Materials Interaction with Femtosecond Lasers: Theory and Ultra-Large-Scale Simulations of Thermal and Nonthermal Pheomena

Bernd Bauerhenne conducts research in the Solid State and Ultrafast Physics Group at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the University of Kassel. One focus of his research is the theory of ultrafast phenomena in solids and nanostructures; in particular, the description of ultrafast structural changes induced by an intense femtosecond laser. Among other things, he develops highly accurate interatomic potentials using self-learning algorithms, performs ultra-large-scale molecular dynamics simulations, and applies electronic temperature-dependent density functional theory. He studied mathematics and physics at the University of Kassel and at the University of Luxemburg with a focus on numerics and dynamical systems in mathematics and theoretical modeling of solids in physics. He received a diploma in mathematics and a diploma in physics, completing his PhD in theoretical physics at the University of Kassel. He was awarded the Otto Braun Fund doctoral fellowship and the University of Kassel final fellowship, won the PhD student award of the Symposion X at the European Materials Research Society meeting in Strasbourg 2017, and had the honor of attending the 66th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. Introduction.- Ab-initio Description of Solids.- Ab-initio Description of a Fs-laser Excitation.- Ab-initio MD Simulations of the Excited Potential Energy Surface.- Empirical MD Simulations of Laser-excited Matter.