Institute News

The ERC Synergy project Unravelling the Mysteries of Vibrational Strong Coupling (UnMySt) officially began with a two-day kick-off meeting hosted at the Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (ISIS) in Strasbourg. Bringing together all participating research groups from Tel Aviv University, Université de Strasbourg, the University of Pennsylvania and the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, the meeting marked the beginning of a six-year collaboration at the forefront of chemistry, quantum electrodynamics, and materials science. more

The Excellence Cluster CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter (CUI:AIM) has been positively evaluated following a successful review and is now set to enter a second seven-year funding phase under Germany’s Excellence Strategy, jointly supported by the federal and state governments. The Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD), one of the founding applicants alongside Universität Hamburg (UHH), Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), and European XFEL GmbH (XFEL), congratulates everyone involved on this major achievement. more

Simon Vendelbo Bylling Jensen, a postdoctoral researcher in the Theory Department at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD), has been awarded a Humboldt Research Fellowship to investigate the cutting-edge field of attoscience in liquid crystals. more

Professors Jie Shan and Kin Fai Mak, world leaders in the characterization and control of two-dimensional quantum materials, have become directors of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg, Germany. more

Angel Rubio, Director of the Theory Department at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) and Managing Director of the Institute, has been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher 2024 by Clarivate. Joining him on this prestigious list are Jie Shan and Kin Fai Mak from Cornell University, all three of them are Principal Investigators at the Max Planck - New York Center for Non-Equilibrium Quantum Phenomena. These researchers have demonstrated broad and lasting influence, with their publications ranking in the top 1% for citations over the past decade. more

Mariana Rossi, head of a Lise-Meitner Excellence group in MPSD, has been awarded a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant worth €2 million. The funding will support her project, “Steering the Quantum Dynamics of Confined Molecular Materials” (QUADYMM), over the next five years.  The research aims to uncover how to drive the atomic motion of molecular materials in confinement, in order to modify reaction rates and electronic transport properties with the goal of finding new ways to optimize sustainable technological materials. more

MPSD Director Angel Rubio along with an elite team of world-renowned scientists— Tal Schwartz (Tel Aviv University), Thomas Ebbesen (University of Strasbourg), and Abraham Nitzan (University of Pennsylvania)—has been awarded a highly competitive ERC Synergy Grant valued at €10 million. This funding will support their research into the electromagnetic effects in molecular systems under strong light-matter coupling, a field at the cutting edge of chemistry and quantum physics.
Michael Ruggenthaler and Dominik Sidler, both Group Leaders in Rubio’s team, will play a central role in achieving the ambitious goals of this project. more