Strongly Driven Materials

We use different femtosecond time-resolved techniques to study the properties and dynamics of materials under extreme conditions of electronic excitation, temperature and pressure created by intense, ultrafast laser excitation. Such conditions can lead to structural changes and material removal on very rapid time-scales, and often along unusual, non-equilibrium pathways. Particularly important are experiments at the new short-wavelength free electron lasers which provide unique possibilities for both, generating and probing such states. Our research is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF within the FSP 301 FLASH: Interaction of intense XUV-pulses with condensed matter.