Research

I am an experimental physicist interested in structure and dynamics of amorphous materials.

I want to learn what keeps amorphous materials in their seemingly disordered structure, and which underlying order-disorder-phenomena dominate the amorphous state.

Currently my focus is on the following aspects of metallic glasses:

• local structure and its connection to dynamics
• local elastic properties
• evolution of the amorphous state by physical aging or rejuvenation, and the connection to crystallization
• the relation between structure and macroscopic properties

My expertise extends to the behavior of molecular and metallic glass-formers under external triggers such as time, temperature, electric fields, magnetic fields, microgravity, and others. I am further interested in the structure of the amorphous state and how it is influenced by the synthesis approach, such as liquid-quench or layer-deposition.

Pursued methods of investigation are for example synchrotron-based coherent scattering techniques such as x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS), but also local electron-based scattering such as four-dimensional transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM). Further, high-throughput nanoindentation in the elastic regime under ambient conditions or thermal trigger is applied to measure local elastic properties at high spatial resolution over large areas. Some of my current work involves the combination of methods, such as elastomechanical manipulation during coherent scattering.