Scientist of the year Peter Skyba wants to know the unknown

On June 16, 2020, RNDr. Peter Skyba, DrSc., member of the Centre of Low Temperature Physics at Institute of Experimental Physics SAS received the title Scientist of the year 2019. He was awarded in Moyzes Hall of the Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava by minister of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic Branislav Gröhling under the patronage of President of the Slovak Republic Zuzana Čaputová.

For the 23rd time, Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information, Slovak Academy of Sciences and The Association of Slovak Scientific and Technological Societies rewarded exceptional scientists of all fields of research and development. Peter Skyba was announced as the Scientist of the year 2019 for the experimental results achieved during his studies of the properties of the condensed matter at extremely low temperatures, especially superfluid Helium-3 as a model system for cosmology, and for the advancement of low temperature physics in Slovakia.

His name was on the list of laureates for the third time – Scientist of the year 2019 award had been preceded by honorable mention by Journaliste-Studio Bratislava in 2005 (for the achievement of temperature of 50 microkelvin and experimental results obtained during the study of superfluid Helium-3 at very low temperatures) and in 2008 (for the experimental results obtained during the study of superfluid Helium-3 as a model system for cosmology).

Scientist of the year 2019 award was a reason behind our visit of the Centre of Low Temperature Physics at Institute of Experimental Physics SAS in Košice, which is a joint research facility with Faculty of Science, P. J. Šafárik University. Our goal was to present his 38 year long research work and also the path which led him to the SAS.

“I was born in Vranov nad Topľou, but I started going to school in Košice, where we moved after my father was given a job in Východoslovenské železiarne (East Slovak Ironworks),” says Peter Skyba. “I was close to the natural sciences and my father supported me. He was a fan of aviation and cosmonautics. During my studies at Secondary Industrial School of Electrical Engineering in Košice I became interested in physical phenomena behind electronic components. Continuing by study of solid state physics at Faculty of Science, P. J. Šafárik University was a no-brainer. There were more of us like me, we were an excellent class, seven of us graduated with honors,” says the Scientist of the year.

Peter Skyba was introduced to the low temperature physics already in 1977. At that time he worked at the Department of Experimental Physics PF UPJŠ as an auxiliary scientific force. “Ordinary people think that it is cold here, but actually it is not – we only work with low temperatures. We do not use Celsius temperature scale but the absolute one, expressed in Kelvins. We can reach temperatures close to the absolute zero (-273.15 °C) which is something nature is not capable to do. Therefore we can mark the Košice as one of the coldest places in the universe,” says the Scientist of the year.

At such low temperatures the world becomes different. But how different? That is something Peter Skyba examines with his colleagues. By cooling, they reduce the kinetic energy of the particle motion, thus enabling other, weaker forces to be exerted between the building blocks of the substance, which in turn change its properties. In short, the decrease of the temperature helps to focus on the processes emerging in the micro- and nanoworld. “In the next ten to twenty years, low temperature physics will dominate. Huge development of the quantum computers, informatics, detectors and nanotechnology relying on the low temperatures is expected. If you can cool down the matter, you can do a lot of new things,” said scientist after the award ceremony.

Peter Skyba dedicated most of his 38 years long research work to the study of superfluid Helium-3 and its utilization as a model system for cosmology. His research deals with laboratory modeling of the black holes properties. Contemporary technology does not yet make it possible to do any controlled experiment with real black holes. “However, we can exploit physical systems that would at least mimic some of the properties of the black holes. We use the superfluid Helium-3 which is a complex and pure physical system,” explains Peter Skyba. “Superfluidity is a quantum-mechanical phenomenon which states for zero viscosity of the Helium-3. Simply put: fluid flows without resistance. In addition, transition to the superfluid state can be achieved at very low temperatures, at approximately 1 microkelvin. Superfluid Helium-3 also exhibits magnetic properties, especially the so called magnetic superfluidity – that is superfluid spin transport. Ultra-low temperatures and magnetic superfluidity of the Helium-3 are the essential properties of the Helium-3 for its use as a model system for the simulation of the event horizon. These properties allows study the analogous spontaneous Hawking radiation (radiation of the black holes),” says Peter Skyba.

A large part of Petr Skyba’s extensive CV is a list of solved projects and grants. He was a head coordinator of six VEGA projects, in the years 2002 – 2004 and 2007 – 2009 as a “visiting fellow in physics” he collaborated on the EPRSC grants with prof. George Pickett, FRS at University of Lancaster, as the project leader, and was also co-investigator of two APVV projects. He considers the Structural Funds projects EXTREM I and EXTREM II to be extremely beneficial, as their goal was to complete and operate a unique workplace enabling the preparation of new systems and materials and conduct their physical research under extreme conditions – at very low temperatures, high pressures, in strong magnetic fields and in a reduced dimension. On behalf of IEP SAS, both of these projects were led by Peter Skyba (with head coordinator prof. RNDr. Alexander Feher, DrSc.).

In the field of international projects, let us mention the latest one, when the Centre of Low Temperature Physics in Košice became part of the European Microkelvin Platform (Horizon 2020 project European Microkelvin Platform), where Peter Skyba is the responsible coordinator for the Slovak Republic. The project is planned for the years 2019 – 2022 and is funded by 10 million euros. European Microkelvin Platform (EMP) is a consortium of 17 leading European academical and industrial institutions in the field of low-temperature physics and technology. “Second quantum revolution, which is just beginning, is taking the use of quantum mechanics to a whole new level. Quantum principles such as discretization, entanglement and coherence will serve for development of quantum computers, simulators, sensors, quantum computer networks and so on. Ultra-low temperatures are key for the future quantum technologies, enabling the quantum limit to be reached for both electronic and nanomechanical devices, as well as the use of quantum materials such as superconductors and topological materials in revolutionary technologies. In the near future, preparedness to master and develop quantum technologies will determine the country’s economic success in the 21st century,” said Peter Skyba.

At the moment, the research work was slowed by current spread of coronvavirus; nevertheless the project’s goals have already begun to be met. “We have already provided our experimental equipment to several foreign applicants from France, USA, Russia and Ukraine through the so-called Trans-National Access. At the end of last week, the Czechs returned home. The big question is organization of the evaluation and user meeting, which we were forced to move from the October to January next year. So far, we are fulfilling the intentions and goals of the EMP project according to the schedule,” said Peter Skyba, Scientist of the Year 2019.

 

Original text: News at SAS (published on July 29, 2020)
Author of the original text and photo: Katarína Čižmáriková and Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information