Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences

The Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IF PAN) has been operating since 1953. It focuses on research in the field of solid state physics (physics and technology of semiconductors, magnets, superconductors, low-dimensional structures) and atomic and molecular optics.

Areas:

physics, materials engineering

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Is it possible to make materials that are as light and durable as plastic, but fully biodegradable? What if they could be made from waste? A waste-free and economical method of obtaining such organic materials is being developed by a research team led by Dr. Juan Carlos Colmenares Quintero (pictured), leader of the “Catalysis for Sustainable Energy Conversion and Environmental Protection” team at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The unit consists of six departments and four environmental laboratories. IF PAN also includes a Technology Transfer Center, which actively supports the implementation of research results on the market, and a library. Employees participate in many projects, both financed from domestic sources, under scientific cooperation agreements, and under European grants.

Thanks to the development and introduction of an innovative method of holographic optical tomography, we can look deep into the cornea of the eye. At the International Eye Research Center operating at the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, headed by Prof. Maciej Wojtkowski (pictured), research is also underway on the process of two-photon vision. This type of vision allows us to see infrared radiation—normally invisible to the human eye—as colors.

Educational projects are important for the unit’s activities. Future doctors are educated at the Warsaw Doctoral School of Exact and Biomedical Sciences, run jointly with eight other units of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The unit promotes its research by participating in numerous events popularizing science.