Research Group
Ultrafast transport in organic and hybrid semiconductors
Harnessing light for next-generation technologies requires more than incremental advances, it demands a fundamental understanding of how matter responds on ultrafast timescales. Our team aims to uncover how functional energy materials interact with ultrashort, intense light pulses in real time and how they evolve following optical excitation, tracking electronic and magnetic dynamics from attoseconds to picoseconds.
In the earliest moments after excitation, light interacts coherently with matter, before energy is dissipated through scattering. Accessing this low-loss regime is essential for revealing the microscopic mechanisms that govern energy flow and ultimately limit the speed, efficiency and stability of modern optoelectronic devices. At longer timescales, we investigate the dephasing processes that lead to the loss of coherence and explore how these can be controlled through targeted optimization of material structure.
Our work spans a broad range of materials, including organic semiconductors and hybrid metal halide perovskites, with planned extensions to inorganic semiconductors and transition metal thin films relevant for optoelectronic and spintronic applications. We directly probe key physical quantities such as ballistic charge and spin transport, as well as ultrafast carrier diffusion, with particular emphasis on photoinduced inhomogeneities that emerge on nanometer length scales. By correlating these dynamics with structural features, we establish direct links between morphology, local optical response and energy transport.
By connecting coherent, low-loss light–matter interactions to subsequent decoherence processes, we aim to establish a unified framework linking fundamental quantum dynamics to device performance. This understanding will enable the rational design of materials and architectures for faster, more efficient and more stable optoelectronic technologies.
Experimental Methods
Our research investigates how functional materials respond to ultrashort light pulses, revealing electronic and magnetic dynamics from attoseconds to picoseconds. By connecting coherent light–matter interactions with subsequent energy dissipation and transport processes, we aim to uncover microscopic principles for designing faster and more efficient optoelectronic and spintronic technologies.
Central to this effort is the development of an innovative Ultrafast Holographic Chiroptical microscope. This technique is based on pump–probe microscopy combined with off-axis holography and utilizes ultrashort laser pulses to resolve ultrafast electronic, excitonic and magnetic phenomena in functional materials on femtosecond timescales (10⁻¹⁵ seconds).
Building on this foundation, we aim to push the frontiers of time-resolved holographic microscopy toward the attosecond regime, achieving spatial resolution below 50 nm. This approach enables simultaneous access to both amplitude and phase information, allowing us to capture coherent polarization formation and track the onset of decoherence through dephasing processes, capabilities that are not accessible with conventional transient techniques.