Martin Kozák’s Team Wins the Werner von Siemens Award
The team of Associate Professor Martin Kozák (Department of Chemical Physics and Optics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics) has received the Werner von Siemens Award for the most significant result in basic research. The prestigious prize, awarded annually by Siemens Czech Republic, was granted for their work entitled Correction of Spherical Aberration in Electron Lenses Using Shaped Light Waves.
The awarded research concentrates on developing methods that enable advanced and precise control of electrons using shaped light waves. Controlled acceleration or deceleration of electrons can then be used to correct spherical aberration in electron microscope imaging.
Electron microscopes use magnetic fields to focus electron beams, similarly to how lenses work in glasses. However, these fields are never perfect, which results in slightly blurred images. Although aberration correctors exist in the highest-resolution microscopes, they typically consist of complex and expensive systems of electromagnetic lenses. Kozák’s team has developed a method that uses a single interaction of the electron beam with a laser beam to correct these imperfections. In this approach, light acts as a corrective element that could enable electron microscopes to achieve higher resolution and sharper imaging in the future.
“For me personally, this is above all excellent promotion for our field. My main motivation is to attract more students to physics and to show them that what we do makes sense and has international impact,” said Martin Kozák when accepting the award.
The Werner von Siemens Award has been organized for 28 years by Siemens Czech Republic in partnership with leading representatives of universities and the Czech Academy of Sciences, who also serve as guarantors of individual categories and participate in evaluating the best works. This year, 56 experts and members of the academic community served on independent juries. In terms of scope, financial rewards, and tradition, the Werner von Siemens Award is one of the most important independent initiatives of its kind in the Czech Republic.
