Blog
© Friedrich Aumayr
MALINA 2.0
Members of our group meet in the new coffee room “Malina Lab 2.0,” the successor to the former MALINA experiment and long-standing social meeting place for the group.
December 15, 2025
Malina 2.0: the new social space for our group
Our group has a new social meeting place: Malina 2.0 (Laboratory) on the 4th floor of the Freihaus building.
What is now a modern coffee and lounge area has an amazing history- few people know the origins of the legendary “Malina Lab,” as our group's former coffee room was called.
Around twenty years ago, the Malina Lab was not a place for espresso, discussions, and cookies, but a real experimental physics laboratory where the MALINA experiment of the same name was conducted to study ion-molecule collisions. With the end of the experiment, the room underwent a slow but lasting transformation: measuring equipment became coffee machines, UHV equipment became a cozy couch – and the Malina Lab became the social heart of our Atomic & Plasma Physics group.
However, as part of the current restructuring of the institute's executive floor, this original MALINA (1.0) will soon give way to the planned renovations and be transformed into a representative reception area.
But Malina lives on: with Malina Lab 2.0 on the 4th floor, our group has found a new meeting place that once again offers space for spontaneous discussions, creative ideas, and informal exchanges.
Here's to many inspiring conversations that will begin here. ☕
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Beamtime at DESY
Collage from the beamtime at the PETRA III synchrotron at DESY (Hamburg) in December 2025. Top left: our experiment at the ASPHERE III endstation. Top right: close-up view. Bottom: Vicky, Anna, and Richard from the IAP team in front of the control monitors.
Back at the Synchrotron: SISSI Experiments at PETRA III
From 9 to 12 December 2025, Anna, Vicky, and Richard are once again working at DESY in Hamburg – this time at the P04 beamline of PETRA III, where they are conducting exciting experiments at the ASPHere III endstation, equipped with our Austrian ion source SISSI. Following the successful first beamtime using exactly this setup, the investigation of modern quantum materials now continues. The goal of the collaboration with Kai Rossnagel (CAU Kiel) is to deliberately modify and better understand the electronic properties of these materials through irradiation with ions and highly charged ions. A total of 72 hours of beamtime is available – divided into two measurement blocks in December 2025 and February 2026.
We wish the team exciting results – and enough caffeine for the upcoming synchrotron nights!
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© Florian Libisch
TU-Dx Retreat 2025 in Waidhofen/Ybbs
Group photo of participants at the TU-Dx Retreat 2025 in Waidhofen an der Ybbs.
From November 11 to 14, 2025, TU-Dx doctoral students and supervisors met for their annual retreat in Waidhofen an der Ybbs – including Vicky and her supervisor Richard from our group.
The TU-DX doctoral program at TU Wien brings together young researchers from the fields of physics, chemistry, and electrical engineering to work together on the physical fundamentals and technological applications of two-dimensional materials. The aim is to strengthen the scientific training of PhD students and promote interdisciplinary collaboration – from basic research to applications in photovoltaics, nanoelectronics, and biosensor technology.
At the second retreat of the current doctoral program, which took place from November 11 to 14, 2025, in autumnal Waidhofen an der Ybbs, 13 PhD students, several supervisors, and three invited speakers discussed the latest findings in 2D materials research. In addition to lectures, the program included workshops on scientific writing and applying for research funding.
Vicky and her supervisor Richard were there from our group.
On November 14, Vicky gave a presentation titled:
“Disentangling electron emission processes in highly charged ion interactions with surfaces using 2D targets.”
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© Felix Blödorn
Martini Dinner in Brno
A cheerful dinner to conclude the beamtime in Brno: Anna, Felix, Wolfgang and their Czech hosts enjoyed a traditional St. Martin’s meal – including roast goose, local beer, and lively conversation.
Beamtime in Brno: Electrons, Energy Losses, and St. Martin’s Goose
From November 10 to 14, 2025, Felix, Anna, and Wolfgang spent a beamtime at CEITEC in Brno (Czech Republic) to carry out exciting experiments with very low-energy electrons (5–100 eV). The goal was to study the energy losses during transmission through amorphous carbon foils in detail — an important step toward determining the inelastic mean free path or attenuation length of the electrons. The first results already looked promising and created a great atmosphere within the team. Especially noteworthy was the warm welcome by Eliska and Ivo, who made the stay pleasant from the very beginning.
