ERC Consolidator Grant
Award year: 2013
Category: Scholarship / Grant
Type: ERC Consolidator Grant
Awarding organization: Europäischer Forschungsrat (ERC)
Physicist Peter Hommelhoff investigates the interaction between laser light and matter by focusing extremely short laser pulses on the ends of very sharp metal needle points. This releases electrons from the point of the needle which are measured by Hommelhoff and his team. They observe how many electrons are emitted using how much energy. The sharp point can also serve as a sensor that Peter Hommelhoff uses to measure optical fields. This fundamental research could result in new light-controlled and extremely fast transistors that could combine the laser pulses already used in glass fibres with electronics.