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SFB 652:  Strong Correlations and Collective Effects in Radiation Fields: Coulomb Systems, Clusters and Particles

Subject Area Physics
Term from 2005 to 2017
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5486320
 
Final Report Year 2017

Final Report Abstract

The interaction of light and matter is a vital ingredient in our understanding of the phenomena that occur in the world that surrounds us. After all, life itself is based on light-harvesting molecular complexes. The past decades have witnessed impressive progress in the decoding of important aspects of the complex interaction of particles and fields in the microscopic world of atoms and molecules as well as the uncovering of correlations in the radiation field without which there would only exist non-interacting, effective single-particle physics. Without correlations, there would be no couplings, no structure, no life. Due to rapid technological advances in the development of powerful radiation sources, processes can be observed on atomic length scales of 10-10 meters and followed on ultrashort time scales of 10-15 seconds. Indeed, some essential innovations in physics have only been made possible by the development of novel light sources. Femtosecond lasers, for instance, are the prerequisite for the observation of ultrafast phenomena as well as the investigation of physics at high field strengths. With their intense x-ray pulses, free-electron lasers allow for unprecedented insights into the structure of complex molecules and aggregates as well as into inner atomic processes and their dynamics. As typical case studies for interacting Coulomb systems, the CRC 652 investigated atoms, molecules, clusters, droplets, nanoparticles, molecular aggregates and plasmas using experimental and theoretical methods within an integrated research approach. The behavior of electrons and ions as well as quasiparticles generated by excitations is either often highly correlated, or there is a collectively enhanced response of the system to the external radiation field such as in condensates in which all particles occupy the same quantum state. The central goals of the CRC were to uncover such effects and correlations, to utilize them for the investigations of the system, and to steer them using the radiation field. For this purpose, novel experimental techniques such as active pulse shaping or x-ray Thomson scattering have been employed, the quantum properties of the light field have been characterized and experimentally detected, the methodological spectrum of many-body theory has been enlarged and novel simulation techniques have been implemented. Cluster, as the smallest particles that consist of a well-defined number of atoms, have served as nanoscale laboratories for the study of matter in extreme light fields. By scattering of short-wavelength radiation, single clusters could be „photographed“ using only single shots. Warm dense matter, as it occurs deep inside large planets, has been investigated as a prime example of a strongly correlated Coulomb system. Excitons are created by absorption of light in crystals or molecular systems; their behavior influences the function of optoelectronic devices. Mesoscopic quantum objects such as micrometer-sized Rydberg excitons have been experimentally observed and described theoretically. The transport of excitons through molecular aggregates has been measured and simulated. The research programme has been carried out cross-project in close cooperation between experiment and theory. Due to numerous collaborations, publications and conferences organized by its members, the CRC has been strongly visible internationally and has enormously contributed to the profile of Rostock as a location for science.

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