Welcome to our newly established
research group for ultrafast scanning probe microscopy

We are interested in the spatio-temporal response of solid state surfaces, nanostructures, and molecules following ultrafast laser excitation. Our goal is to obtain an atomistic understanding of such photoinduced processes on (sub-) nanometer length and femtosecond time scales by employing novel pump-probe schemes for ultrafast scanning probe microscopy (SPM). We envision to study, drive and control solid state matter in highly non-equilibrium states on ultrashort length und ultrafast time scales.

Ultrafast excitation of matter to a non-equilibrium state can launch a variety of excited state dynamics and relaxation processes, providing insight into microscopic properties and fundamental physical mechanisms. In nanostructures, molecules and spatially inhomogeneous systems, the dynamics will be dictated by the local environment, and will spatially vary on nanometer or even Angstrom length scales. With pump-probe SPM, we envision to study the dynamics of charge carriers, quasiparticles and local transient changes of the electronic and geometric structure directly on atomic length scales. Ultimately, pump-probe SPM allows for probing the dynamics of individual molecules directly in the time domain.