December 2025 • Newsletter from the Centre for Nanoscience, Lund University Strategic Research Area NanoLund |
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The past months have moved at a breakneck pace as we pursue our research, teaching, publications, grant writing, and many other activities. Time seems to accelerate as worldwide change and uncertainty reshape priorities in research and innovation. New emphases on resilience, competitiveness, and security now stand alongside the continued drive toward sustainability.
For NanoLund, the new priorities align well with our existing research strengths and the opportunities offered by our national facilities, not least Lund Nano Lab, our part of the national cleanroom facilities Myfab. Its capability to design and fabricate nanostructures and advanced materials here in Lund remains fundamental to shaping our scientific trajectory and ensuring that our excellent basic research can translate into innovation for both established companies and emerging start-ups.
This perspective has guided our focus on advancing the new NanoLab in Science Village and supporting the broader establishment of light- and materials-driven research in-between MAX IV and ESS. Our current facilities and buildings limit our ability to realise the substantial potential presented by the next European framework programme, FP10, and the increased national funding directed toward strategic research. Despite these constraints, NanoLund researchers performed exceptionally well in recent excellence cluster calls from the Swedish Research Council and Vinnova, contributing to a far greater number of successful proposals than would be expected from our size.
Our long-standing strength in semiconductor research – most recently exemplified by the inauguration of the Wide Band Gap Chip Joint Undertaking pilot line and the Swedish Chips Competence Centre in Lund – illustrates both the promise and societal relevance of our core areas. As we look toward 2026, we see significant opportunities as well as responsibilities to continue advancing our research, teaching, and infrastructure.
We wish everyone in NanoLund an excellent Holiday Season and thank you for your dedicated efforts during 2025!
For the leadership of NanoLund,
Anders Mikkelsen
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The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (Kungl. Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien, IVA) chose to highlight two research projects involving contributors from the NanoLund research environment in the Academy’s annual address on technology and scientific achievements. As Sylvia Schwaag Serger, President of IVA, presented it:
“At LTH, researchers are convinced that the future of computing will combine optical and electronic communication on the same chip. An important step on the way is optical communication between nanothreads, something the researchers led by Professor Anders Mikkelsen have successfully demonstrated for the first time. This type of nanocommunication could be put to use in next-generation computer architecture, where hardware mimics neurobiology.
Another LTH team has managed to measure the quantum state of electrons released as atoms are hit by high-energy light pulses. The researchers have measured the speed, energy, direction, and quantum state of these particles, adding to our understanding of quantum phenomena, and inching us closer to practical application for quantum technology.”
Read about both the projects ”Tiny light circuits” and ”Measuring the quantum state of photoelectronics” under our headline ”Research News”!
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The NanoLund spin-out company, AlixLabs AB, has grown into a Swedish deep-tech company building a new generation of semiconductor manufacturing solutions. Recently, the company announced the successful closing of a €14.1 million (SEK 155.2 million) Series A funding round. The investment will enable AlixLabs to accelerate development and scaling of its proprietary Atomic Layer Etching Pitch Splitting (APS™) technology – a disruptive process that enables more cost-effective leading-edge chip manufacturing.
“Lund Nano Lab has been foundational. AlixLabs would not exist without it. The lab provided the infrastructure, expertise, and long-term perspective needed to develop atomic layer etch and pitch splitting. It shaped both the technology and the mindset behind the company and remains a critical success factor today,” says CEO Jonas Sundqvist.
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During a recent study trip, PhD students in the Vinnova Competence Centre Sentio had the opportunity to visit leading companies across various industries, including aluminum foil manufacturing, engine assembly, cutting tool production, and paper roll manufacturing in Sweden. The experience was truly inspiring, especially in the context of Sentio’s focus on sensor technologies for sustainability. The study trip was co-organised with the Lund University Master's program in Production Materials Engineering and hosted by Christina Windmark.
“We visited the companies’ advanced manufacturing facilities, testing stations, and critical R&D-focused areas. Most of the manufacturing lines are highly automated, with only a few operators. Deployed technologies include increased use of robotics and AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles), along with the widespread implementation of advanced sensors to boost production efficiency and enhance sustainability efforts,” says PhD-student Jia-Xing Ye.
Study visit as part of Sentio PhD-course
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NanoLund continues to grow, comprising over 100 research groups, more than 60 faculty members, and over 50 affiliated faculty members. Since the summer break, we have welcomed several new members.
