SFB 1083 “Internal Interfaces” extended by 4 years

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Additional 10.5 Million Euros for Marburg’s Physicists and Chemists

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Höfer of the Department of Physics at Philipps-Universität Marburg is spokesman for the DFG’s Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 1083 “Structure and Dynamics of Internal Interfaces”. Photo: Philipps-Universität Marburg Rolf K. Wegst.

The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG) has granted Marburgs Collaborative Research Center (Sonderforschungsbereich) SFB 1083 „Structure and Dynamics of Internal Interfaces“ 10.5 Million Euros funding over the course of another four years until 2021. With this, the SFB – under guidance of its spokesman physicist Prof. Dr. Ulrich Höfer – will enter a new phase. The initial four years focussed on understanding the physical-chemical phenomena at interfaces, while the new focal point will be on controlling these phenomena and tailoring them for application.

Cooperation with partners in Jülich, Münster and Gießen

The new funding period will bring together 60 to 80 scientists in 18 research projects. One of these is located at the university in Münster (A13), one at the Peter-Grünberg-Institut in Jülich (A12), and two are located at the university in Gießen. Six projects are led by young research staff that has not yet attained a professorship.

New challenges: stacking of material layers and mixing of characteristics

In the new funding period SFB 1083 will also include research into novel two-dimensional materials. These single-atom-thick layers basically consist of “surface” only. In transfering newly gained insights into internal interfaces, SFB 1083’s researchers will build heterosystems with new effects by stacking layers of mixing characteristics of 2D-materials. By controlling these processes the scientists expect to offer the material sciences a modular assemblage box.  A new collaboration with a research center at Columbia University New York is part of this strategy.

See the full press release in German for detail.

Kenta Kuroda honored with “Academic Lecture Encouragement Prize”

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Dr. Kuroda and Prof. Dr. Höfer in the lab at the University of Marburg (Photo: Univ. Marburg).

At the 36th academic lecture sponsored by the Japan Surface Science Association (SSSJ) held at the Nagoya International Conference Hall on November 29th in 2016, Kuroda gave an excellent general presentation on “Ultrafast dynamics of Dirac surface states in topological insulators” which is expected to make a significant contribution to the development of surface science.

Topological insulators are insulators in which only the outermost surface reveals a metallic state. As surface electrons are crucial in shaping the material functions, understanding details of the mechanics and processes at work has drawn worldwide attention. Kuroda and colleagues were the first to successfully apply short laser pulses and time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy in the mid-infrared region in their investigations. As the researchers analyzed the photo excitation of Dirac surface-electrons generated in topological insulators at femtosecond resolution, they were able to show a direct optical transition of the Dirac surface condition in response to the mid-infrared excitation with a resulting spin-polarization of the surface current. The SSSJ sees this discovery as an important step to achieving optical spin control of electrons solely by the means of light.

The award is granted to promising young researchers under the age of 32 years and the presentation ceremony took place at the Surface Science Society of Japan’s regular meeting on May 20th, 2017.

The underlying research work was performed in close collaboration with colleagues in Japan and from SFB-project B6 (Höfer) during Dr. Kuroda’s research stay as a JSPS fellow and guest scientist of SFB 1083 at the Philipps-Universität Marburg in 2014 and 2015.

SFB 1083 Winter School at Schloss Rauischholzhausen

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Castle Rauischholzhausen in winter (Photo: Castle Rauischholzhausen).

SFB 1083’s biannual winter school for its young researchers

More than 50 young staff-members involved in the various physics- and chemistry-based SFB 1083 subprojects have come together in Schloss Rauischholzhausen near Marburg for two days of talks and intensive discussion of their research. Invited speakers from Germany and abroad round of the program by contributing more technical tutorials and presentations of their research.

Invited Speakers: Ellen Backus (Mainz), Alexey Chernikov (Regensburg), Matteo Gatti (Gif-sur-Yvette), Christian Papp (Erlangen-Nürnberg), Katrin Siefermann(Leipzig)

Link to abstract-volume and report.