Light-matter Interaction

MPSD research group leader James McIver, who is also an Assistant Professor of Physics at Columbia University in New York, has been awarded the prestigious Early Career Award by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).  more

An MPSD theory team reports in Physical Review X that it has found no evidence of any universal topological signatures after performing the first ab initio investigation of high harmonic generation from topological insulators.  more

Plasmons promise a variety of applications if the processes triggered by optical excitation in the nanoparticles can be controlled. A research team from Hamburg and Berlin reports in Nano Letters experimental observations that cannot be explained by established models and describes a new theoretical model that explains the dynamics of excited gold nanoparticles observed in experiments. more

MPSD researchers report in PNAS how they observed liquid glycerol in a completely unexpected rubbery state. The rapidly expanding bubbles on the surface of the liquid in vacuum, created by a pulsed laser did not behave like a viscous liquid but like the elastic envelope of a rubber toy balloon. more

The MPSD has welcomed two new Humboldt Fellows to the Theory Department. Carlos Mauricio Bustamante and Hang Liu have each been awarded postdoctorate Humboldt Research Fellowships to carry out their own research at the Institute. more