“Physics on Saturday” at JGU Mainz

"Physics on Saturday" ("Physik am Samstag") is an event held at several universities which allows pupils and their teachers, as well as interested members of the public, to attend physic lectures at a local university and be taught about new and up-to-date physics and related applications. As part of the recent event on March 23rd, Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU) in Mainz held a lecture entitled "Let's twist - whirls in magnets" given by Prof. Dr. Mathias Kläui and Dr. Karin Everschor-Sitte which introduced the audience to the use of magnetism in modern society and the ongoing research topic 'skyrmions', which studies twisting magnetic configurations. Dry clay was distributed among the audience to enhance the participants' understanding of concepts of topology, since skyrmions have special topological properties.

The second part of the event was an experimental showcase of applications of magnetism where Prof. Kläui presented and explained the experiments (see picture). Afterwards the audience could try most of the experiments themselves, including demonstrations of eddy current brakes, ferro-fluids, magnetic putty and Kerr microscopy. A levitating superconducting rail-track also got a lot of attention. Members from the experimental group of Mr. Kläui could then answer further questions about each experiment, allowing the attendees to delve more into the topic and begin further exciting discussions. Theorists of Mrs. Everschor-Sitte's group supplied the audience with delicious ice cream made with liquid nitrogen.