Dr. Michael Woerner
michael.woerner(at)mbi-berlin.de
+49 30 6392 1470
C3: Femtosecond Spectroscopy of Solids
Haus C, 1.2
Position
- Head of Department C3 "Femtosecond Spectroscopy on Solids"
- Coordinator of Project 3.2 "Solids and Nanostructures: Electrons, Spins, and Phonons"
- Coordinator of Project 3.3 "Transient Structures and Imaging with X-rays"
Research
I am interested in ultrafast and nonlinear phenomena in condensed matter, in particular organic and inorganic solids and nanostructures. To this end, I generate and apply ultrashort pulses in a wide spectral range (THz to hard x-ray) to measure the nonequilibrium dynamics of elementary excitations in solids and the ultrafast structural dynamics of crystalline material. Most recent activities are two-dimensional spectroscopy in the THz frequency range (Figure: two phonon coherences in InSb) and femtosecond x-ray absorption experiments using table top high harmonic sources.
Curriculum vitae
1981-1988 Study of physics at the Technical University (TU) of Munich
1988-1991 PhD Work at TU Munich, Physics Department E11 (Prof. W. Kaiser)
1991 Graduation (Dr. rer. nat.) at the TU
1991-1993 Postdoctoral Researcher at the Physics Department E11, TU Munich
1993-1996 Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max-Born-Institute, Berlin
1997 Postdoctoral Researcher at Bell Laboratories (Lucent), Holmdel, NJ, USA
since 1997 Department head of C3 at the Max-Born-Institute, Berlin
1999 Habilitation at the Humboldt University Berlin
Aktuelle Highlights
Electric polarization in the macroscopic world and electrons moving at atomic scales
Wiggling atoms switch the electric polarization of crystals
Quantum Swing - a pendulum that moves forward and backwards at the same time
Amplification of Sound Waves at Extreme Frequencies
Hot means slow: Electron plasma oscillations tuned down with light
The longer the better: Optical long-wavelength pulses generate brilliant ultrashort hard x-ray flashes
MBI Publikationen
- Solvated electrons in polar liquids as epsilon-near-zero materials tunable in the terahertz frequency range Physical Review Letters 134 (2025) 056901/1-6
- Ultrafast longitudinal and transverse dielectric response of collective polar modes in liquids Physical Review Research Online (2025)
- Kondo coherence versus superradiance in terahertz radiation-driven heavy-fermion systems Physical Review B 109 (2024) 235103/1-6
- Concepts and applications of nonlinear terahertz spectroscopy (2nd Edition) IOP Publishing, London (2024)
- Quantum pathways of carrier and coherent phonon excitation in bismuth Physical Review B 107 (2023) L180303/1-6
- Nonlinear terahertz polarizability of electrons solvated in a polar liquid Physical Review Letters 131 (2023) 166902/1-6
- Ultrafast carrier dynamics and symmetry reduction in bismuth by nonperturbative optical excitation in the terahertz range Physical Review B 107 (2023) 245140/1-10
- Femtosecond diffraction with laser-driven hard x-ray sources: Nuclear motions and transient charge densities Structural dynamics with x-ray and electron scattering, K. Amini, A. Rouzée, M. J. J. Vrakking (eds.) Royal Society of Chemistry (2023) 126-171
- Field-induced electron generation in water: solvation dynamics and many-body interactions Journal of Physical Chemistry B 126 (2022) 2621-2634
- Coherent polaron dynamics of electrons solvated in polar liquids PNAS Nexus 1 (2022) pgac078/1-8