ERC grant for scientist from Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter

(openPR) Wanzheng Hu, a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg, has been awarded a prestigious Starting Grant worth up to €1.79 million by the European Research Council (ERC). She is investigating the collective quantum behavior of two-dimensional materials, which are just one atomic layer thick.

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Her project, titled Dynamical Materials Control in Low Dimensions, sets out to optically access atomically thin materials under ultra-high vacuum conditions, and optically control their quantum behaviour at ultrafast speed. A new time-domain spectroscopic technique will be developed for optically detecting the air-sensitive ultra-thin films and interfaces.

Ms Hu will be using laser pulses to investigate the properties of superconductive materials and to temporarily change the materials’ properties. The range of lasers at the MPSD is a key reason why she wants to base her ERC-funded project at the Institute.

“I can grow the material on site and characterize it here,” she says. “We have many different ultrafast light sources. The MPSD is quite unique in that and other groups simply cannot compete with its facilities.”

Her project is proposed to run for five years at the MPSD - one of 83 Institutes of the Max Planck Society. Scientists at the MPSD study the properties and behavior of materials over extremely short time spans, using some of the world’s brightest laser and X-ray sources.

Wanzheng Hu is one of 406 applicants who received a grant in the current round. This year, some 40 per cent of the grantees are women - the largest share ever in an ERC competition. The funding allows researchers to build their own teams and thus helps to shape a new generation of top researchers in Europe.

ERC grants are awarded to researchers of any nationality whose scientific track record shows great promise. Every year, the ERC selects and funds the very best, creative researchers of any nationality and age to run projects based in Europe. To date, the ERC has funded some 7,000 top researchers at various stages of their careers.

For further information please contact Jenny Witt, Press and PR Officer at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, on +49 40 8998 6593 or

Weitere Informationen:
- https://erc.europa.eu/news/erc-2017-starting-grants-results
- http://www.mpsd.mpg.de

Quelle: idw