	Group research news
	September, 2024: Yoad Ordan has passed his M.Sc. exam. Congratulations!
	September, 2024: Yuval Bloom has passed his M.Sc. exam. Congratulations!
	July, 2024: A new Ph.D. just graduated, congratulations Dr. Ralfy Kenaz!
	June, 2024: Dror Liran was awarded the The Schuller Award for outstanding condensed-matter PhD student of the Racah Institute of Physics in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Congratulations Dror!
	May, 2024: A new Ph.D. just graduated, congratulations Dr. Boaz Lubotzky!
	May, 2024: Ralfy Kenaz gave a talk at The Nano Center Annual Conference (HUJI NANO) and was awarded the Nano Prize by The Hebrew University Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, a prize that honors selected PhD students for their "Excellence in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology". Congratulations Ralfy!
	May, 2024: Ralfy Kenaz and Yuval Bloom presented their research at The Hebrew University Nano Center Annual Conference (HUJI NANO) in Jerusalem, Israel.
	March, 2024: A new Ph.D. just graduated, congratulations Dr. Yotam Mazuz-Harpaz!
	March, 2024: Yuval Bloom presented his research at the 12th International Conference on Quantum Dots (QD2024) conference in Munich, Germany.
	February, 2024: Our work recently published in Nano Letters was under the spotlight by several popular science and news websites, including PHYS.org, Sky News, NewsBeezer, Innovations Report, Electro Optics, and The Quantum Insider.
	October, 2023: Dror Liran has been awarded with the outstanding PhD prize of the Quantum Information Science Center.
	September, 2023: Ralfy Kenaz gave a talk at the 12th Workshop on Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (WSE2023) organized in Prague, Czech Republic. He was awarded the Paul Drude Medal by the German Association of Ellipsometry, a prize given to a young scientist for outstanding contributions in the field of ellipsometric metrology or spectroscopy. Congratulations Ralfy!
	June, 2023: Ralfy Kenaz presented his research at Graphene 2023 conference in Manchester, UK.
	June, 2023: Our work recently published in ACS Nano was under the spotlight by several popular science and news websites, including PHYS.org, EurekAlert!, AZoNano, Nano Werk, ScienMag, Bioengineer.org and Mirage News.
	June, 2023: Dror Liran and Ephraim Keren presented their research at OECS 18 conference in Lecce, Italy.
	March, 2023: Our recently published paper in Review of Scientific Instruments was covered by the popular Israeli science website Hayadan.org.il (in Hebrew).
	February, 2023: Our paper "Mapping spectroscopic micro-ellipsometry with sub-5 microns lateral resolution and simultaneous broadband acquisition at multiple angles" was selected as a featured paper for special highlight on AIP Scilight.
	December, 2022: Dror Liran, Ralfy Kenaz and Alex Nazarov presented their research at Oasis 8 Conference in Tel-Aviv, Israel.
	September, 2022: Dror Liran and Alex Nazarov presented their research at Metamaterials Conference in Siena, Italy.
	August, 2022: Yehonatan Dayan, Yuval Bloom and Yoad Ordan participated our group towards their M.Sc degrees, good luck to all!
	May, 2022: Ralfy Kenaz gave a talk at 9th International Conference on Spectroscopic Ellipsometry organized in Beijing, China.
	November, 2021: Our work recently published in ACS Nano was under the spotlight by several science and news media outlets, including PHYS.org, EurekAlert!, AlphaGalileo, Florida News Times, The Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom (Hebrew).
	November, 2021: Our work on exciton superfluids and supersolids was covered by the popular website of Israel Science Foundation (in Hebrew).
	October, 2021: In a paper just published in ACS Nano, we show the first experimental demonstration of simultaneous rate and directionality enhancement of a quantum emitter at room temperature. This is achieved by deterministically coupling colloidal quantum dots to a hybrid structure composed of a plasmonic nanocone resonator located at the center of a circular Bragg antenna. As a result, we achieve simultaneous 20-fold emission rate enhancement and record-high directionality leading to single photon rates approaching the GHz regime. These results will pave the way towards ultrafast light-matter interfaces for quantum technologies at ambient conditions.
