskarskas was also involved in the management of the VU Foundation, advising on key strategic issues. I am glad that Light Conversion and the Piskarskas family are continuing the work started by Prof. Piskarskas," says Justinas Noreika, CEO of the VU Foundation.

According to Justinas Noreika, the newly established sub-fund will be jointly invested with the existing capital of the Foundation, which has grown to EUR 3.6 million with the latest donation. In honor of late Prof. Piskarskas, the returns will be allocated for the named scholarships to the laser science talents of the VU Faculty of Physics, and to fund other scientific activities at Vilnius University.

On the 23rd of March, 2023 An international ELI workshop organised by Vilnius University and the Centre for Physical Sciences and Technology will take place at the Centre for Physical Sciences and Technology A101 auditorium (Saulėtekio av. 3)

Programme

We would like to inform you that the the abstract subbmission deadline to the International Conference for Students of Physics and Natural Sciences ‘Open Readings 2023’ is extended until February 17^th! Do not miss the chance to share your scientific work with students from all around the world. Best posters and oral presentations will be awarded.

Both registration and participation are free of charge!

Register here: https://www.openreadings.eu/registration/

Contact e-mail: info@openreadings.euinfo@openreadings.eu

Do not miss the chance to participate in the 66^th International conference for students of physics and natural sciences ‘Open Readings 2023’!

The registration closes on February 3^rd, 2023.

Register here: https://www.openreadings.eu/registration/

Registration and participation are free of charge!

Every year hundreds of students and young scientists participate in the international science conference ‘Open Readings’, where they have an opportunity to share their scientific research with other students from all around the world. They can also listen to acclaimed invited speakers and scientists who make presentations on various scientific topics (you can find more information about the conference and invited speakers here: https://www.openreadings.eu/).

Students can present posters or give oral presentations about their scientific research. More information about abstract and presentation requirements is here: https://www.openreadings.eu/abstract-and-presentations/

‘Open Readings 2023’ will be held on April 18^th-21^st, 2023, in the Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, in Vilnius, Lithuania. 

Contact information: info@openreadings.euinfo@openreadings.eu

The virtual "Edtech Conference & Hackathon: Education inside Metaverse", which will take place from 22 to 27 November, will bring together visioneers, leaders of technology companies, Lithuanian education policy makers, educators, representatives of the education sector and start-ups in one space. During the Conference, insights will be shared on a brighter and more technologically advanced future for education in the Metaverse, and during the Hackathon participants will develop effective solutions for the future of education.

If you are #EdTech or #Metaverse enthusiast, educator, student or entrepreneur – JOIN EdTech Hackathon & Conference 2022. Get to know, discuss & contribute to Education inside Metaverse!

When? Conference – November 22^nd. Hackathon - November 25^th – 27^th.

Where? Online

What’s in it for me? Cash prize fund of 6000 Eur, building new connections & business knowledge.

Register: https://bit.ly/3UScYjn

More information: https://www.vuhackathon.lt/ 

Event organized by Vilnius University Business School together with Western Union Lithuania and National Agency for Education.

Red Hat Academy is launching a promotion where the first 1,000 students who complete their Red Hat Academy Talent Network profile will receive a free exam voucher for a Preliminary Exam in Red Hat System Administration I! The promotion started October 24th, 2022 and runs through December 31st, 2022.

Requirements and prerequisites

• Must have been enrolled as a student in the Red Hat Academy program
• Completed at least 25% of the Red Hat System Administration I (RH124) course through Red Hat Academy between September 1st, 2020 through October31st, 2022
• Must have a completed student profile on the Red Hat Academy Talent Network, after October 24th, 2022
• Review theRedHat Preliminary Exam in System Administration I (PE124) objectives

For more details, please see the Terms & Conditions. Share and encourage your students to redeem this offer today.

Research on new hybrid materials continues at the Institute of Applied Electrodynamics and Telecommunications.

Recently, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite materials have aroused great interest as one of the most promising materials for the next generation of photovoltaic modules. The performance of solar cells based on these hybrid compounds is rapidly catching up with traditional inorganic semiconductors and is already above 25%. The highest performance and the best stability of hybrid perovskites are achieved by using mixed-phase compounds, in which part of the crystal components are replaced by cognate components. Despite the very large number of applied studies on such materials, the microscopic aspects of such compounds are not well known.

Here, for the first time, physicists at the VU FF have investigated structural phase transformations and dynamic phenomena in a new type of mixed methylammonium-ethylammonium hybrid perovskites. The phase diagram of these compounds and the influence of mixing on the dynamics and ordering of the molecular cations were determined. This research is expected to lead to the development of more efficient and stable solar cells.

