3.2 Solids and Nanostructures: Electrons, Spins, and Phonons

In this project we investigate ultrafast and nonlinear phenomena in solids and nanostructures. Both fundamental questions of basic research and current questions of applied research are addressed.

In correlated condensed-matter systems, interaction of electrons, phonons, and spins lead to a broad range of novel and unusual phenomena, which are interesting from the point of view of both fundamental research and practical applications. To gain new insight into fundamental phenomena in this thriving field of research, experiments are performed with ultrafast time resolution and in a very wide spectral range extending from terahertz (THz) to X-ray frequencies. The work includes studies in the regime of nonperturbative light-matter interactions.

Our basic research is complemented by studies of light-matter interactions in materials processing with ultrashort optical pulses and by work on optoelectronic devices. The project includes five topics.