Institute of High Pressure Physics

We are happy to share the press release summarizing the GaN4AP project that focused on harnessing the unique properties of GaN to create more efficient, reliable, and high-performance power systems.

GaN for Advanced Power Applications (GaN4AP) involved 36 project partners: private companies, universities, and public research organizations from 6 European countries. The Institute of High Pressure Physics PAS contributed to the developemnt of high-quality bulk GaN substrates, key-enabling element of the novel architecture vertical power devices.

The European project GaN4AP (Gallium Nitride for Advanced Power Applications) was launched in June 2021 as part of the EU’s H2020-ECSEL-2020-1-IA initiative. It was funded by the Chips JU Public-Private Partnership and by the National Authorities and it has significantly advanced the field of power conversion systems, marking a key milestone in the global energy transition.

More at the project Website: https://www.gan4ap-project.org/

The Institute of High Pressure Physics PAS organized and led the inauguration of the 2025/2026 academic year of Warsaw-4-PhD - the Warsaw PhD School in Natural and BioMedical Sciences.

The ceremony took place on October 1, 2025 and it was kindly hosted free of charge in the auditorium of the Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS at Kasprzaka 44/52 in Warsaw.

Inauguration was opened by Prof. Michał Boćkowski, Director of the Institute of High Pressure Physics. The highlights included PhD student presentations, the inaugural lecture by Prof. Sylwester Porowski, and the doctoral oath.

We thank IChF PAS for their hospitality and all attendees for joining us.

Elastic isotropy is a phenomenon in which a material responds uniformly to stress, regardless of its direction. In the case of cubic crystals, which possess distinct crystallographic directions, this is an unusual manifestation of quantum mechanics in macroscopic objects. This crystal behavior cannot be explained within the framework of classical physics. This phenomenon is closely related to the balancing of internal forces resulting from Coulomb interactions, Pauli repulsion, and band overlap under the influence of stress on the crystal.

In the recent paper by C. Sobczak, P. Kwasniak, P. Strak, M. Muzyk, and S. Krukowski, "Elastic Anisotropy in BCC Ti-X Alloys (X = V, Nb, Ta) Determined from First Principles," published in Materials, 2025, 18(18), 4294, our PhD student Cyprian Sobczak described the anisotropy of titanium alloy crystals. This work was developed in collaboration between a group of theoreticians from our Institute and from the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw.

Authors identificatied a new titanium-niobium alloy with a 53% niobium content, Ti-53Nb, exhibiting elastic isotropy. Calculations also showed that this phenomenon cannot occur in the case of titanium-tantalum alloys, Ti-Ta, regarding the mechanical stability of these alloys. The publication summarizes the main trends exhibited by the elastic constants, Young's modulus, and bulk modulus of the Ti-based alloys discussed, based on ab initio methods. See more details here.

Figure. A comparison of trends observed in Ti-X alloys (X = V, Nb, Ta, Mo): (a) C11 elastic constant, (b) C12 elastic constant, (c) C44 elastic constant, (d) C′ = (C11 − C12)/2, (e) bulk modulus B, and (f) Young’s modulus E, determined using PBE.

In the latest paper "Deep-level point defects at Ga sites in dilute Al_xGa_1−xN alloys" our colleague, Dr. Piotr Kruszewski, along with collaborators, presented new evidence indicating that the electron trap E1 in Al_xGa_1−xN layers - and likely also in GaN - is associated with a point defect located in the gallium sublattice, rather than the nitrogen sublattice, as was commonly believed. Additionally, based on theoretical calculations (Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof - HSE), it was proposed that the donor responsible for the electronic level of the E1 trap is either carbon or molybdenum, corresponding to C_Ga(0/+) or Mo_Ga(0/+), respectively.

The paper has been highlighted as the Applied Physics Letters Editor's Pick and is available here: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0272389