The published research was carried out in collaboration with physicists and chemists from abroad. The crystals were grown by chemists from Poland (Low Temperature and Structure Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences) and the main experiments were carried out in the Microwave Spectroscopy Laboratory of the VU FF. Physicists from Imperial College London also contributed to the research by developing an atomistic model of the processes studied.

The researchers' research has been published in the prestigious American Chemical Society group journal Chemistry of Materials, which has a high citation rate (11).

More information:

Šimėnas et al., "Mixology of MA1-xEAxPbI3 Hybrid Perovskites: Phase Transitions, Cation Dynamics, and Photoluminescence", Chemistry of Materials (2022).

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemmater.2c02807

Funded by LMT (project S-MIP-22-73).

Physicists of Vilnius University have circumvented Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and by-passed the Pauli exclusion principle of measuring time in optical clocks more accurately by producing squeezed coherent states in an ultracold fermionic gas.

The research results of the international team with the participation of prof. Gediminas Juzeliūnas, dr. Mažena Mackoit-Sinkevičienė, dr. Giedrius Žlabys (Vilnius University, Faculty of Physics, TFAI), dr. Emilia Witkowska, Tanausu Hernández Yanes (the Institute of Physics PAS, Warsaw) in collaboration with dr. Marcin Płodzień (ICFO, Barcelona) appeared in the prestigious Physical Review Letters. 

The image illustrates the squeezing mechanism in ultra-cold gases of fermionic atoms placed in periodic optical lattices. Credit: Dr. Mazena Mackoit Sinkevičienė, Vilnius University.

UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE

The consequence of the quantum nature of objects is the Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, according to which it is impossible to measure, at the same time, all the properties of a quantum particle with any precision: for example, its location and momentum at the same time.

A quantum particle may be in different states. In the so-called coherent state, the uncertainties of measuring its location and momentum are equal. When the particle is in a state in which the uncertainty of one measurement is reduced at the cost of increasing the uncertainty of the other, it is called a squeezed state.A large number of contemporary research projects propose to use quantum effects that allow increasing the precision of measuring a given value, including quantum squeezing.

THE TICKING OF SUPER-ACCURATE CLOCKS

The most accurate clocks use atoms to measure the passage of time - the measurement of the time unit (the second) is based on the measurement of the energy difference between two energy levels, atomic oscillations. In laboratory measurements, atoms, e.g. caesium, are cooled to a temperature close to absolute zero, i.e. the order of nano kelvins, and then based on measuring the difference in the number of atoms in higher and lower energy states, atomic transition frequency is determined. This is the basis for the definition of a modern time unit. In other words, the more accurately we measure the atomic transition frequency, the greater the precision with which we can measure the passage of time. Currently, atomic clocks achieveaprecision of about one-tenth of a nanosecond per day, which means that the atomic clock may be one second late in 300 million years. Scientists are still trying to improve this amazing precision.

WHY DO WE NEED SUCH A PRECISE MEASUREMENT OF TIME?

Professional frequency measurements are very important for the development of science, for example, they allow us to verify the predictions of Einstein's general relativity and the fact that time flows differently depending on the intensity of the gravitational field, which means that time flows differently on Earth than in the satellite orbit, where the GPS satellites are located. The synchronizationof clocks on Earth and in orbit must take this effect into account. A super-accurate clock would also allowthedetectionofgravitational waves and hypothetical dark matter, which can cause slow oscillation of physical constants.

One of the simplest answers concerns the accuracy of GPS systems that we use in our daily lives when we move from one place to another. Proper time synchronization is of fundamental importance here: if the clocks in orbit and on Earth are not synchronized, the GPS system very quickly loses its location accuracy.For example, if the clocks are synchronized at the level of one-hundredth of a second, the accuracy of the position indicated by GPS is about three kilometres.Imagine the consequences of reaching the journey destination located with such accuracy.

To build such super-accurate devices as optical clocks, we need the most accurate information about individual particles. To achieve this precision, however, we need to measure so precisely that we enter the quantum world. This means that the construction of better clocks is hindered by the limits related to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Hence, the idea of creating squeezed states appears important to physicists. Simply put, it is about trapping the particles - for example in the lattice of an optical 'cage' - to be able to precisely determine their certain property (atomic transition frequency) at the cost of blurring another property, which will not be important in the target device.

