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University of Regensburg
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Chair of Computational Condensed Matter Theory

Condensed matter comprises more or less everything we see. To a very large extent, its properties result from the interplay of quantum mechanics and the Coulomb interaction between nuclei and electrons. This interplay keeps producing stunning phenomena many of which are still to be understood. To achieve this understanding is the goal we are striving at. To this end we combine computational means with analytic arguments. Our current emphasis is on transport and dynamics.

Ultrafast Dynamics

Recent progress in laser technology made it possible to generate ultra-short laser pulses on the femtosecond timescale with high intensity. Dynamics of electrons in solids irradiated by such pulses are theoretically and computationally investigated in the group.

Quantum Critical Phenomena

The Anderson transition is a kind of metal-to-insulator transition that can occur in a metallic material, if the concentration of impurities exceeds a critical threshold. Our research focuses on the aspects of multifractality and critical fixed points in the transition.

Molecular Electronics

Molecular electronics is a field where Chemistry, Surface and Condensed Matter experts collaborate in order to understand processes at interfaces in and out of equilibrium. Activities in our group include both method development and analysis of experiments on molecular or atomic transport.

Postdoc, PhD and Master positions available

News and Highlights

Molecular motor with helical currents (external link, opens in a new window)

Consider one of the tiniest electric motors: a single molecule with a current flowing through it. Can it keep turning in the same direction when the current reverses? Yes! Key is chirality and helical orbitals: electrons flowing through them twist the rotor the same way for either current direction. Predicted by our transport theory and demonstrated experimentally by the groups of Wulf Wulfhekel and Marcel Mayor.

 

Nature Chemistry (2026) (external link, opens in a new window)

A chiral molecular motor rotating in the same direction for opposite electron currents.

Quantum geometry in ultrafast optics (external link, opens in a new window)

Quantum geometry describes the geometric properties of quantum states. Together with Giancarlo Soavi’s group (Uni Jena), we developed a theory focusing on one aspect of quantum geometry, the Berry curvature. We show how it can be probed on ultrafast timescales by analyzing the circular polarization of second-harmonic light. We use this approach to measure the Berry curvature in a semiconductor.

 

Nature Photonics (2026) (external link, opens in a new window)

Probe of Broken Time-Reversal Symmetry (TRS) with Third Harmonics (external link, opens in a new window)

We use third-harmonic Faraday rotation to probe whether TRS is preserved or broken in a crystal: zero rotation shows preserved TRS, non-zero rotation broken TRS (measurements by the group of Giancarlo Soavi, Uni Jena). Our analytical model reveals the microscopic mechanism causing Faraday rotation and shows its dependence on material parameters.

    

Nature Photonics 20, 186 (2026) (external link, opens in a new window)

News and Highlights from previous years

Popular and Outreach

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