Research

The ability to predict when and where materials will fracture is of immense importance for industrial applications– companies can use this information to maintain devices and components more efficiently and cost effectively. A research team from FAU and the University of Milan has shown that artificial intelligence can predict when quartz glass will break.

Physicists at FAU have designed a framework that allows scientists to observe interactions between light and electrons using a traditional scanning electron microscope. The procedure is considerably cheaper than the technology that has been used to date, and also enables a wider range of experiments. The researchers have published their findings in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters.

Coffee dries in an unusual pattern: the stain is lighter in the center, surrounded by a darker ring. A research team led by Prof. Dr. Nicolas Vogel has explored a strategy to tackle the coffee ring effect. As the method is easy to implement and versatile, it paves the way to reliable coating processes and inkjet-printed electronic devices for example, solar cells, transistors or biosensors.

It is the ninth Humboldt Professorship for FAU and the sixth in a row for the University: Prof. Dirk Englund has been selected by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for the most prestigious international research prize in Germany, which is worth up to five million euros. FAU and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) nominated physicist Englund for the Humboldt Professorship.

Images of Martin Luther are still well known all over the world. In order to critically evaluate the large number of these images, 727 of them have now been examined. This research has resulted in a comprehensive catalog that is now freely available to all online.

Two tranregios at FAU have had their funding extended: the collaborative research center/transregio 154 “Mathematical modeling, simulation and optimization using the example of gas networks” is entering into its third funding period, whilst the CRC/transregio 241 “Immune-epithelial communication in inflammatory bowel diseases” has had its funding extended for the first time.

2022 is the international year of glass. And yet many glass factories are struggling to survive. Energy costs and CO2 emissions mean that glass production faces a challenging future. Researchers at FAU and TH Nürnberg are currently conducting research aimed at finding a solution to make glass production more sustainable without relying on fossil fuels.

Healthy ecosystems, with flourishing biodiversity in natural conditions, are more resilient to disturbances, whether natural or human in origin. Environmentally sustainable development inside and outside hotspots could help reverse human impacts on biodiversity.

After being canceled for two years in a row due to the pandemic, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has now once more invited guests to attend the awards ceremony for the prestigious Humboldt professorships in Berlin. FAU has two reasons to celebrate: both the medical physicist Prof. Dr. Kristian Franze and mathematics historian and sinologist Prof. Dr. Dr. Andrea Bréard received an award.

Simulating complex scientific models on the computer or processing large volumes of data such as editing video material takes considerable computing power and time. Researchers from the Chair of Laser Physics at FAU and a team from the University of Rochester in New York have demonstrated how the speed of fundamental computing operations could be increased in future to up to a million times faster using laser pulses.