Two new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowships at the MPSD
Two postdoctoral researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) have been awarded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships. Dasom Kim, in the Quantum Condensed Matter Dynamics group led by Andrea Cavalleri, and Na Wu, in the Theory Department led by Angel Rubio, will use the fellowships to explore how engineered electromagnetic cavities can be used to control quantum materials — one from the experimental side, the other from theory. Together, their projects illustrate the breadth of MPSD’s work on light–matter interactions and the coherent control of condensed matter.
Both fellowships address a central question of contemporary quantum materials research: can the electromagnetic environment itself be used as a knob to reshape the properties of solids? Rather than merely probing matter with light, the researchers aim to place materials inside tailored cavities in which photons, lattice vibrations and spins couple so strongly that new collective behaviour emerges. By combining Dasom Kim’s terahertz cavity experiments with Na Wu’s cavity quantum electrodynamics framework, MPSD is extending a shared research line from first-principles theory to laboratory demonstration.
Dasom Kim — Cavity magnetism in two-dimensional antiferromagnets
Dasom Kim is an experimental physicist working on ultrastrong light–matter interactions in quantum materials. Originally from South Korea, he received his B.S. and M.S. in Physics from Seoul National University, working with the late Dai-Sik Kim, and completed his PhD in Applied Physics at Rice University in 2025 under Junichiro Kono. Since then, he has been a postdoctoral researcher in the Cavalleri group at MPSD. His previous work has shown how confined electromagnetic fields inside terahertz cavities can drive electronic systems into regimes where light and matter become inseparable and new collective states appear.
In his MSCA project, Kim will extend this approach to magnetism. He is developing a new class of terahertz cavities designed to enhance the magnetic component of the light field, enabling ultrastrong coupling to spin excitations in two-dimensional antiferromagnets. Combined with ultrafast terahertz pulses, the method is expected to allow direct, low-dissipation control of spin dynamics on their natural timescales. “I chose MPSD for its advanced terahertz facilities, state-of-the-art laser systems and strong expertise in the ultrafast control of quantum materials — all essential for realising this project,” he says. Beyond the science, he notes that Hamburg’s international environment and its green, family-friendly character also made the move an easy decision.
Na Wu — A Predictive Theory of Driven Cavity Phononics
Na Wu joined MPSD in November 2024, shortly after completing her PhD at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Within the Theory Department led by Angel Rubio, she is expanding her expertise across ultrafast spectroscopy, many-body theory, and cavity quantum electrodynamics. During her doctoral research, she developed theoretical models and first-principles calculation tools to elucidate the role of phonons in ultrafast magnetization dynamics and nonlinear phononics, work that now provides the conceptual foundation for her current project.
Her MSCA fellowship, “Driven Cavity-Controlled Phonons for Quantum Materials Manipulation”, aims to establish a predictive theoretical framework for controlling lattice vibrations in quantum materials using driven optical and terahertz cavities. In contrast to conventional high-intensity free-space excitation, which often induces undesired heating effects and shortens phonon lifetimes, driven cavities enable precise engineering of the electromagnetic environment. This allows for the selective amplification of targeted phonon modes and facilitates angular-momentum transfer among photons, lattice vibrations, electrons, and spins. Building on the Theory Department’s recently developed energy-resolved input–output formalism, Wu will extend this framework to a momentum-resolved formulation capable of producing spectroscopic fingerprints directly comparable with experimental observations. “It is a great honour to receive this fellowship,” she says. “I look forward to advancing theoretical frameworks that bridge fundamental physics and experimentally accessible observables, as well as to the collaborations and discoveries this journey will bring.”
