Annual Report 2025

A message from Andrii

A message from Andrii

The year felt like a harvest: many projects reached maturity, and papers were published or submitted. It was also a year of team-building. The NanoMag Research Unit found its new shape and rhythm. Ass.-Prof. Luca Banszerus’s Quantum Transport group is growing quickly, new labs are coming online, and the team is expanding. Dr. Franz Vilsmeier, our new senior scientist, has become a cornerstone of our science, operations, and warm group culture. We welcomed PostDoc Dr. Gyandeep Pradhan, who is already advancing our Austria–Hungary project on neuromorphic computing with Gyorgy Csaba and Dieter Süss.

Our faculty completed the building annex, allowing us to open another laboratory and a fantastic PhD office. My first Vienna PhD student, Noura Zenbaa, defended with great success and has moved to industry. Two PhD students, Andrey Voronov and Rostyslav Serha, are on the final stretch and may earn their doctor titles this year, both aiming to stay in academia. David Schmoll enjoyed a productive internship at MIT with Prof. Caroline Ross—many thanks to the Vienna Doctoral School for the support. Several talented Master’s students joined us.

Magnonics 2025 in Mallorca was inspiring, and we are delighted that the 2027 edition will take place in Vienna, organised by Dieter Süss and me. We are grateful to CEITEC and Michal Urbanek for continued support; many of our new members now fabricate samples in Brno. Our outreach grew too, from school workshops to a more professional YouTube presence—thank you, Pedro del Real. And yes: Magnetico Madrid, our football team, won the Faculty of Physics tournament!

Scientifically, we made several conceptual steps. Noura Zenbaa and Fabian Majcen demonstrated an AI-driven universal magnonic device; two highlight papers appeared in the Nature and Science families. Kristina Davidkova and Khrystyna Levchenko realised nanoscale magnonic RF devices, publishing papers on a power limiter and delay lines. Sebastian Knauer submitted pioneering work on long-range propagating paramagnon-polaritons in organic free radicals. Rostyslav Serha and David Schmoll reported several results on magnons in YIG/GGG at millikelvin temperatures, important for quantum magnonics with propagating magnons. Together with Dmytro Bozhko’s group and others, Rostyslav submitted the first experimental evidence of long-living short-wavelength magnons with unprecedented lifetimes beyond 18 microseconds. A field-level breakthrough came from our collaborators: Christo Guguschev developed a diamagnetic YSGAG substrate, and Carsten Dubs grew high-quality YIG on it that retains performance at cryogenic temperatures—opening long-awaited doors for quantum magnonics with propagating magnons.

We continue to stand with Ukraine. We helped deliver the third successful run of IEEE MagSoc’s “Magnetism for Ukraine”; supported Prof. Norbert Mauser’s scholarship efforts at the Wolfgang Pauli Institute; and, through the Ukrainian Science Diaspora in Austria, realised several important projects. We hope for wisdom and a just end to the war as soon as possible.

Looking to 2026, our path is clear: turn ideas into results while nurturing new ones in our supportive, lively environment. Here’s to a fun, productive year ahead.
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2026!

Warm regards, 
Andrii Chumak