Research Interests

Since our laboratory at Universität Freiburg is still being rebuilt, we perform all our experiments at BESSY II. Learn more about the Department of Highly Sensitive X-ray Spectroscopy, our Berlin branch at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. Join our group if you are interested in working in an international team at a large-scale research facility!

Research projects for bachelor or master theses

Most of our work is basic exploratory science, with a glimpse at applications. Our bachelor and master research projects in experimental physics are closely linked to ongoing dissertation projects. We also offer opportunities in theoretical x-ray spectroscopy in close collaboration with our partners. For discussion and more information on any of these projects, contact us anytime.

Spin states and oxidation states of calcium manganese oxides clusters related to photoystem II

The oxygen evolving complex of photosystem II produces dioxygen from water and provides all molecular oxygen on our planet. We study model systems to characterize reaction intermediates and to understand the oxygen evolution reaction.

Oxygen species and electronic states in transition metal oxides

You will identify, by x-ray absorption spectroscopy, the different oxygen species (oxide, peroxide, superoxide, ozonide, oxygen radical) that form when oxygen interacts with transition metal ions. Each of these species has its specific spectroscopic fingerprint that can be identified experimentally. This projects links to reaction intermediates, catalysis, and reactivity studies.

Initial steps in solvation of transition metal ions

You will contribute to understanding the first solvation shell of ions in aqueous solution by building this shell step-by-step around gas-phase ions while following changes in electronic structure by means of element-specific x-ray absorption spectroscopy.

Core excitations in molecular ions

Core-excitation of simple molecules leads to highly excited electronic states that are a challenge to theory. We work closely with theoreticians in this project to understand highly excited states and to improve theoretical methods.

Charge transfer in transition metal halides

The aim of this project is to quantify charge transfer in the bonds between transition metals and halides from a spectroscopic point of view, and to correlate this with metal oxidation states.