The MBI welcomes Heisenberg Fellow Thomas Fennel

Prof. Thomas Fennel, group leader at the Institute of Physics of the University of Rostock, receives the coveted Heisenberg Fellowship, which is awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The aim of the program is to promote young scientists who are distinguished by their outstanding academic achievements and who are able to work on professorships. As part of the approved scholarship, which was officially launched on January 1, 2017, the DFG is supporting a research project on the theoretical and experimental investigation of new ways of analyzing and controlling ultrafast electronic processes in nanostructures. The associated research is the subject of a close collaboration between Fennel's team at the University of Rostock and Department A scientists at the Max Born Institute for Short Pulse Spectroscopy and Nonlinear Optics in Berlin, led by Prof. Marc Vrakking and on which Fennel is now associated Scientist works.

The research focuses on the active modification and spatial imaging of ultrafast correlated and collective electron motion in finite systems. On the one hand, ways to control electron dynamics in clusters, nanoparticles and liquid jets on the time scale of an optical period using the concrete shape of the electric field of light pulses or multicolor pulses are to be explored. On the other hand, the electron movement should be made directly visible by means of ultrashort X-ray laser flashes. The goal is to further develop the technology for characterizing attosecond electron dynamics in nanoparticles by coherent single-shot X-ray diffraction and to use it in experiments with ultra-short XUV and X-ray laser pulses from free-electron lasers and high-harmonic laboratory sources. Finally, both approaches will be linked to pursue light-induced electron dynamics with unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution and to uncover the secrets of their classical and quantum mechanical processes. Prof. Fennel is a proven expert in the fields of numerical many-body physics and ultrafast nanophotonics. His current work focuses on the development of atomistic electromagnetic plasma simulations, including relevant quantum effects, in order to meet the scientific challenges of the project. On behalf of all employees and in expectation of a fruitful cooperation with the local experimental and theoretical groups, the Max Born Institute welcomes Prof. Fennel.