HOW TO PUT FERMIONS IN CONTACT 

Until now, the creation of squeezed states in ultracold atoms was possible with bosonic atoms. Such atoms are able to interact with each other as a result of collisions. For bosons, however, there is a dependence of energetic level shift, the value of which depends mainly on the density of atoms, which in turn means that the accuracy of the atomic transition frequency measurement is significantly reduced. However, the shift of energy levels in fermionic atoms is very limited, which is why fermions are perfect for precise frequency measurements. That is why scientists wanted to produce squeezed states in such atomic gases.This turned out to be a great challenge. The so-called reason was the Pauli exclusion principle that blocked the possibility of mutual interaction of fermionic atoms at temperatures close to absolute zero. As a consequence of the lack of interactions between atoms, it is not possible to generate squeezing. This limitation, however, could be bypassed.

The idea of the teamis that fermions trapped in an optical lattice, in which there is one fermion in a single lattice gap, are illuminated with an external laser light with the appropriate phase. It turns out that the coupling of atoms with light introduces the interaction we need between fermions and generates highly squeezed quantum states. Researchers hope that in the future this idea can be used to increase the accuracy of measuring the frequency of atomic transitions in extremely stable and super-accurate clocks based on fermionic atoms in optical lattices.The method proposed by our physicistsrequires only a small modification of systems currently studied in laboratories, both ultra-cold fermions placed in the periodic optical lattice, as well as the so-called optical tweezers.

Research is financed as part of theLMT S-LL-21-3,NCN DAINA and NAWA BKKER 2020 projects.

Registration is now open for Vilnius University's Student for a Day event, which has already become a tradition and will take place on 24-28 October. During the event, Lithuanian and foreign students can see how higher education is conducted, get closer acquainted with the study programmes of interest and the admission procedure.

Participants of "Student for a Day" can choose from 15 VU faculties and a wide range of study programmes they would like to study at. During the five-day event, registered students will take part in seminars, lectures and special activities that will provide a unique experience and allow them to become VU students for a short time.

Students can not only get to know VU or the faculty of their choice and its lecturers, but also try their hand at a specific study programme and find answers to their questions about their choice of studies. You can become a student for one day in almost all study programmes offered by VU.

The event will be held live and remotely. Student for a Day lectures are also organised for international students in English. Registration is required.

For more information and to register for the lectures, click here.

William Daniel Phillips – is a Distinguished University Professor at University of Maryland and a Fellow of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. His research activities include laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms, quantum information with single-atom qubits, atomic-gas Bose-Einstein condensates, atoms in optical lattices, atomic physics analogs of condensed matter systems, coherent de Broglie-wave atom optics and collisions of ultracold atoms.

In particular, Professor Phillips developed new methods for measuring the temperature of laser-cooled atoms. In 1988 he discovered that atoms reached a temperature six times lower than the predicted theoretical limit. Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (École normale supérieure, Paris) refined the theory to explain the new results, and along with W.D. Phillips further investigated methods of trapping atoms cooled to even lower temperatures. These experiments lead to the Nobel Prize for Physics of 1997 awarded jointly to Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William D. Phillips "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light". One result of the development of laser-cooling techniques was the first observation, in 1995 of the Bose-Einstein condensate, a new state of matter originally predicted 70 years earlier by Albert Einstein and the Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose. In this state atoms are so chilled and so slow that they, in effect, merge and behave as one single quantum entity that is much larger than any individual atom.

Professor Phillips received also other important awards and honors including Service to America Award, Career Achievement, Presidential Rank Award, NIST Condon and Richtmeyer Awards, Arthur Schawlow Prize in laser science and others. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a Fellow and Honorary Member of the Optical Society of America and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.

October 3rd 3:00 p.m. William D. Phillips lecture to the students of the Faculty of Physics of Vilnius University (VU) “Goodbye to the Kilogram:  the revolutionary reform of the modern metric system” (P. Brazdžiūnas Great Physics Auditorium, Faculty of Physics, Saulėtekio al. 9). Until 2019, the definition of the kilogram was a single metal object called the International Prototype Kilogram.  Today, the unit of mass and all the other units of the metric system are defined by fixing values of natural constants—the greatest revolution in measurement since the French Revolution gave birth to the metric system.  This talk will recall some of the intriguing history of how units have been defined in the past, how it is now possible to define them by fixing constants of nature, and why it was necessary to do so. 

