Excellence Initiative

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin | Excellence Initiative | Proposals and Draft Proposals | Cluster of Excellence "Materials in New Light"

Cluster of Excellence "Materials in New Light"

"New light is the key for the development of new technologies."

Jürgen P. Rabe

Light and Material

"New light" is a term which describes, among other things, extremely short light pulses or individual photons which are ideally suited to directly following the movement of atoms in materials, to saving information in single molecules, or to safely and confidentially transmitting data over long distances. The interaction between light and material, one of the fundamental themes of modern science, represents a key to understanding many fundamental phenomena in physics, chemistry, materials and life sciences and is also a basis for a broad spectrum of new technologies. The cluster "Campus Adlershof" Materials in New Light combines
  1. new methods of light production over an extremely broad parameter spectrum
  2. the utilization of such new light in decoding and controlling the relationships between structure, dynamics and functions of complex quantum systems and materials, and
  3. the development of new applications in optical electronics and material analysis based upon the interaction between materials and light.
With this cluster, Humboldt-Universität and its partners will strengthen their international position in this field through outstanding interdisciplinary research, the transfer of research findings into new innovations, and the promotion of young scientists.
The university thereby is building on its experience in six Collaborative Research Centers in the fields of materials, surfaces, fast reactions and complex processes, and on the close connections which exist at Campus Adlershof between university researchers and researchers at non-university research institutions and in private industry.