1st prize:
Beatriz Viña-Bausá, The work demonstrates the possibility of constructing any type of magnetic interactions, both classical and unconventional magnetism, including altermagnetism, on demand and on a single material, graphene, by atom-by-atom engineering using STM assembly. This advance required a combination of complex characterization and theoretical approaches. While not scalable, it represents a remarkable bottom-up approach to a unified platform for studying magnetic phenomena, never reported before. The potential to create any phase via symmetry selection represents a step-change for the field, introducing a paradigm shift in the design of magnetic materials.
The contribution of Beatriz Viá-Bausá is key, comprehensive and highly technical in all steps of the research, from measurements, analysis and conceptualization to group theory and writing.
2nd prize:
Lyan Ming This work presents an innovative method for obtaining high-resolution 3D temperature maps of biological tissues, overcoming the current limitation of 2D imaging. Machine learning algorithms are used to process the emission spectra of AgS2 nanothermometers exploiting the generally detrimental tissue-related distortions in temperature and photon extinction. This highly interdisciplinary approach demonstrates the possibility to overtake fundamental optical limitations. It combines multiphoton microscopy and ratiometric analysis to achieve sub-micron accuracy in 3D thermal imaging in living systems. Furthermore, when mechanically coupled, it could identify not just temperature but also stress in the system.
Lyan Ming’s contribution is particularly significant, being responsible of the experiments as well as of machine learning code writing, data analysis and validation of the proposed methodology