Max Auwärter Preis
The MAX AUWÄRTER AWARD for students and young researchers is offered bi-annually by the Max Auwärter Foundation in Balzers, Principality of Liechtenstein. It is open to university and research institution-based scientists of up to 35 years of age who have published significant work in the fields of surface physics, surface chemistry, or organic and inorganic thin films. In the case of a multi-author publication, the significant role of the applicant should be emphasized in a separate statement. The award includes a certificate and a prize of EUR 10.000.—
The Prize will be awarded at the annual meeting of the Austrian Physical Society.
Dr. Anna Niggas
Award Winner 2026
Anna Niggas studies the interaction of low-energy electrons and slow, highly charged ions with 2D materials and surfaces. Using coincidence spectroscopy, she correlates incident particles with the secondary electrons emitted in the process. In this way, charge exchange, energy deposition, and electron emission during the transmission of highly charged ions through 2D materials can be quantified — allowing access to processes on the femtosecond timescale. While highly charged ions can emit up to 100 electrons, impinging low-energy electrons offer a complementary approach to investigating the emission mechanisms of individual secondary electrons. Anna’s results show that secondary electrons — contrary to the general expectation that they are only a product of multiple scattering cascades — carry information about the surface electronic structure of the material. In particular, the energy spectrum is modified by specific band-structure features and resonances above the vacuum level, which act as «doorway states» to the continuum.
