News & Events

Theoretical work at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg has helped explain a new experimental milestone: for the first time, a single molecule sitting on a surface have been shown to reach the fundamental quantum limit of optical coherence. The experiments were performed at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) in Erlangen; MPSD researcher Burak Gurlek provided the theoretical models explaining how temperature and the surface shape the molecules' behavior. The findings, published in Science, open new opportunities for the study of molecule-surface interactions and molecular quantum technologies. more

An international team of researchers has demonstrated a new mechanism by which distinct vibrations in a crystal – normally decoupled by symmetry – can be dynamically linked. Using a light scattering technique, the team showed that in a special class of crystals with a built-in sense of rotation, known as ferroaxial materials, collective fluctuations of this ordered state act as a dynamical bridge between otherwise independent vibrational modes. This unconventional channel, called resonant chiral dressing, has also been fully explained theoretically. The findings, published in Nature Physics, open new routes to detect and control exotic quantum phases with light. more

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. more