Molecular Chemistry, New Materials and Quantum Effects

The development and synthesis of materials with novel chemical and physical properties as well as the analysis and modelling of their atomic and (supra)molecular structures stands at the center of the natural sciences at JMU and forms one of its six Research Priority Areas. It is traditionally firmly rooted in the various research themes of the chemical, pharmaceutical and physical sciences and can be characterized by its strong application approach, a hallmark of this research area.

The potential application areas of the investigated materials span from medicine and material science to electrical engineering and nanoelectronics, with applications in photonics and potentially future quantum computers. Of special importance for this research profile area is the work performed within the Cluster of Excellence Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter (ctd.qmat) in cooperation with the Technical University Dresden.

The various research activities performed at the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy within this Research Priority Area are based on organic and inorganic molecular chemistry and chemical synthesis, as well as the development of novel functional materials.

The Focus Area Molecular Building Blocks includes molecule synthesis as well as the application of these molecules as building blocks and bears relation to all chemical institutes of the faculty as well as to research groups of other faculties. At the forefront of these activities stands the research into novel molecular building blocks based on the element boron and the development of macromolecular functional molecules.

The Focus Areas Molecular and Supramolecular Structures and Function and Material are concerned with the development of large functional molecules as well as the analysis of their supramolecular organization. The main goal thereby is the realization of tailor-made properties for their application in the material and life sciences, whereby the development of novel methods for the generation of solar energy or the biomolecular synthesis of RNA represent some of the key research aspects.  

The research activities within the Focus Area Light-Matter and Intermolecular Interactions deal with the analysis of the functional properties and the basic principles of light-induced dynamics within functional materials. The experimentally and theoretically investigated systems span from synthetic dyes, functional polymers, molecular aggregates and nanoplasmonic as well as nanophotonic systems to carbon nanotubes and two-dimensional materials.  

At the center of the research activities at the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy stands the development of novel materials with marked quantum phenomena as well as topics of applied physics, nanoscale physics and physics of space, time and matter. This opens the opportunity for cooperation with the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy, for example in the area of light-matter-interactions or photovoltaics.

The research program of the Focus Area Condensed Matters Physics focuses largely on materials with electron-electron-interactions, spin-orbit interactions and/or topological properties. The research activities of this area are closely connected to the research program of ctd.qmat, aiming to understand, control and apply the fundamentally new topological states of quantum matter. Especially notable in this context is its research program, ranging from materials synthesis via experimental and theoretical studies of novel physical phenomena and their functional control to the design and test of application-relevant device concepts.

The research activities within the Focus Area Nanophotonics are based on the longstanding research on III-IV semiconductor heterostructures for novel lasers as well as high-quality micro- and nanocavities at JMU, resulting in multiple spin-off companies. Work within this research area concerns the control of light-matter interactions and optoelectronics up to the quantum limit of single two-level systems, single electrons, single spins and well-defined single and few photon states.

Within the Focus Area Particle Physics, scientists devote themselves to precision tests of the Standard Model of particle physics, whereby the development and application of new models, as well as the experimental collection of data at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), stands at the forefront of their research. Moreover, work within this research focus area deals with the further development of the gauge/gravity duality, which opens the opportunity to function as a bridge between high-energy physics and condensed matter physics.