Light and Matter
05/02/2012Chemists and physicists at the Center for Nanosystems Chemistry have initiated a new collaboration at the University of Würzburg. The aim of their work is to design and produce novel materials with tailored properties for efficient interaction with light. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding the new Research Unit (Forschergruppe) with 2.3 million € over the next three years.
The newly established Research Unit 1809 consists of working groups from the Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry (Prof. Tobias Brixner, spokesman of the Initiative, Dr. Patrick Nürnberger, Prof. Volker Engel, and Prof. Bernd Engels), the Institute of Organic Chemistry (Prof. Christoph Lambert, Prof. Frank Würthner, Dr. Gustavo Fernández, and Dr. Florian Beuerle), and the Institute of Physics (PD Carstel Deibel, Prof. Vladimir Dyakonov, and Prof. Jens Pflaum). Their future investigations will focus on the study of light-matter interactions in custom dye aggregates with hopes of providing fundamental knowledge for the development of a new generation of photovoltaic and photocatalytic materials. Envisioned applications of the research project are highly fuel-efficient light sources, bug-proof encryption technology, ultra-fast quantum computers, and self-healing nano-components. To bring these novel technologies to fruition the basic processes in the molecular aggregates must first be measured and understood.
Further information in German: Licht und Materie