A culinary highlight rounded off the trip: a traditional St. Martin’s Day dinner with roast goose — the perfect ending to a productive and enjoyable research week in Brno!
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The Local Organizing Team of IISC-25
Group photo of the IISC-25 organizing team in front of the landscape of the Mostviertel region.
19. September 2025
The Local Organizing Team of IISC-25
A big thank you to our Local Organizing Team, whose dedication and perfect cooperation made the successful execution of IISC-25 possible. From the planning stage to the last day of the conference, the team did an outstanding job—thank you very much for your contribution to an all-around successful conference!
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© Vukovic | IAP
Filip and Armin in the Lab
April 24th, 2025
Filip is visiting Bielefeld University to discuss exciting results with our partners Armin Gölzhäuser and Jürgen Schnack.
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© Wilhelm | IAP
Anna am LEEM
April 11th, 2025
Anna and Richard spent a week at the HZDR and used the LEEM there for angle-resolved REELS - or inelastic LEED or ARSEES or ... ... The world of electrons is full of acronyms, but the angular distribution of slow secondary electrons is extremely exciting!
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© Simperl | IAP
Florian mit Poster
April 9th, 2025
Congratulations! Florian wins the Best Poster Award at the Artificial Intelligence 4 Advanced Materials 2025 conference in Donostia/San Sebastian for his poster entitled "Transformer for High-Throughput Materials Characterization with X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy".
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© E134-03 | IAP
April 4th, 2025
It was a great time with Hugo in Vienna. We got a lot done and exchanged many interesting impressions. To say goodbye, we went to the Wiedenbräu with the whole group. Au revoir, Hugo!
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© V. Acosta | IAP
Group Picture after Daniel's Master Defence
March 19th, 2025
Good things take time! We are very happy for Daniel, who successfully completed his Master's degree today. We (and SISSI in Hamburg) congratulate you, lieber Herr Diplomingenieur!
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© A. Niggas | IAP
Anna and Richard with the President of Austria
March 17th, 2025
Anna was presented with a golden Ring for her promotio sub auspiciis praesidentis rei publicae by Federal President Alexander van der Bellen in the Hofburg palace today.
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© A. Niggas | IAP
Lidija with her doctor hat and her supervisors from Garching
March 14th, 2025
Doktore, Doktore! Today was definitely a LidiJA day: Lidija defended her doctoral thesis today in impressive style and also confidently explained her doctoral hat. We are very happy and congratulate you, liebe Lidija!
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© A. Niggas | IAP
HITRAP Team
March 9th, 2025
The HITRAP experiment at GSI/FAIR in Darmstadt has been under construction for 20 years. There, highly charged ions are first generated with an energy of 79GeV and then decelerated to 1MeV. And we - together with colleagues from the University of Duisburg-Essen - were the first users of this worldwide unique facility!
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© M. Werl | IAP
Felix and Alexander (or Felix and Felix?) at Fasching
March 4th, 2025
I think I'm seeing double! The group celebrates Fasching and suddenly there are two Felixes in the room for lunch?
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© D. Klampfl | TU Wien
Group photo CatIons project
January 29th, 2025
A very exciting and productive kick-off meeting for our new FFG project on the use of ion beams in research on novel catalysts. Together with Prof. Noelia Barrabes and Prof. Aleix Comas from the Faculty of Technical Chemistry and a strong team of young talents, we will investigate the effect of ion beam shaping for 12 months to improve the catalysis of chemical reactions.
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© F. Aumayr | IAP
Johannes and Alexander at the Group Cooking Event
January 27th, 2025
We organized a cooking event as a group outing. We split up into small groups and each group was responsible for one course. At the end of the day, we enjoyed a delicious four-course meal!
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© A. Niggas | IAP
Michael and Richard after Michael's Diplomprüfung
January 22nd, 2025
Congratulations2! Michael has also successfully completed his Master's degree in this round of Diplomprüfungen. Congratulations Herr Diplomingenieur! We are delighted that you too will remain part of our research group for years to come!
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© D. Rath | IAP
Loschmidt Prize for Anna
January 21st, 2025
At the University of Vienna, Anna received the Loschmidt Prize 2024 from the Austrian Chemical Physical Society (CPG). On March 25th, you Anna will then give a talk in the course of the CPG talk series.
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© F. Aumayr | IAP
Group Picture after Benji's Diplomprüfung
January 17th, 2025
We would like to congratulate Benji on passing his Master's degree - we now have a new Diplom-Benjineur in the group! We are very happy that Benji will be staying with us for the next few years as part of his dissertation!