October 4th 6:00 p.m. William D. Phillips' public lecture "Time, Einstein and the Coolest Stuff in the Universe" (Great Lecture Hall, Life Sciences Centre of VU, Saulėtekio al. 7). At the beginning of the 20th century Einstein changed the way we think about Time. Now, early in the 21st century, the measurement of Time is being revolutionized by the ability to cool a gas of atoms to temperatures millions of times lower than any naturally occurring temperature in the universe. Atomic clocks, the best timekeepers, are one of the scientific and technological wonders of modern life. Such superaccurate clocks are essential to industry, commerce, and science; they are the heart of Satellite Navigation Systems (satnave), which guide cars, airplanes, and hikers to their destinations. Today, the best primary atomic clocks use ultracold atoms, achieve accuracies of a few seconds in 300 million years, while a new generation of atomic clocks is leading us to re-define what we mean by time. Super-cold atoms, with temperatures that can be below a billionth of a degree above absolute zero, use, and allow tests of, some of Einstein's strangest predictions. This will be a lively, multimedia presentation, including exciting experimental demonstrations and down-to- earth explanations about some of today's hottest (and coolest) science. Time, Einstein and the Coolest Stuff in the Universe provides a fun and educational overview on how fundamental research influences our daily life.

The public lecture will be streamed live here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgErE2FXCgI

Lectures are public and free of charge.

William Daniel Phillips

Event organizer,

VU distinguished professor Gediminas Juzeliūnas

Organizers:

 Supported by:

Partners:

As every year, September 1st is a holiday, so we invite you to participate in the events dedicated to this day: https://www.studentauk.vu.lt/en/program/?f=ff

Study activities will start on the 5th of September for first-year undergraduates, and on the 2nd of September for all other students of the Faculty of Physics (undergraduates and graduate students).

All first-year bachelors students are welcome on September 1st at 11 a.m. at the Great Physics Auditorium, Saulėtekio av. 9, III bldg. 

Master's degree foreign students are welcome at 12:30 p.m. (September 1^st) in the Great Physics Auditorium (there will be directions when you enter building), and for all new Master's students – 1 p.m. in the Great Physics Auditorium.

See you soon!

The Lithuanian Particle Physics Meeting (LPPM) is the gathering of particle physicists with connections to Lithuania. The goal of the meeting is to initiate and mediate a global network of Lithuanian scientists with interest in particle physics, which is broadly defined as theoretical and experimental study of elementary particles and fundamental interactions.

During a virtual one-day meeting participants will have a chance to make short presentations introducing their career path and current research area. Physicists at all career stages – undergraduates, PhD students, postdocs, staff scientists and professors – are welcome to register for the meeting.

LPPM2022 will take place on April 11, 2022 over Zoom.

More information can be found here:www.cern.ch/LPPM2022.

ERASMUS+, ARQUS and COIMBRA GROUP registration of bilateral agreements for studies in 2022/2023 has started for the autumn semester (for academic year).

Student registration is open until March 1

You can find the news in news: https://www.vu.lt/tnationaliniai-rysiai/naujienos

ERASMUS+ student registration system http://www.erasmus.tprs.vu.lt/admin/

You can find the list of Erasmus partners at http://www.erasmus.tprs.vu.lt/partneriai/ or by downloading from the ERASMUS+ registration system.

The registration form of ARQUS and COIMBRA GROUP can be found in news or here: https://www.vu.lt/troadiniai-rysiai/mainu-galimybes/arqus-ir-coimbra-group

Information on the exchange of bilateral agreements: https://www.vu.lt/tnationaliniai-rysiai/mainu-galimybes/dvisales-sutartys

An informational seminar at the Faculty of Physics will be held on February 22, at 12 noon live (room 207) and remotely (login link: https://bit.ly/3B4xX9R)

2022 graduation ceremonies for graduates of the Light Engineering Program

The graduation ceremonies of the Faculty of Physics of Vilnius University will take place live in 2022, January 28 in the Small Hall of the Central University Building (Universiteto str. 3) (Aula Parva).

The festivities will begin at 2 p.m.

Access to the Small Hall is possible through the central entrance located in the courtyard of the VU Library. The hall is on the second floor of the central university building (follow the arrows).

All participants and spectators over the age of 6 must wear respirators of at least FFP2 during the festivities.

According to the internal decisions of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and Vilnius University, persons who have a valid National Certificate (or an equivalent document) and do not have the symptoms characteristic of the virus may participate in the contact process.

Open Readings is an international academic platform for students and young researchers from around the world to present their research findings and practices in physics and science.

Open Readings invites you to the 65th International Conference of Physical and Natural Science Students and Young Scientists Open Readings 2022, which will take place in 2022 March 15-18.

