Highlights

CEFITEC welcomed Professors and PhD students from the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), one of China's leading Universities and currently ranked 131^st in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026.

At the General Assembly of the Portuguese Vacuum Society (SOPORVAC), held on 16 March 2026, Professor Filipe Ferreira da Silva was elected President for the 2026–2028 term. In total, five integrated members of CEFITEC were elected to its governing bodies, reinforcing the unit's active contribution to the Portuguese vacuum science community.

The study Revisiting CN⁻ Formation Mechanisms in Electron Collisions with Benzonitrile has been selected for the front cover of ChemPhysChem. The research work was first authored by Rodrigo Rodrigues, PhD student in the RaBBiT program at CEFITEC, and co-authored by the CEFITEC researchers Mónica Mendes, João Ameixa, and Filipe Ferreira da Silva.

CEFITEC strengthened its contribution to European metrology through participation in five EURAMET Metrology Partnership projects in 2024–2025, addressing key European priorities in energy transition, climate action, and quantum technologies. These projects contributed to the development of metrology frameworks for decarbonising the gas grid and carbon capture and storage, metrology infrastructure supporting ammonia as a hydrogen carrier, environmental monitoring of ozone-layer impacts, and standards and reference methods for quantum-sensor devices. This involvement was further expanded in 2026 through two additional EURAMET projects.

CEFITEC reinforced its role in renewable energy research through participation in the RISEnergy Transnational Access program, a competitive Horizon Europe initiative providing access to leading European research infrastructures. The Laser Technology group gained access to these infrastructures to advance solar-pumped laser developments through innovative multi-beam solar laser emission experiments at PROMES-CNRS.

The recent research Key Spectroscopic Features of Pyrazine Lowest-Lying ¹B₁u and ¹B₂u States, published in Chemical Physics Letters and authored by Professor Paulo Limão-Vieira together with co-workers from Brazil and Denmark, earned Editor’s Choice recognition as volume front page, reserved to articles of exceptional scientific impact.

In 2025, Professor Dawei Liang was once again included in Stanford University's World's Top 2% Scientists ranking, marking his fifth consecutive inclusion (2021–2025). This distinction reflects the sustained international impact and visibility of his research.

Recognized as a leading researcher in the field of atomic and molecular physics, Professor Paulo Limão-Vieira has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the European Physical Journal D (EPJ D), officially assuming the role on July 1, 2025.

Due to his contributions in the field of solar lasers and related phenomena, Professor Dawei Liang was appointed to the Editorial Boards of the Physical Science & Biophysics Journal (PSBJ) (ISSN: 2641-9165) and the International Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications in 2024.

CEFITEC researchers secured two competitive FCT-funded exploratory projects. One project investigates low-energy electron-driven reactions involving astrochemical relevant molecules detected in the interstellar medium, providing new insights into electron-driven chemistry in the gas phase. The other project builds on CEFITEC’s expertise in solar-pumped lasers to assess the feasibility of using this renewable technology as an energy source for catalyst-free hydrogen extraction from ammonia–water mixtures under ambient conditions.

Professor Filipe Ferreira da Silva shared his opinion in Jornal Público regarding the recent confirmation of the theory proposed by Linus Pauling nearly 100 years ago, which paves the way for a new chemical reality.

The opinion article Nobel: Physics at the Core of Machine Learning by Professor Filipe Ferreira da Silva was featured in Público.

The Best Poster Award at the 4th DEA Club Meeting and the joint conference on Low Energy Electron Applications in Patterning (LE2AP) and Low Energy Electron Lithography, Imaging and Soft Matter (LEELIS) was awarded to Professor Filipe Ferreira da Silva and student Pedro Guerra for the poster presentations Dissociative Electron Attachment to 2-Chlorobenzonitrile and Electron-Induced Chemistry in EUVL Photoresist Materials: Study on Perfluorophenyl Trifluoromethanesulfonate.

The research article Stable Emissions from a Four-Rod Nd Solar Laser with ±0.5° Tracking Error Compensation Capacity, published by researchers from CEFITEC's Laser Technology Laboratory in collaboration with PROMES-CNRS, was selected by Photonics as a Title Story Excellent Article.