	March, 2021: A new Ph.D. just graduated, congratulations Dr. Hamza Abudayyeh!
	March, 2021: Our paper "Single photon sources with near unity collection efficiencies by deterministic placement of quantum dots in nanoantennas" was selected as a featured paper for special highlight on AIP Scilight.
	October, 2020: Some members of our group participated to PLMCN-2020 - International Conference on Physics of Light-Matter Coupling in Nanostructures. Talks of Ronen, Dror, Yotam and Michal can be watched here.
	February, 2020: Boaz Lubotzky won the best poster award in the annual Nano Conference. Congratulations!
	August, 2019: In a new paper just published in PNAS, we develop a new theoretical model which may explain peculiar phenomena, previously observed in cold gases of two-dimensional dipolar excitons. This model can explain how the spin structure of these quasi particles, and the intricate way it affects their coupling to light, may result in dramatic dynamic effects such as sharp rise in the number of particles once they form a Bose-Einstein condensate. These findings suggest new directions for the experimental study of dipolar excitons, on further predicted unique phenomena which were yet to be observed, and on novel possible ways to realize condensates of dipolar excitons and control their coupling with light. Was also covered by popular media (Hebrew).
	July, 2019: Boaz, Hamza, Tim and Yotam flew to Moscow&Suzdal and sucessfully presented the group's work in the PLMCN international conference. We had a great time, made new friends, disscused our work with many colleagues, learned a lot of new stuff about light-matter coupling in various kinds of condensed matter systems and enjoyed the best of the Russian diet.
	July, 2019: Yevgeny Slobodkin has passed his M.Sc. exam. Congratulations!
	May, 2019: A new Ph.D. just graduated, congratulations Dr. Itamar Rosenberg!
	April, 2019: In a new paper, just published in PRX , we show a first experimental demonstration for how two-dimensional dipolar excitons layers can be stacked together so an inter-layer interaction between excitons appears. The measured actual interaction was found to be much stronger than previously predicted and can serve to control and study these intricate quasi-particles in new ways. It also suggests that interesting many-body effects which were not predicted before are actually taking place in this system. The experimental work was done together with our collaborators in the Paul Drude Institute, Berlin, and in the Institute of Science and Technology Austria. It was also featured in several popular science websites .
	January, 2019: Low single photon purity is a main limiting factor of room temperature quantum emitters. In a new paper, just published in ACS photonics, we present and demonstrate a new method to deal with that, by distilling a single photon from a couple of photons. Understanding of the processes which produce these couples allows temporal separation of the two photons and by use of optical switches one photon may then herald the presence of the other. We experimentally demonstrate this with a single quantum dot, using the method to increase the purity from <90% to over 99.5%.
	November, 2018: Dr. Timothy Chou has joined our group for his postdoctoral research, which is a joint project with the Deng group, from the University of Michigan. Good luck Tim!
	November, 2018: In a new paper, just published in ACS photonics , we study and demonstrate different new ways to create waveguide channels for exciton-polaritons. Using these channels, polaritons can travel record-high distances and even take turns, all while allowing electrical control of them. On top of that, these structures are scalable and easy to fabricate. This is a step towards realizing complex polaritonic devices.
	October, 2018: Michal Zimmerman has joined our group towards her M.Sc. degree. Good luck Michal!
	October, 2108: A step forward towards the long-sought development of polariton-based quantum circuitry. In a new paper, just published in Science Advances (and also covered in social media), we demonstrated how dipolar exciton-polaritons, fast hybrid light-matter quasiparticles in a semiconductor chip, display inter-particle interaction up to 200-fold stronger compared to unpolarized polaritons. Moreover we show how we can turn this interaction on and off using external electric fields. The strength of that interaction is well known to be a major limiting factor in the attempt to develop polariton-based quantum information devices. Alongside the encouraging achievement, the results also raise fundamental questions about the origin of that strong enhancement of the interaction, which is still not well understood.
