Research

Crossings of electronic potential energy surfaces in nuclear configuration space, known as conical intersections, determine the rates and outcomes of a large class of photochemical molecular processes.

We have established a wide range of time-resolved spectroscopic techniques which span from the infrared to the X-ray regimes and can be used for probing the nonadiabatic dynamics in the vicinity of conical intersections.

The functional understanding of biomolecules like DNA, RNA and phospholipids requires knowledge of the ultrafast dynamics on the femto- to picosecond time scale of molecular motions due to fluctuating electric fields and hydrogen bonding.

2D-IR spectroscopy offers chemical selectivity with a (sub-)100 fs time resolution allowing to study these phenomena in real time.

Basic processes in chemistry and biology involve protons in a water environment. Water structures accommodating protons and their motions have so far remained elusive.

The description of dissipative quantum dynamics subject to non-Markovian system-bath memory poses persistent challenges that arise in particular for systems of biological relevance, e.g., composed of multiple exciton states coupled to charge transfer states.