Registration has already begun and will run until January 17th. Oral and poster presentations can be presented at the conference. There is no registration fee.

Sign up now!

For the second year in a row, the conference is moving into cyberspace as the country is still constrained by a pandemic. Nevertheless, world-class guest speakers will share their scientific expertise and present their presentations. Participants from Lithuanian and foreign universities and technology research centers will present their research papers.

We believe that scientific conferences provide a significant experience for every future researcher, which is the first and strong step for those who intend to climb the ladder of scientific careers. This conference is open to enthusiastic students from around the world. All interested students (bachelor's, master's, doctoral) are invited to participate and present their research on a wide range of topics.

More information: http://www.openreadings.eu/

Four young researchers from Vilnius University (VU) became the winners of the best 2020 dissertation competition. The winners were awarded by the President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda on Wednesday.

71 scientific works were offered for the competition organized by the Lithuanian Union of Young Scientists: 39 dissertations in the field of nature, technology, medicine and health, agricultural sciences and 32 dissertations in the humanities and social sciences.

The winners of the competition were the authors of the 10 best dissertations, including four young researchers at VU.

The aim of this competition is to encourage doctoral students to prepare high-level dissertations that deserve recognition not only in Lithuania but also around the world, to promote inter-institutional and interdisciplinary cooperation, to increase the motivation of Lithuanian young researchers to carry out scientific activities of the highest quality and importance to society.

Segejus Balčiūnas in the field of physics was awarded best dissertation award of 2020 for dissertation: Broadband dielectric spectroscopy of some perovskite compounds.

The work of S. Balčiūnas presents the materials of perovskite structure ABX3, which were studied in a wide range of 10-3–1011 frequencies and 100 - 500 temperatures. The effect of a thin layer of potassium niobate (KNbO3) on barium titanate (BaTiO3) crystallites on the dielectric properties of BaTiO3 was investigated.

It has been observed that the value of spontaneous polarization in such a core-shell structure increases. One possible reason is the stresses on the surface of the BaTiO3 crystallites due to the mismatch of the crystal lattice with the KNbO3 lattice.

The dissertation also deals with very popular substances - halide perovskites (CH3NH3PbX3 (X = I, Br, Cl)). The author proves that these materials are not ferroelectric, so they cannot contain domain walls, and high efficiency is associated with a relatively high value of dielectric permittivity, which effectively shields defects. In the study of halide perovskites, it was observed that by changing the cation of position A CH3NH3 to (CH3) 2NH3, the stability of these substances increases.

In addition, the effect of the (CH3) 2NH3 cation on the dielectric properties of the material (CH3NH3)1-x((CH3)2NH3)xPbBr3 was investigated. A small amount of (CH3) 2NH3 cation in the (CH3NH3)1-x((CH3)2NH3)xPbBr3 crystals leads to the phase transition broadening and a shift to the lower temperatures. A higher amount of (CH3) 2NH3 cations concentration results in significant broadening and suppression of the tetragonal phase, due to the frustrated state.

The President awards Sergejs Balčiūnas. Office of the Presidency / Photo by Robertas Dačkus

Office of the Presidency / Photo by Robertas Dačkus

Would you like to live in a country of your dreams? Do you feel like learning a new language? Would you like to study in another great university?

If You have shouted YES to any of the questions above, go ahead and submit your application for a study period abroad!  

Applications for the Spring semester (AY 2021-2022) are open until the midnight of the 21st of September.

ATTENTION! You can apply for different mobility options at the same time.

• Apply for ERASMUS+ mobility here (The list of the partner universities)
• Apply for ARQUS ir Coimbra group mobility here
• Apply for Bilateral exchange here

Info Sessions will be held:

• in Lithuanian September 8 and September 16. 2pm
• in English will be September 15, 2pm.

Use the same link above to both join and watch the recording.

Please find more information here.

Any questions? Please contact via email erasmus.outgoing@cr.vu.lt or trs@cr.vu.lt

Dear colleagues, students and staff, congratulations on the upcoming new school year!

The academic year for all courses of bachelor's and master's studies begins on 1st of September! Study activities for graduate students begin on 2nd of September. For undergraduate students 2nd and 3rd are integration events and study activities begin on 6th of September.

All foreign students are welcome on September 1, 12:30 in Dean's office (9 Saulėtekio Ave., Building III, Room 203).

More information about integration at Vilnius University: https://www.vu.lt/en/news-events/news/9507-studentauk-integration-of-first-year-students-at-vilnius-university

See you soon!