	September, 2018: After successfully fulfilling the milestones of the 1st year, our work on building a commercial high spatial-resolution ellipsometer, funded by the Israeli Innovation Authority (KAMIN incentive program), moves forward to a 2nd year.
	September, 2018: Is it possible to position a single nano-particle on a substrate with a sub-micrometer precision? In our new paper, just published in Appl. Phys. Lett., we introduce an innovative and reliable fabrication method, allowing placing of a diamond nano-crystal featuring a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center, at the very center of our notorious bullseye nanoantennas. To reach its extreme accuracy, the method utilizes an atomic force microscope (AFM), combined with a confocal scanning microscope (CSM). This work was done together with our collaborators in Humboldt University, Berlin.
	July, 2018: Hamza Abudayyeh was awarded with the Prof. Rahamimoff Travel Grant for Young Scientists of the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), to present his work at the "SPIE nanoscience+engineering" conference.
	June, 2018: After a post-M.Sc. full recovery in Japan, Dror has come back to us to start his Ph.D. Good luck Dror!
	March, 2018: Ralfy Kenaz won the faculty's best poster award in the faculty of science's day. Congratulations!
	February, 2018: Yotam Mazuz-Harpaz was awarded with the scholarship for outstanding Ph.D. students by the Hebrew University Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Congratulations!
	February, 2018: Dror Liran and Yifat Baruchi have successfully passed the M.Sc. exam. Congratulations!
	Octobor, 2017: We have concluded the very sucsessful DIP-QUANTUM 2017 workshop, hosted by the Israel Institute of Advances Studies, here in the Safra campus of the Hebrew University. This three-day event was the first to bring together scientists studying dipolar quantum gases in two different areas of physics: atomic and molecular in one hand and condensed matter in the other. In fascinating lectures and discussions from some of the leading experts of each field, we learnt about each other's methods, ideas and challenges and found intriguing analogies between our systems. It has been extremly illuminating and we are thrilled to see what new breakthroughs will sprout out of this unusual exchange of ideas. The lectures were uploaded to the YouTube channel of the IIAS, watch them here!
	September, 2017: Yotam Mazuz-Harpaz presented our recent work on dark condensation of dipolar excitons at the OECS 2017 conference in Bath, UK.
	September, 2017: Ralfy Kenaz has successfully passed the M.Sc. exam. Congratulations!
	August, 2017: Our work on building a high spatial-resolution ellipsometer was accepted to be funded by the Israel Innovation Authority (KAMIN incentive program), aiming on commercializing the technology we have developed.
	August, 2017: Our paper on "Transition from spin-orbit to hyperfine dominated spin relaxation in a cold fluid of dipolar excitons" was published in Phys. Rev. B.
	June, 2017: We are proud to be one of several reaserch groups in the Hebrew University, chosen by the govenrment of Israel to lead the construction of a national demonstrator for quantum communications technologies. See details.
	June, 2017: Kobi Cohen has won the 2017 Racah award for his work studying cold dipolar quantum gases of indirect excitons. Congratulations!
	May, 2017: We are thrilled towards the upcoming DIP-QUNATUM 2017, the German-Israeli Minerva school on quantum dipolar gases in atomic and condensed matter physics, which will take place in October in the Israeli Institute of Advanced Studied.
	May, 2017: A new paper was published in Quantum Science and Technology. In this paper we address the issues of isotropic emission and low decay rate in quantum emitters by suggesting a combination of two nanostructures: a bullseye antenna to redirect the emission and a plasmonic nanocone to increase the decay rate of the emitter. By conducting extensive numerical calculations we found that such a structure can result in a 1000-fold increase in the collected photon flux from a quantum emitter.