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© A. Niggas | IAP
Group Picture at the Christmas Market
December 18, 2024
In keeping with an old tradition of the Atomic and Plasma Physics working group, today was our 2024 group outing to the Christmas market on Karlsplatz! With mulled wine, punch and fruit tea, we brought the year 2024 to a close!
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© R. Wilhelm | IAP
Victoria at the Prize Ceremony of the Franz Viehböck Prize 2024.
December 13, 2024
Victoria won this year's Franz Viehböck Prize! She was presented with this highly competitive prize at the Institute's Christmas party - she was able to prevail against a record-breaking 42 participants! Congratulations, Victoria!
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© Klaus Ranger
Anna and Prof. Dirk Praetorius
October 9, 2024
Anna was awarded her doctorate today - almost a year after her defense - in a ceremony “Promotio Sub Auspiciis Praesidentis”, opens an external URL in a new window.
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© R. Wilhelm | IAP
Retirement Party for Fritz and Martin.
September 30, 2024
On Fritz and Martin Gröschl's last regular working day, the group celebrates their outstanding careers together with the entire institute and bids farewell to the two professors as they retire. However, Fritz will remain with us for some time and will continue to be active in our group! The celebrations were introduced by words of appreciation from the Institute's Executive Board and accompanied by music from the TU Orchestra.
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© D. Rath | IAP
Group Picture of the Alumni Meeting of the FB Atomic and Plasma Physics
September 27, 2024
Around 60 alumni of the “Atomic & Plasma Physics” research group came together today in the beautiful setting of TU Wien's "Festsaal" to celebrate Fritz's (formal) retirement. Here is a detailed report of the alumni meeting., opens an external URL in a new window
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© A. Vogel | IAP
Group Picture at the TUDx Retreat 2024.
September 20, 2024
Despite the high water level, the first retreat of the TU-DX Doctoral College did not fall into the water! Four days in Waidhofen an der Ybbs awaited Vicki and her colleagues with a varied program: inspiring lectures on 2D materials, workshops in which they worked on Python and presentation skills, and a trip to the wildlife park to get to know the Waidhofen wallabies - and of course the perfect opportunity to get to know each other better and exchange ideas about the respective research projects.
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© R. Wilhelm | IAP
Anna, Richard and Martino in Amsterdam.
September 5, 2024
Anna, Richard and Fritz attended this year's HCI conference in Egmond aan Zee in The Netherlands - a great opportunity to see collaborators again and to make new plans for future experiments. On the picture, Richard and Anna are seen on the conference outing together with our project partner Martino Trassinelli from Sorbonne University in Paris.
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© M. Werl | IAP
Matthias at the SPIG summer school.
August 28, 2024
Matthias presented his work on the deexcitation of hollow atoms at the SPIG summer school and conference in Belgrade this week. It seems that even the French president Macron chose the week of his visit to the city to coincide with the conference.
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© A. Redl | IAP
Alex at the UP Conference 2024.
July 16, 2024
Alex presents his work on ultrashort ion pulses at this week's UP (Ultrafast Phenomena) Conference in Barcelona. Almost as many people came to see the poster as celebrated Spain's victory at the European Championships on the first day of the conference!
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© R. Wilhelm | IAP
Richard Wilhelm
July 1, 2024
We are happy to announce that Richard got promoted to Full Professor of Ion Physics!
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© F. Aumayr
Vickis first electrons
June 18, 2024
Vicki measured the first electron spectrum with our new Fritz-detector!
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© D. Rath
Lea and her MSc thesis supervisors
June 13, 2024
Today, Lea finished her studies with a great defense of her Master's thesis. Congratulations Diplomingenieurin Lea!
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© M. Werl
Our teams at the unirun
6. Juni 2024
Beim diesjährigen Unirun haben sich unsere Teams "Highly Excited Peeps" und "Laserboiiis" ein spannendes Rennen geliefert. Wer hat wohl gewonnen?
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© R.A. Wilhelm | IAP
Two electrons are simultaneously emitted from a surface.
May 13, 2024
We are proud of the newest publication of our group: The team around Wolfgang Werner published their newest results in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters, opens an external URL in a new window. Check out also the corresponding TU Wien press release, opens an external URL in a new window. Congratulations Wolfgang, Florian and Felix!
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