On July 5, 2024, two lecturers at the University of Rostock will be awarded the Advancement Award for Teaching by the Society of Sponsors of the University of Rostock e.V. on the recommendation of students. The prize will be awarded in equal parts to Prof. Dana-Sophia Valentiner (Faculty of Law) and Dr. Lennart Seiffert (Institute of Physics of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences).

Dr. Lennart Seiffert has made a name for himself through his outstanding commitment in his excellent lectures on theoretical physics. He knows how to convey complex physical concepts in an understandable way. The students particularly highlight the apps developed by Dr. Seiffert, which support and facilitate the learning process.

Congratulations!

• Link to the press release of the University of Rostock (in german)

In May 2024, Mr. M.Sc. Björn Kruse successfully defended his dissertation.

His dissertation project on quantum effects in coherent diffractive imaging is closely linked to research in the field of strong-field physics within the CRC 1477 "Light-Matter Interaction at Interfaces".

Congratulations!

The generation of dense plasmas in dielectric materials by ultrashort laser pulses has many applications, ranging from changes in the refractive index to the formation of channels and cavities. An overview of current approaches to studying such plasmas has been published as a review article in Laser & Photonic Reviews by a team of researchers from the Max-Born-Institute Berlin, Aarhus University and the University of Rostock (Jürgens et al., Laser Photonics Rev. 2301114 (2024)). It presents, for example, cutting-edge results on time-resolved high harmonic generation and the two-color pump-probe analyses of non-perturbative low-order wave mixing, which allows tracking the dynamics following excitation with strong fields.

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M.Sc. Richard Altenkirch was honored with a teaching award of the faculty of mathematics and natural sciences for the summer semester 2023. The prize rewards excellent performance in teaching and is presented by the Dean of the MNF Prof. Dr. Oliver Kühn and the Dean of Studies Prof. Dr. Friedemann Reinhard.

Congratulations!

M.Sc. Anne Herzig was honored with a teaching award of the faculty of mathematics and natural sciences for the summer semester 2023. The prize rewards excellent performance in teaching and is presented by the Dean of the MNF Prof. Dr. Oliver Kühn and the Dean of Studies Prof. Dr. Friedemann Reinhard.

Congratulations!

In July 2023, the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Rostock awarded Benjamin Liewehr (M.Sc.) the degree of Dr. rer. nat.

His dissertation project on ultrafast nanoplasma dynamics in dielectrics is closely linked to research in the field of strong-field physics and attosecond research within the CRC 1477 'Light-Matter Interaction at Interfaces'. Immediately after completing his dissertation, he found an exciting job in industry and is currently working at Liebherr MCCtec Rostock GmbH.

Congratulations!

How short can the time window be in which electrons can be released from metals under the control of a light field? We were able to answer this question, which is essential for future electronic circuits, in a collaborative experimental and theoretical study together with scientists from Erlangen and Konstanz with the help of a trick. By means of an extremely precisely adjustable superposition of two different laser fields, we have succeeded for the first time in measuring the tunneling of electrons from metals down to a few tens of attoseconds and in controlling the ultrafast electronic quantum dynamics. The findings could enable electronic signal processing that is up to a million times faster than current technology and were recently published (Dienstbier et al., Nature 616, 702-706 (2023)).

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• Press releases: FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg

A collaborative study with Prof. Goulielmakis' group on the generation and measurement of the shortest electron pulse to date was published in Nature (Kim et al., Nature 613, 662-666 (2023)). The pulse was generated using lasers to release electrons from a tiny metal tip and lasted only 53 attoseconds, that is 53 billionths of a billionth of a second. The study sets a new speed record in man-made control of electric currents in solid materials and opens new possibilities for improving the performance of electronics and information technologies, as well as for developing new scientific methods for visualizing phenomena in the microcosm at ultimate speeds.

• To the original article
• Press releases: University of Rostock
• Video: Electrons in the fast lane

As the best graduate of the Master's program with graduation in 2022 at the Institute of Physics, Ms. M.Sc. Elisabeth Anne Herzig was awarded a faculty prize of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

Congratulations!

Dr. Lennart Seiffert was honored with a teaching award of the faculty of mathematics and natural sciences for the summer semester 2022. The prize rewards excellent performance in teaching and is presented by the Dean of the MNF Prof. Dr. Klaus Neymeyr and the Dean of Studies Prof. Dr. Wolfram Seidel.

Congratulations!

Dr. Christian Peltz was honored with a teaching award of the faculty of mathematics and natural sciences for the summer semester 2022. The prize rewards excellent performance in teaching and is presented by the Dean of the MNF Prof. Dr. Klaus Neymeyr and the Dean of Studies Prof. Dr. Wolfram Seidel.

Congratulations!

Review on strong-field physics with nanospheres published in Advances in Physics: X.

• link to original publication

Study on the few-femtosecond resolved imaging of laser-driven nanoplasma expansion published in New Journal of Physics.

• link to original publication

We cordially welcome team assistant Jana Mütze as a new SNP group member!  