	April, 2017: In a new paper published in Phys. Rev. B we experimentally confirm a predicted relation between the energy of indirect excitons and their radiative lifetime. This relation can be very helpful in a realistic experimnetal study of these quasi-particles, as it allows a very simple way to find the radiative lifetime without measuring it directly (a time consuming and sometimes altogether impossible task).
	February, 2017: After a successful undergraduate project in our group, Yevgeny Slobodkin now continuous with us towards his M.Sc. degree, in a joint project with the lab of Hadar Steinberg. Good luck Yevgeny!
	January, 2017: Our paper on "Condensation to a strongly correlated dark fluid of two dimensional dipolar excitons" was published in Superlattices and Microstructures.
	June, 2016: In a new theoretical paper, just published in Phys. Rev. B, we propose and discuss a new system where two layers of two-dimensional dipolar excitons are stacked together, introducing a novel inter-layer exciton-exciton interaction. Such a system can facilitate new ways to control dipolar exciton gases and to study their interesting and elusive properties. This theoretical work was done in collaboration with Paulo Santos from the Paul Drude Institute, Berlin, and with Boris Laikhtman and Maxim Khodas from the Racah Institute. We have already started studying such systems experimentally too.
	May, 2016: Our paper on "Dark High Density Dipolar Liquid of Excitons" was published in NanoLetters. Also covered by popular media .
	May, 2016: Our paper on "Electrically controlled mutual interactions of flying waveguide dipolaritons" was published in Phys. Rev. B .
	May, 2016: Our work developing a compact, efficient single photon source that operates at room temperature has been reviewed on several popular media websites.
	February, 2016: Yotam Mazuz-Harpaz has successfully passed the M.Sc. exam. Congratulations!
	January, 2016: Hamza Abudayyeh was awarded with the CAMBR Scholarship for his research in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.
	December, 2015: Our paper on "Efficient Collection of Light from Colloidal Quantum Dots with a Hybrid Metal-Dielectric Nanoantenna" was published in ACS Photonics.
	December, 2015: Hamza Abudayyeh and Boaz Lubotzky both joined our group towards their Ph.D. degree. Good luck!
	October, 2015: Kobi Cohen gave his Ph.D. talk in the condensed-matter physics seminar.
	October, 2015: Moshe Harats has been awarded the Incubic Milton Chang travel grant for the FIO/LS 2015 conference at San Jose, CA.
	October, 2015: The entire group participated in the OECS 2015 conference in Jerusalem, presenting our work in several talks and posters.
	September, 2015: Moshe Harats has presented our work in the "Nanospectroscopy of two dimensional materials" organized by the COST action at Chemnitz, Germany.
	September, 2015: Yifat Baruchi joined our group towards her M.Sc. degree. Good luck!
	September, 2015: Dror Liran joined our group towards his M.Sc. degree. Good luck!
	September, 2015: Boaz Lubotzky joined our group towards his Ph.D. degree. Good luck!
	June, 2015: Nitzan Livneh gave his Ph.D. talk in the applied physics seminar.
	June, 2015: Moshe Harats has been awarded with the best poster award at the SPP7 conference . Congratulations!
	May, 2015: Nitzan Livneh has been awarded with the faculty best poster award at the annual faculty poster session. Congratulations!
	March, 2015: Moshe Harats has been awarded with the Hebrew University nano center prize for an outstanding Ph.D student. Congratulations!
	March, 2015: Nitzan Livneh gave a sucessful talk at the COST nanospectroscopy conference in Dublin, Irland.
	March, 2015: Ronen, Kobi, Yotam and Itamar attended the indirect excitons workshop at the "ecole de physic" in Les Houches France and presented highlights of the group's recent results.
	March, 2015: Dr. Yehiel Shilo recieved his Ph.D degree. Congratulations!
	February, 2015:Ran Finkelstein has successfully passed the M.Sc. exam. Congratulations!
	November, 2014: Annika Bräeuer, from prof. Monika Fleischer's group from tübingen university, visited our group as part of a collaboration on active nano antennas through the EU COST Nanospectroscopy program. Thank you Annika!
