Valerie Smejkal , graduated 2021

Theory of high harmonic generation in graphene (Supervisor: F. Libisch)

Short bio: Valerie Smejkal Valerie earned her BSc and MSc in Technical Physics at TU Wien. In her projects, Valeries focus throughout the masters was on the interaction of strong fields with 2D materials. Therefore, she joined TU-D as a PhD student to continue working on this topic under the supervision of Florian Libisch.

Summary of the PhD project: My PhD project aims at gaining insight into the non-linear response of two-dimensional materials to ultrashort intense laser pulses. Using ab-initio simulation we will work to provide key insights into the role of competing inter-band tunneling and intra-band Bloch oscillations in thesematerials, which may bridge the gap between the interaction of intense light with matter in the gas and the condensed phase.

Thoughts on TU-D: The interaction of light with matter is an intensely studied field. It is of interest both from the point of view of fundamental physics as well as from the applications side. Working together with experimental groups, like the group of Thomas ller, will enable me to benchmark simulations with experimental data and can serve as indispensable input for further investigations.