Poster Prize for Hanan
Congratulations to Hanan Matar on receiving the Best Poster Prize at the TIDE Retreat in Königswinter (October 2025) — in recognition of her outstanding research and excellent poster presentation.
Well done, Hanan!
Türen auf mit der Maus 2025
We welcomed 25 kids for “Türen auf mit der Maus” and explored the fascinating world of quantum physics.
The young scientists learned how quantum computers work in Annika's talk and took part in our technology market, where they could exfoliate graphene, discover how we reach extremely low temperatures and high vacuum, and explore the magic of lithography and electric circuits.
Julian successfully finished his Bachelor thesis! Congratulations!
We enjoyed having you in the group!
Poster Prize for Sara and Cornelius
Congratulations to Cornelius and Sara for winning second place in the ML4Q Poster Prize at the ML4Q Conference 2025.
Well done, Cornelius and Sara!
New Bachelor student started
Welcome to Leyla Gulieva!
New SHK started
Welcome to Janis Beckmann!
New Bachelor student started
Welcome to Julian Fleschmann!
Merry Christmas!
Frohe Weihnachten!
¡Feliz Navidad!
کریسمس مبارک (Krismas Mobarak)
عيد ميلاد مجيد (Eid Milad Majid)
Glovebox is running
We’re thrilled to share some fantastic news just in time for Christmas: our glovebox is finally up and running! This means we’re all set to begin creating clean 2D heterostructures starting next year.
A big thank you to everyone who contributed to setting it up.
Visitor from the North Pole
Our small visitor from the North Pole tried to exfoliate his own graphene but struggled to manage the tape.
Lab tour for "Experimentierferien"
Today, we had the pleasure of welcoming 15 high school students for the first lab tour through our newly equipped labs. They had the chance to produce their own graphene, explore the ultra-cold temperatures involved in our measurements, and discovered that gummy bears can’t survive such extreme cold!
Glovebox moved to our lab
We are excited to welcome the glovebox to our lab! This crucial addition will significantly enhance our ability to work with sensitive materials in a controlled environment. A big thank you to everyone who helped move it!
First photoluminescence measurements
We successfully captured our first photoluminescence measurements! After months of ordering equipment, aligning components, and fine-tuning the setup, it's great to see the system finally in action.
First Master student started
Welcome to our first Master student, Alberto!
Jeniffer successfully finished her Bachelor thesis! Congratulations!
We enjoyed having you in the group and hope to see you again.
Huge boxes arrived
Today we could unpack two huge boxes in our lab. The inset for low temperature optical measurements enables us to perform our first experiments!
First Bachelor student started
Welcome to our first Bachelor student, Jeniffer König! Excited to have you working on single-photon emitters in transition metal dichalcogenides. Best of luck with your research!
Welcome Sara
Sara Etman-Zadeh joined our team as a PhD student. Welcome Sara!
Welcome Hanan
Hanan Matar joined our team as a PhD student in the TIDE Research Training Group. Welcome Hanan!
First van der Waals heterostructure
About one month after the transfer system arrived in cologne, all pieces were finally in place to build the first stack of 2D materials. A bilayer graphene flake encapsulated in hBN, together with a nicely aligned graphite backgate.
We're now ready to continously fabricate stacks and to explore different 2D materials such as TMDs.
First equipment
Our first big equipment piece arrived after a long journey from the Netherlands. The transfer system for 2D materials enables us to start building van-der-Waals heterostructures here in cologne.
First PhD student joins the group
Cornelius joins the group as Annika's first PhD student in Cologne.
Formation of a new group
Annika Kurzmann is appointed as a new professor at the II.Physical Institut at University of Cologne. Empty labratories are waiting to be filled.