Dmitri Efetov awarded the 2024 Leibniz Prize

On March 13^th, former ICFO Group Leader, Professor Dr. Dmitri Efetov, now the Chair of Experimental Solid State Physics- Quantum Material at the  Ludwig-Maximilians Universität Münich, was one of ten distinguished researchers to receive the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prizes 2024 at an award ceremony held in Berlin. Winners were chosen from among 150 nominated researchers and will each receive €2.5 million in prize money which they are entitled to use for their research work in any way they wish, without bureaucratic obstacles, for up to seven years. 

The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize has been awarded annually to "exceptional scientists and academics for their outstanding achievements in the field of research" by the DFG (German Research Foundation) since 1986. It is considered the most important research award in Germany. Of the 418 Leibniz prizes awarded to date, twelve have gone on to receive the Nobel Prize for their scientific contributions.

The award citation for Prof. Efetov is as follows:

Dmitri Efetov receives the Leibniz Prize 2024 for his pioneering work on the production of large-area homogeneous “magically” entangled graphene, i.e. thin layers of single carbon atoms. When two such graphene layers are mutually rotated, a so-called moiré pattern is created with periodic potential and a newly formed energy-level band structure. At an angle of exactly 1.1 degrees – which has earned the entangled graphene layers the nickname “magic” – new physical phenomena such as superconducting, magnetic and insulating states occur. Based on this work, Efetov has been able to gain fundamental new insights into various quantum effects. Graphene is primarily a model system that can be used to investigate complex effects and will enable them to be understood in the future. These include high-temperature superconductivity: unlike the copper cables currently used, materials made of entangled graphene can conduct electricity without any resistance, so in future they could replace conventional high-voltage cables.

Congratulations Dima for this very prestigious and well-deserved award.