Guests of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at TU Darmstadt

My field of research is fascinating. To laymen I would explain it in the following comprehensible manner…

Owing to its element-selectivity and the fact that the lack of long range order does not interfere with the spectroscopic information obtained, solid state NMR has developed into an extremely powerful structural characterization method for a large variety of disordered and compositionally complex materials. With the advantage of DNP techniques the sensitivity of NMR experiments can be enhanced by several orders of magnitude, making DNP enhancement especially well suited for the study of surface sites and/or the study of isotopes with low abundance or sensitivity, such as 13C or 15N.

My most important success in research to date is…

the development of a comprehensive multi-spectroscopy strategy for the structural characterization of rare-earth doped glasses for photonic applications. This strategy combines multinuclear NMR spectroscopy techniques for the characterization of the glass framework structure and pulsed Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) and emission spectroscopy techniques for the characterization of the rare-earth ion coordination environment.

I’ve chosen the TU Darmstadt because…

of the unique opportunity of working in a research group with recognized experts in the area of high field Dynamic Nuclear Polarization NMR using high frequency high power microwave devices (Gyrotrons), low temperatures and magic-angle spinning NMR probes. Their excellence in research, state-of-the-art, installations and comprehensive scientific program is located among the best research centers in this area.