Prof. Dr. F.S. Tautz won a price at „Falling Walls – The World Science Summit“

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At „Falling Walls – The World Science Summit“ during the Berlin Science Week, Prof. Dr. F.S. Tautz, PI of SFB project A12 (Tautz/Bocquet/Kumpf), was declared the winner in the category „Engineering and Technology“ with his contribution „Breakting the Wall of Building with Molecules“.

Tautz Portait

„Falling Walls“ is an event that brings together some of the best researchers of the world, discussing and celebrating the latest breakthroughs in science and society since over 10 years. The breakthroughs represent significant advances, groundbreaking developments and innovative ideas stretching over ten different categories.

 

Falling Walls 2020 during the Berlin Science Week. Copyright by Falling Walls Foundation.

Prof. Tautz (SFB project A12) submitted his 5-min long nomination film (link see below) in the category “Engineering and Technology” titled “Breaking the Wall of Building with Molecules”. In this video, Prof. Tautz gives a short insight into his research. Although manipulating atoms on surfaces is already performed for several years, researchers are struggling with moving and arranging molecules. He explains how an artificial intelligence was trained by reinforcement learning in reality and in model systems at the same time. Consequently, the agent got highly adaptive and become able to successfully manipulate molecules.

With this technique, targeted fabrication of molecular machines can be achieved giving rise to new promising technologies with high-level functionalities. Winning this price is not only a great honor for Prof. Tautz, but also represents the high importance and appreciation of the SFB’s research.

For further details, see the nomination film.

 

Contact

Prof. Dr. Stefan Tautz
FZ Jülich, SFB project A12
PGI, Experimental Physics
Tel.: +49 (0)2461 61-4561
EMAIL

Super-resolution lightwave tomography of electronic bands in quantum materials – Publication by B4

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The researchers developed a method, which was published in Science, to reconstruct the band structure of quantum materials with very high precision

A light flash (yellow) induces the movement of electrons in the band structure (red curve) resulting in the formation of localized electronic interference combs (peaks). The emitted radiation (red) enables the analysis of the electronic band structure. © Markus Borsch, University of Michigan, USA. Reprinted with permission from AAAS.

Stacking of two-dimensional (2D) materials yield promising properties for the development of new devices with outstanding functionality. However, detailed knowledge of the electronic structure is necessary to tailor their properties. Within the cooperation of Prof. Huber (Uni Regensburg), Prof. Kira (Uni Michigan) and Prof. Koch (Uni Marburg, project B4), a new method was developed enabling the reconstruction of the band structure of 2D materials.

The quantum material WSe2 was simultaneously excited by two laser pulses in the visible range and in the THz spectral range. The resonant excitation of the weak optical pulse and simultaneous irradiation with a strong THz pulse result in harmonic sideband generation (HSG) in the transmitted spectrum. Due to the wave-particle dualism of electrons, electronic interference combs evolve in momentum space (cf. Figure on the left). By analyzing multiple sideband spectra at different THz frequencies and intensities, it is possible to reconstruct the band structure with super-resolution.

This concept offers an all-optical and practical approach for a three-dimensional tomography of the electronic structure of small quantum materials as shown for WSe2. This work is a great extend to the research in the SFB as it provides the possibility to examine the electronic band structure of 2D materials, such as TMDCs, even under ambient conditions.

Publication

M. Borsch, C.P. Schmid, L. Weigl, S. Schlauderer, N. Hofmann, C. Lange, J.T. Steiner, S.W. Koch, R. Huber, M. Kira
Super-resolution lightwave tomography of electronic bands in quantum materials
Science 370 (2020) 1204 DOI:10.1126/science.abe2112

Contact

Prof. Dr. Stephan W. Koch
Philipps-Universität Marburg
Department of Physics, Theoretical Semiconductor Physics
Renthof 5, 35032 Marburg
Tel.: 06421 28-21336
EMAIL

Lars Bannow and Benedikt P. Klein awarded the dissertation prize of Philipps-Universität Marburg

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Congratulation to Dr. Lars Bannow and Dr. Benedikt P. Klein, PhD-students of the GRK 1782 (SW Koch) and the SFB project A4 (Gottfried), respectively, for being awarded a prize by Philipps-Universität Marburg for their excellent dissertations presented in 2019.

Lars Bannow, GRK 1782 (SW Koch) Foto: Paul Ndimande

In the thesis of Dr. Bannow with the title “Optical and Electronic Properties of Semiconductor Materials”, he investigates optical and electronic properties of novel semiconductor materials such as Ga(AsBi), In(AsBi) and the methylammonium (MA) perovskite MAPbI3. Using a combination of density functional theory calculation and semiconductor Bloch equations, a precise prediction of opto-electronic properties was possible at a minimum of experimental data. The examined materials are promising options for the fabrication of more efficient laser diodes and more economic solar cells.

Benedikt Klein, A4 (Gottfried)

In his thesis “The Surface Chemical Bond of Non-alternant Aromatic Molecules on Metal Surfaces”, Dr. Klein explores interfaces between model organic semiconductors and metals. He compares π-electron systems with alternant and non-alternant topologies and finds that the non-alternant topology leads to much stronger interfacial interactions. These studies pave the way to novel organic semiconductors with tailored properties and provide important insight into the bonding of non-alternant defect structures in graphene with metals.

See the news release of the Philipps-Universität Marburg for details of the event.