New faculty members:
Marie Skepö, Professor, Computational Chemistry
New affiliated faculty members:
Xu Hou, Associate Senior Lecturer, Centre for Analysis and Synthesis
Baktash Behmanesh, Assistant Professor, Associate Senior Lecturer, Integrated Electronic Systems
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On-chip optical communication between tiny light-based components can make neuromorphic (brain-inspired) computing much smaller and more energy-efficient. In this work, researchers demonstrate that individual nanowire devices on a silicon chip can transmit and receive light signals directly to each other. These miniature circuits communicate reliably, using significantly less power than conventional electronics. The results and models suggest that each operation could use as little as one femtojoule of energy, and that one light source could connect to hundreds of others. This performance meets the requirements for future brain-like networks that can, for example, support autonomous navigation.
Authors: Abhijit Das, Joachim E. Sestoft, David Alcer, Thomas K. Jensen, Hossein Jeddi, Håkan Pettersson, Jesper Nygård, Magnus T. Borgström, Heiner Linke, and Anders Mikkelsen.
“Direct on-Chip Optical Communication between Nano Optoelectronic Devices”
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When light ejects electrons from atoms, understanding their full quantum nature goes beyond measuring momentum. Using quantum-state tomography, researchers reconstructed the complete quantum states of electrons emitted from helium and argon atoms by ultrashort extreme-ultraviolet light pulses. They found that helium produces a pure state, while argon’s spin–orbit interaction entangles the electron with the ion, reducing its purity. The results reveal new quantum details of light–matter interactions and link photoelectron spectroscopy to emerging quantum technologies.
Authors: Hugo Laurell, Sizuo Luo, Robin Weissenbilder, Mattias Ammitzböll, Shahnawaz Ahmed, Hugo Söderberg, C. Leon. M. Petersson, Vénus Poulain, Chen Guo, Christoph Dittel, Daniel Finkelstein-Shapiro, Richard J. Squibb, Raimund Feifel, Mathieu Gisselbrecht, Cord L. Arnold, Andreas Buchleitner, Eva Lindroth, Anton Frisk Kockum, Anne L’Huillier, and David Busto.
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Electrotherapy using injectable nanoparticles delivered directly into the tumour could pave the way for new treatment options for glioblastoma, according to a new study published in Nature Communications.
“By drop casting the nanoparticles into the tumour cavity after an operation, we could electrify the edges while the immune system is also activated”, says Roger Olsson, professor of Chemical Biology and Drug Development, who led the study.
Authors: Amit Singh Yadav, Umut Aydemir, Karin Hellman, Peter Ekström, Abdelrazek H. Mousa, Jiaxin Li, Muhammad Anwar Shameem, Cedric Dicko, Johan Bengzon, Fredrik Ek, Martin Hjort & Roger Olsson.
“Injectable bioresorbable conductive hydrogels for multimodal brain tumor electroimmunotherapy” |
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Despite advances in mass spectrometry, measuring the extracellular vesicle (EV) proteome in blood plasma remains challenging. EV isolation can reveal low-abundance proteins, but common methods require large sample volumes, long ultracentrifugation times, or introduce population bias. Fast, simple isolation from <10 μL plasma is needed to support biomarker discovery, especially in biobanked samples. Using seed-particle-enhanced acoustic trapping, the researchers isolated EVs from 8 μL plasma in 6 minutes. Mass spectrometry shows significant enrichment (FDR < 0.05) of proteins in acoustically trapped samples compared to raw plasma, with over two-thirds previously linked to EVs. The team also detected 51 low-abundance proteins absent from raw plasma, half tagged with the “extracellular exosome” GO term (GO:0070062). Finally, they demonstrate that neutrally charged silica seed particles with a 200 μL/min wash yield the same proteome as polystyrene particles washed at 30 μL/min, while halving processing time. Authors: Megan Havers, Aaron M. Scott, Niklas Ortenlöf, Charlotte Welinder, Simon Ekström, Thierry Baasch, Mikael Evander, Andreas Lenshof, Magnus Gram, and Thomas Laurell.
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This letter highlights the power of nanofocused X-ray diffraction to image buried ferroelectric capacitors, even at the domain scale. This includes probing the effects of electrode deposition and even electrical poling on the domain structure.
Authors: Megan O. Hill Landberg, Bixin Yan, Huaiyu Chen, Ipek Efe, Morgan Trassin, and Jesper Wallentin.
The paper in Nano Letters |
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