Institute of High Pressure Physics

The guest of Krzysztof Michalski on the Polish Radio program "Eureka. People of Science“ will be Prof. Michał Bockowski, director of the Institute of High Pressure Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, who will talk about the project ”Center for Physics and Technology of Nitride Semiconductors GaN-Unipress" recently launched at the Institute and financed by the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP).

The Interview will be broadcast live today, February 23, 2026, on Polish Radio's First Channel at 7:05 p.m. or can be listened to later online.

In collaboration of AIST Japan, Prof. Shiv J. Singh’s research team (from NL-6 Laboratory of Superconductors and Hydrogen Technologies) has successfully extended the superconducting phase diagram of fluorine-doped SmFeAsO (Sm1111) up to an unprecedented 40% fluorine substitution using a cubic-anvil high-pressure (CA-HP) technique (pressure up to 6 GPa).

A series of SmFeAsO_1-xF_x (Sm1111) samples (0.05 ≤ x ≤ 0.40) were synthesized using this CA-HP technique, allowing controlled and homogeneous fluorine incorporation across a wide composition range, including the overdoped regime. Structural, Raman, transport, and magnetic measurements confirmed the stability of the tetragonal Sm1111 phase and effective fluorine substitution throughout the series. Compared to conventionally synthesized samples, the high-pressure growth method significantly enhances superconducting performance: in the underdoped region, the superconducting transition temperature (T_c) increases by 10–17 K, and the critical current density (J_c) improves by up to an order of magnitude. The upper critical field approaches 200 T, highlighting strong paramagnetic limitation and multiband superconductivity. For the first time using a high-pressure technique, an extended dome-shaped superconducting phase diagram has been established for the Sm1111 system. These findings demonstrate that high-pressure synthesis is a powerful materials-engineering strategy for extending the substitution range and optimizing superconducting properties in iron-based superconductors.

For more details, please refer to the publication: M. Azam, T. Zajarniuk, R. Diduszko, T. Palasyuk, C. Jastrzebski, A. Szewczyk, H. Ogino, and S. J. Singh entitled “Fluorine substitution‑dependent phase diagram and superconducting properties of Sm‑based oxypnictides synthesized by a high‑pressure growth technique” J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 37, 385 (2026).

Figure: (a) Superconducting onset T_c obtained from resistivity measurements and (b) J_c derived from magnetization measurements for SmFeAsO_1-xF_x samples prepared by the CA-HP process, are plotted as a function of nominal fluorine content (x). Three shaded colour regions depict the underdoped, optimal (Opt.) and overdoped regimes. Previous data are also included for a comparison.

On January 26–27 and February 2, 2026, a scientific event of international significance - the 4^th Polish–Slovenian International Seminar (PSIS) on Soft Matter (SM) & Young4SoftMatter Day: Faces of Soft Matter 2026 – ONLINE EDITION - took place.

This scientific initiative was founded by dr hab. Aleksandra Drozd-Rzoska, Prof. IHPP PAS, and its first edition was held in 2021. More about: https://young4softmatter.pl

Directors of 4^th PSIS on SM & Young4SoftMatter Day: Faces of Soft Matter 2026:

• Dr hab. Aleksandra Drozd-Rzoska, Prof. IHPP PAS (Poland)
• Red. Prof. Dr. Samo Kralj (Slovenia)

The review paper by Stanisław Krukowski, Paweł Kempisty and Paweł Strak, entitled "Charge control of semiconductor surfaces as elucidated by ab initio calculations – A review" has just been published in Progress in Surface Science 101(1), 100809 (2026), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progsurf.2025.100809.

The paper reviews 15 years of research progress on the role of electric charge at semiconductor surfaces, highlighting how this work has contributed to the development of new scientific concepts in the field. Notably, much of the advancement stems from the conceptual, computational, and analytical efforts of scientists at IHPP PAS. Congratulations to the team, and we encourage readers to explore this review article.