	October, 2014: Ralfy Kenaz has joined our group towards his M.Sc. degree. Good luck Ralfy!
	September, 2014: Our joint work with the Giessen group from Stuttgart University on perfect plasmonic absorbers was published in ACS-Nano.
	August, 2014: Our paper on "Full Spectral and Angular Characterization of Highly Directional Emission from Nanocrystal Quantum Dots Positioned on Circular Plasmonic Lenses" was published in Nano Letters.
	August, 2014: Kobi Cohen has successfully presented our recent results in two successive talks in the International Conference of Semiconductor Physics at Austin, Texas this week. We hope he had some fun in the sun....
	August, 2014: Yotam Mazuz-Harpaz has joined our group towards his M.Sc. degree. Good luck Yotam!
	July, 2014: Andreas Tittl and Ramon Walter from the group of Prof. Harald Giessen at Stuttgart University, Germany, visited our group to perform experiments and write a paper on our joint work on plasmonic perfect absorbers. This was a success story! Thank you guys for your very productive visit. We hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to the EU COST Nanospectroscopy program for funding this trip.
	June, 2014: We are seeking motivated, excellent M.Sc. and Ph.D. students for a joint project of the Rapaport group and the Bar-Gill group from the Quantum Information center at the Hebrew University, focused on developing a new nano-optical method for readout of quantum states from a single NV center in diamond ( for more information).
	March, 2014: A paper on "Dynamics of indirect exciton transport by moving acoustic fields" was published in New J. Phys. 16 033035.
	February, 2014: A paper on "Scalable interconnections for remote indirect exciton systems based on acoustic transport" was published in Phys. Rev. B 89, 085313.
	November, 2013: Itamar Rosenberg was awarded a 2 Years CAMBR Scholarship for his research in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.
	August, 2013: Our paper on "Particle correlations and evidence for dark state condensation in a cold dipolar exciton fluid" was published in Nature Communications.
	June, 2013: Nitzan Livneh has been awarded with the "Brojde scholarship of the Cannadian friends of the Hebrew University".
	June, 2012: The annual HUJI nano center conference - Itamar Rosenberg has won the best poster award for his work titled "Strong photon-exciton coupling in metallic nanoslit array cavities".
	September, 2012: Aviv Landman & Ran Finkelstein joined the group towards M.Sc. degree.
	March, 2012: New open research position: we are seeking a new M.Sc. or Ph.D.candidate to join our new and exciting research project for the development of a novel type of nano-optical, nonlinear plasmonic-based light detectors and light frequency up-converters. This project is fully funded by the Israeli Government. Please contact Ronen Rapaport for more details.
	December, 2010: IPS conference - Ilai Schwarz won the poster session. Nitzan Livneh and Moshe Harats presented their work in the applied physics and classical optics sessions.
	November, 2010: Ayelet Strauss & Nitzan Livneh won the poster session at the NanoIsreal 2010 conference.
	February, 2010: Itamar Rosenberg joined the group towards his M.Sc. degree..
	January, 2010: Nitzan Livneh & Ron Nissim passed their M.Sc. test. Congratulations.
	June 30, 2009: Nitzan Livneh won the best poster award for the Nano Annual Conference. Congratulations.
	May 1, 2009: Moshe Harats joined the group towards his M.Sc. degree.
	November 1, 2008: Yehiel Shilo Joined the group towards his Ph.D. degree. Kobi Cohen Joined the group towards his M.Sc. degree.
	September 15, 2008: New experimental evidence and an accompanied theoretical model that suggest that the dipole-dipole interactions of trapped exciton fluids induce strong particle pair correlations. The pair correlations suggest that the exciton system is not a weakly non-ideal Bose gas, but rather a quantum liquid. This raises fundamental questions of the nature of the possible states of cold, quantum degenerate dipolar fluids.
	January 30th, 2008: Nitzan Livneh and Ron Nissim Joined the group towards their M.Sc. degrees.

Group research news