Experimental Physics II

Spectroscopy of Quantum Materials

Our research focuses on the optical, electronic, and magnetic properties of quantum materials in the ground state, but also under extreme conditions such as high pressure, low temperature, or strong optical excitations using intense and ultrashort femtosecond light pulses. In the latter case, this allows us to study the ultrafast dynamics of charge and spin carriers on their intrinsic timescale and atomistic length. Our goal is to understand the microscopic mechanisms governing the material’s responses under extreme conditions and on ultrafast timescales as a key step towards active control of material properties on smallest length and fastest timescales.

Our current research focuses on the following topics

Ultrafast Carrier Dynamics in Low Dimensional Heterostructures
Ultrafast Magnetization Dynamics
Spin Functionalities in Molecular Hybrid Structures
Spectroscopy of topological semimetals and strongly correlated materials at high pressures
Pressure-induced phase transitions in low-dimensional materials

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Exploring the third dimension in quantum confinement of surface electrons

11.06.2026

Researchers in our group, together with several partner institutions, have investigated how electrons at surfaces can be deliberately confined within nanoscale structures. The focus was on a metal–organic network that acts as a tailored landscape for the electrons.

The study revealed that not only the in-plane structure, but especially its vertical dimension, plays a crucial role: depending on their position within this three-dimensional environment, the properties of the electrons change significantly. While electrons close to the metal surface are hardly affected, they can be efficiently trapped at greater distances, at the height of the organic molecular ligands.

These findings demonstrate that electronic properties can be precisely controlled through the targeted design of such structures. This opens up new possibilities for future applications in nanoelectronics and quantum technologies.

Veröffentlichung in ScienceAdvances

Concept for plasmonic neuronal architechtures on the nanometer scale

10.04.2026

Researchers in our group, in collaboration with the group of Prof. Martin Aeschlimann (RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau), have developed a concept for novel plasmonic platforms for photonic information processing at the nanometer scale. The architecture combines multiple input channels, weighted signal processing, and nonlinear activation within a nanoscale structure, representing an important step toward the realization of plasmonic neuronal building blocks. By utilizing the orbital angular momentum of light as well as tailored nanostructures, a compact approach for ultrafast neuromorphic plasmonic circuits is achieved. The results open up new perspectives for dense, fully optical neural networks, optical computing methods, and novel hardware implementations of artificial intelligence. The findings were published in Nanophotonics.

Publication in Nanophotonics

Tracking ballistic spin carriers towards spin-equilibrium on ultrafast timescales

03.11.2025

In close collaboration with physicists from the RPTU in Kaiserslautern, the LMU in Munich, and the University of West Bohemia (Czech Republic), we discovered the ultrafast conversion of non-equilibrium spin carriers towards quasi-equilibrium within a van der Waals crystal within a timescale of a few femtoseconds — a millionth of a billionth of a second. These findings were recently published in Physical Review Letters.

Published in Physical Review Letters or on Arxiv.org