Lichtgedanken 04

Rubrik 7 04 | LICHT GEDANKEN Light meets matter The European Research Council is fu nding the QUEM-CHEM project with 1.9 million euros. Dr Stefanie Gräfe, a professor of chemistry, receives an ERC grant as the first woman at the U niversity of Jena Anyone wanting to elucidate funda- mental questions in science and to de- velop new theories as a result needs both perseverance and the necessary funds. The EU cannot provide time, but the European Research Council (ERC) has awarded one of its highest value awards—a Consolidator Grant—to Prof. Dr Stefanie Gräfe. After three male researchers, the Professor of Theoret- ical Chemistry is the first woman at the University of Jena to receive this rare research funding award. She intends to create eight positions for early-career re- searchers with the 1.9 million euros and thus to gain new insights in the field of non-linear optics. Over the next five years, her project QUEM-CHEM (time- and space-resolved ultrafast dynamics in molecular plasmon hybrid systems) has the aim of first coming up with the- oretical foundations and new theories to then develop applications, for example for a highly sensitive sensor system. »Having received this grant, I now have a chance to carry out the project which I have been striving for a long time«, says the 38-year-old researcher, who aims at marrying electromagnetism with quantum mechanics. What happens to metal when it is hit by a ray of light When light meets matter, interactions occur. There is a further peculiarity in the case of metallic nanoparticles: the density of the charge carriers in the metal can oscillate after the exposure to light, causing physicists to talk about plasmonic quasiparticles. This causes light amplification. The smaller the nanoparticle, the greater the light amp- lification. In the new project QUEM- CHEM, Stefanie Gräfe and her team want to investigate fundamental ques- tions at the nano level regarding what happens between metallic solids and molecules after the boundary surface is exposed to light. »There has not been any sound theory about it, yet«, says the expert—and this is precisely what she wants to change. Research within Gräfe’s research group will begin with computer simulations. The aim is to cal- culate the plasmonic dynamics, in other words, the light-induced movement of the electrons in the metal. Furthermore, quantum chemistry methods will be used to calculate the molecular struc- ture. These two different methods will then be combined. This will make it possible to explain the chemical reaction mechanisms of light and the metal molecule system. The scientist wants to work together with colleagues involved in experimental work on this plasmon catalyst to be able to compare the theory being developed with practice.  AB How trees cooperate The University of Jena is par- ticipating in the international Research Training Group at the University of Halle-Wittenberg At the University of Halle-Witten- berg, a new international Research Training Group is focusing on the interaction between trees and the consequences that this has for the ecosystem. This doctorate pro- gramme is going to be funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) with 3.5 million euros for the next four and a half years. The group is being run in cooperation with the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. On the German side, the future doctoral candidates have chosen to work at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig. Forests are the most important eco- systems in the world. They absorb carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, and regulate the climate. These benefits even improve when the variety of trees increases. The role of the interaction between individ- ual trees, however, has been hardly investigated up to the present. This is the starting point of the new Re- search Training Group, which has the name »Tree Diversity Interac- tions: The Role of Tree-Tree Inter- actions in Local Neighbourhoods in Chinese Subtropical Forests« (TreeDì). The early career research- ers want to investigate how trees exchange information and nutrients via their roots, and how they create a favourable microclimate for each other above ground. The doctoral projects are intended to shed light on the underlying processes and mechanisms behind this coopera- tion. Funds for 18 doctoral positions have been provided for the first funding period. The half of them will be lo­ cated on the German side, the other half in China. The doctoral candi­ dates must spend at least half a year in each partner country.  PR Stefanie Gräfe is the first woman at the University of Jena to be awarded a Consolidator Grant from the EU. News