Arnold Sommerfeld Prize for Gregor Koblmueller!

2016-01-26 – News from the Physics Department

The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities awards the Arnold Sommerfeld Prize 2015 to Dr. Gregor Koblmüller (Physik-Department / WSI, TUM). The prize recognizes Gregor Koblmüller’s outstanding scientific contributions towards the realization of complex semiconductor nanowire heterostructures and their use for next generation electronic and photonic devices.

Dr. Gregor Koblmüller receives the Arnold Sommerfeld prize 2015 from the president of the academy Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Hoffmann. Photo: Andreas Heddergott / BAdW

The award ceremony took place at the festive annual assembly of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, BAdW). President Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Hoffmann presented the prize to Gregor Koblmüller at the Hercules Hall of the famous Munich Residence palace in the heart of Munich.

Gregor Koblmüller is an exceptional researcher in the fields of material science and nanotechnology. He has acquired a large expertise in molecular beam epitaxy of semiconductor hetero-structures, analysis of complex nanostructures and in developing novel nano and quantum devices. He has published several high-impact papers on novel nitride and arsenide based semiconductor nanowires, leading to significant international recognition. For example, he assembled hetero-nanostructures displaying novel physical effects, which result from the confinement of charge carriers and which form the basis for novel and efficient electronic devices in nano-electronics, nano-photonics and nano-sensors.

In recent years his main focus has been the realization of arsenide based hetero-nanowires on silicon of superb performance. Together with his collaboration partners he achieved several breakthroughs in this field. Recently, laser emission of these GaAs nanowires on silicon substrate was observed for the first time. This forms an important step for the future monolithic integration of optoelectronic and nano-photonic devices on silicon.

His papers on optimization of nanowires for light emission from the near to the medium infrared spectral range are outstanding, as well as the realization of ultra thin nanowires, exhibiting large quantization energies and one dimensional charge carrier properties. Gregor Koblmüller is among the leading experts in his field and an internationally renowned scientist.

Born and raised in Austria, Gregor Koblmüller studied applied physics at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien). He started working on semiconductor hetero nanostructures during his PhD, which he conducted in a collaboration with Infineon Corporate Research in Munich. After submitting his thesis at TU Wien in 2005 he worked for four years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Santa Barbara at the renowned Materials Department. There he investigated novel nitride semiconductor materials for optoelectronics and high-power electronics, applying the unique molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) method. His excellent research results were awarded in 2010 with the International Young Investigator MBE Award.

Since 2009 he has been conducting his research at the Chair for Semiconductor Nanostructures and Quantum Systems at the Physik-Department and the Walter Schottky Institute where he is working with Prof. Gerhard Abstreiter and Prof. Jonathan Finley. He is a member of the excellence cluster Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), where he enjoys several fruitful collaborations. Gregor Koblmüller is author and co-author of more than 100 peer reviewed publications, generating frequent citations, and holds several patents. His habilitation at TUM is about to be completed.

Editing

Dr. Johannes Wiedersich