High-Field THz-Driven Phenomena

For­schung

Gezielte Untersuchung und Steue­rung von Materie mithilfe intensi­ver, phasenstabiler THz-Pulse.

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TELBE Hochfeld THz Anlage

Eine einzigartige THz-Anlage offen für die wissen­schaftliche Community.

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Beschleuniger-Diagnostik

Ultraschnelle THz-basierte Analyse von Elek­tronen­paketen und XUV-Pulsen.

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The Department of High-field THz-Driven Phenomena investigates dynamics of matter driven by high-field THz pulses. We employ a variety of linear and nonlinear ultrafast spectroscopic techniques with few femtosecond time resolution under various sample conditions, including temperatures down to 2 K and external magnetic fields up to 7 T. This provides access to a large variety of physical processes and material systems.

Our research interest is to understand how matter can be controlled and/or manipulated in the electronic ground state by the transient electric and magnetic fields of intense (THz) light pulses. To this aim we operate several state-of-the-art laser-driven high-field THz sources and perform research using accelerator-based high-field THz and femtosecond XUV sources. At the heart of our department is the High-field High-Repetition-Rate THz user facility TELBE. Here, our department is responsible for the development of the scientific programm, the operation as well as the user support and the inhouse-research. We are also partly in charge of planning and developing the next generation THz and positron facility Dresden Advanced Light Infrastructure (DALI) at HZDR.

If you are excited about high-field THz physics, see our open positions or the user access portal.

Latest News

• 📄2026|07: We made it on the Nature Physics Cover with Olga's paper!
• 📄2026|07: New TELBE user publication in Nature! In this fruitful collaboration with École Polytechnique and Collège de France (lead by Yannis Laplace), we demonstrate how our high-field, narrow-band and CEP-stable THz pulses create a THz Plasmonic time crystal: T. Guo et al. "Plasmonic metamaterial time crystal", Nature (2026)
• 🙋2026|06: Our department Hiking Day in Saxon Switzerland took us up to the Schrammsteine this year.  
• 📄2026|05: New publication in Nat. Phys. on the preparation, transfer, and conservation of angular momentum among phonons: O. Minakova et al., "Observation of angular momentum transfer among crystal lattice modes", Nat. Phys. 22, 1100–1106 (2026).
• 💎2026|05: Yet another DALI Milestone: The German Wissenschaftsrat finalizes its evaluation by officially recommending DALI for immediate implementation: See full statement here DOI:10.57674/qw8h-ra23  
• 📄2026|03: New publication in Phys. Rev. Lett. on how to decode intricate nonlinear THz responses via two-dimensional THz Kerr effect spectroscopy (2D-TKE): C. Shen et al., "Disentangling Electronic and Ionic Nonlinear Polarization Effects in Bulk THz Kerr Response", Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 106901 (2026) - lead by Zhanybek Alpichshev from ISTA
• 📄2026|01: New Phys. Rev. B publication on THz harmonic generation in correlated oxides. Our postdoc Dr. Gulloo Lal Prajapati succeeded in generating intense THz harmonics in different nickelate systems, showing that the harmonic response of these materials sensitively maps their different phases. The work titled Terahertz harmonic generation across the Mott insulator-metal transition was a collaboration with the IISER Bhopal, the U. Fribourg and the TU Dortmund.
• 🙋2026|01: Dr. Andreas Gebauer joins our group to work on the THz pump - photoemission probe setup that is under construction in the TELBE lab. He brings ample of experise on attosecond photoemission spectroscopy that he gained during his doctoral work at the University of Bielefeld.
• 📄2025|10: New Adv. Mat. publication mainly driven by our FHI PostDoc Joanna Urban:  M. Urban et al. “THz-Driven Coherent Phonon Fingerprints of Hidden Symmetry Breaking in 2D Layered Hybrid Perovskites”, Adv. Mater. 38, 4 (2026)
• 📄2026|09: In this new article in Nat. Phys., we contributed to this community effort for a comprehensive taxonomy of chiral and axial phonons: Juraschek et al. "Chiral phonons", Nat. Phys. 21, 1532–1540 (2025)
• 💎2025|07: Next major DALI Milestone. The BMFTR selected DALI as one of the nine shortlisted large-scale research infrastructure as a result of the national prioritization process lead by the German Wissenschaftsrat. 
• 🙋2025|05: Big celebration! Our outstanding FHI PhD student Dr. Maximilian Frenzel graduated with flying colorours. 
• 🙋2025|03: Kang Jin joins our department as new PhD student. Kang will be working on THz-driven spin dynamics in complex heterostructures. As a networking doctoral student he benefits from the extensive expertise and sample growth infrastructure at the Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Science who closely collaborate with our group.
• 📄2025|02: New npg Light Sci. Appl. publication lead by our FHI PostDoc Michael Spencer demonstrating in-situ electro-optic in bulk Fabry-Perot cavities: M.S. Spencer et al. "Electro-optic cavities for in-situ measurement of cavity fields", Light Sci Appl 14, 69 (2025)
• 📄2025|01: New Nat. Commun. article published demonstrating a new mechanism for the ultrafast read out of magnetic states. The work titled Institute rtmund.

Helmholtz Research

Ouearch is part of the Helmholtz Research Program From Matter to Materials and Life in the research field Matter.

Withinz Association TELBE has been an Accelerator Research and Development (ARD) test facility for electron bunch diagnostic on quasi-CW low energy electron beams since 2014 ("ARD subtopic 3: fs-ps electron and photon beams"). Femtosecond level THz based electron bunch diagnostic is hence a second focus of the groups specific scientific interests.

Quick links

ELBE user portal: Information regarding beamtime proposals at the ELBE Center for High-Power Radiation Sources.
GATE: Beamtime organization platform and proposal management for all beamlines at ELBE.
Radiation safety at ELBE: Information and prerequisites for your research visit

Funding

Helmholtz Research Association:

• Program topics:
  • Accelerator Research and Develop
  • From Matter to Materials and Life (MML)
• Helmholtz-Excellence Network: Physics of Life (PoL)

DFG:

• Emmy Noether group: Circular Phononics: Driving Matter by Phonon Angular Momentum | since 2022
• ANR/DFG: Correlated electron and structural dynamics in quasi-2D Hybrid Perovskites (2D-HYPE) | 2021 - 2025

MPG:

• Max Planck – Radboud University Center for Infrared Free Electron Laser Spectroscopy | 2021 - 2025

BMFTR:

• Terahertz-driven electronic excitations probed by photoelectron spectroscopy (Tera-EXPOSE)
  
• Integriertes Spektrometer zur Elektronenbunchform-Onlinediagnose (INSel)
• Spektrale Anand fgelöstesMonitoring von Elektronenpaketen durch THz-Strahlung (SAMoS)
• Time-resolved Nanoscopy in the deep THz regime (TiNa)

European Union:

• The European Cluster of Advanced Laser Lightsources (EUCALL)
• Terahertz RAdio communication using high ANistropy SPIn-torque REsonators (TRANSPIRE)

Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Kultur und Tourismus SMWK

• Supraleitende Magnet-Infrastruktur für die Erforschung Terahertz-getriebener Dynamik unter extremen Bedingungen (SUMI)