News: 2025

The Delacrétaz group asks, is there a quantum limit to how fast many-body systems can equilibrate? Their publication in Nature Physics shows that large hydrodynamic fluctuations prevent a wide class of systems from regaining thermal equilibrium faster than the "Planckian time scale", set by Planck's constant and the equilibrium temperature.

The Talapin group designed a method of directly synthesizing various III-V quantum dots using a molten inorganic salt environment. Their paper in JACS demonstrates how this thermally-stable, oxygen-free environment enables the formation of highly crystalline InGaP and GaP nanocrystals.

The Murugan group discovered that physical systems can efficiently perform complex computations with contrastive learning. Their paper in Nature Communications shows how simple systems can use integral feedback to solve problems without digital hardware.

The Park group introduced a way to control the spectral response and light polarization of organic crystals just one atom thick. In their Nano Letters article, they synthesize spectrally similar molecular crystals in different 2D lattices in order to tune their optical properties.

Arvind Murugan was awarded the 2025 Tel Aviv University International Prize in Biophysics for his "pivotal contributions to understanding the informatics of various biological processes, and specifically for leveraging molecular complexity of disordered systems for efficient physical computation and learning." The prize awards researchers for originality and excellence in the field of Biophysics.

Both Sarah King and Luca Delacrétaz were awarded 2025 Sloan Research Fellowships, which recognize faculty for their creativity and innovation as well as potential for leadership in their fields.