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nanotimes News in Brief

11-02/03 :: February / March 2011

Ultra-high Speed Film // Scientists in Kiel Take Snapshots of Electronic States

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cientists in the team of Professor Michael

Bauer, Dr. Kai Roßna- gel and Professor Lutz Kipp from the Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Kiel University (Christian- Albrechts-Universitaet zu Kiel, CAU), together with colleagues from the Uni- versity of Kaiserslautern, both in Germany, and the University of Colo- rado in Boulder, USA, are following the course of electronic switching processes which occur within fractions of a se- cond (femtoseconds). The results of their research may trigger future developments of custom-made and ultra fast opto-electronic components in order to increase data transmission rates or to accelerate optical switches, to name just one example of poten- tial areas of application.

“These techniques that we have developed ena- bles us to record films of extremely fast processes in a much more comprehensive manner than it was previously possible with similar techniques,” Bauer explains. “We are able to, for example, directly track

Laser system for generating ultra short x-ray pulses which is used in the experiment to make the recordings. Recording: Rohwer et al., © CAU, Germany

phase transitions in solids or catalytic reactions on surfaces.” To record the films, the Kiel scientists used ultra short flashes of light in the soft x-ray spectral region generated with a specific laser system. Bauer: “The amount of information gained from our pictures when played back in slow motion is vast. We will get completely new insights into most relevant electronic properties of solids which are important for a variety of current and future technologies, for example, in telecommunications.”