At its meeting on November 24, 2021, the German Research Foundation (DFG) approved the establishment of the new Collaborative Research Center 1477 LiMatI (Light-Matter Interactions at Interfaces) at the University of Rostock.

• Homepage of the CRC LiMatI
• DFG press release

As the best graduate of the Master's program with graduation in 2022 at the Institute of Physics, Mr. M.Sc. Richard Altenkirch was awarded a faculty prize of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

Congratulations!

The new chairman of the atomic physics division within section SAMOP of the German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, DPG) was elected in the general assembly on 23.09.2021. Prof. Thomas Fennel, previously assistant chairman, takes over the lead from Prof. Gerhard Paulus (Jena). New assistant is Prof. Matthias Wollenhaupt (Universität Oldenburg).

• Atomic Physics Division of the DPG 

Study on the onset of charge interaction in strong-field photoemission from nanometric needle tips published in Nanophotonics.

• link to original publication

Cathleen Lawrenz has accompanied the Starkfeld nanophysicists as team assistant since April 1, 2020 with energy, creativity and heart and has set important impulses in the administration of the group and the organization of research and teaching. We would have liked to keep you with us, but we understand your decision to go your own professional way now. We wish you success, courage and a lot of strength to help people who need you!

With kind regards from the bottom of our hearts,
Your SNP Team.

Benjamin Liewehr was honored with a teaching award of the faculty of mathematics and natural sciences for the winter semester 2020/2021.  

The prize rewards excellent performance in teaching and is presented by the Dean of the MNF Prof. Dr. Klaus Neymeyr and the Dean of Studies Prof. Dr. Wolfram Seidel.

Congratulations!

Our paper "Fundamentals and Mechanisms of Vacuum Photoionization" by Passig, Zimmermann and Fennel has now been published as a book chapter in the new Wiley book "Photoionization and Photo-Induced Processes in Mass Spectrometry: Fundamentals and Applications" by Zimmermann and Hanley (editors).

Jonas Apportin successfully defended his master thesis on the topic "Propagation of ultrashort, highly focused laser pulses in nonlinear media using the FDTD method" and started now his doctoral work within the AG.

Congratulations and much success!

How fast can a transparent solid be transformed into a metal through illumination with intense light? In a current collaboration of the SNP team and an international group of scientists, this question has now been answered for glas nanospheres. The study, which has just been published in ACS Photonics, describes the experimental observation of this process along with the theoretical analysis of the underlying physics. 

Elisabeth Anne Herzig has successfully completed her bachelor's thesis with the title "Modelling and analysis of the effect of electron scattering in the attosecond streaking on solids". With this work she has addressed a highly topical research subject of the group already in her bachelor project, which she completed with grade 1.0.

Congratulations!

With the colloquium held on 30.09.2020 Paul Tümmler has successfully completed his master's project with the title "Approximate description of single shot X-ray scattering from free nanoparticles including multiple scattering". On 1.10.2020 he has started the work on his doctoral thesis within the EU-financed project NEISS in the framework of a cooperation of the institutes chemistry and physics.

Congratulations!

Study on generating low order harmonics via tunneling currents published in Nature Physics.

• To the original article
• Link to the full text version of the article 
• Press releases: University of Rostock | MBI Berlin | idw

The XFEL Annual Report 2019 with preliminary results of scattering experiments on superfluid helium droplets has been published. The studies were carried out at the SQS instrument of XFEL with participation of the group Strong-Field Nanophysics.

link to original publication (see page 20)

Study on diffractive imaging of quatum coherent electron dynamics published in J. Phys. Photonics.

• link to original publication

We cordially welcome team assistant Cathleen Lawrenz as a new SNP group member!  

The German Science Foundation (DFG - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) has approved the second funding period of the Heisenberg-Professorship "Strong-Field Nanophysics" for the group of Prof. Thomas Fennel.

MNF invites you to attend the inaugural lecture by Prof. Thomas Fennel on February 6th 2020 at 5 pm.

Topic of this lecture: "Nonlinear electron dynamics in optical near-fields - perspectives for light-driven switches, high-precision material modification and single-shot holographic imaging in the nanoworld"

link to publication

Richard Altenkirch, the year's best bachelor student, presents the results of his thesis during the certificate awarding ceremony in the Aula of the University of Rostock.

Congrats!

link to detailed notification

Professor Paul B. Corkum of the University of Ottawa received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the University of Rostock on 4 July 2019. His groundbreaking works on the light-matter interaction on the attosecond time scale established attosecond physics as a new field of research and have decisively shaped it. 

• link to publication
• link press release SVZ
• link press release idw

Professor Thomas Fennel has accepted the call for a Heisenberg professorship in "Strong-Field Nanophysics". He conducts research at the Institute of Physics at the University of Rostock in the field of ultrafast light-matter interactions. Within the scope of the professorship, supported by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), Thomas Fennel and his team are particularly concerned with clarification and demonstrating the effect of extremely short laser pulses of nanostructures.

link to publication