Engel Lab
Michael Engel provided an overview talk about the theory and simulation of quasicrystals at the workshop of the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 762: Functionality of Oxide Interfaces at Benedictine Abbey of Frauenwörth. The Benedictine abbey of Frauenwörth was founded by the Duke of Bavaria Tassilo III around 772 AD.
Alberto Leonardi, Chrameh Mbah and Michael Engel present their recent research results at two conferences. The International Congress Engineering of Advanced Materials (ICEAM) held 10-12 Oct 2017 was the concluding event of the EAM Excellence Cluster and gathers national and international researchers in the field. The Particle-Based Materials Symposium (PBM) on 9-10 Nov 2017 at the Leibnitz Institute for New Materials in Saarbrücken brings together expertise from all over Germany.
Some pictures from this year’s group hike and visit to the beer cellar near Weilersbach on the border of the Franconian Switzerland near Erlangen.
This year Michael Engel traveled again to the USA with stops at the University of Michigan and Indiana University. Also, part of the stay was the observation of the total solar eclipse in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
A research collaboration with Uni Fribourg (Switzerland) lead to a joint publication in PNAS:
“It has been shown recently that disordered dielectrics can support a photonic band gap in the presence of structural correlations. This finding is surprising, because light transport in disordered media has long been exclusively associated with photon diffusion and Anderson localization. Currently, there exists no picture that may allow the classification of optical transport depending on the structural properties. Here, we make an important step toward solving this fundamental problem. Based on numerical simulations of transport statistics, we identify all relevant regimes in a 2D system composed of silicon rods: transparency, photon diffusion, classical Anderson localization, band gap, and a pseudogap tunneling regime. We summarize our findings in a transport phase diagram that organizes optical transport properties in disordered media.”
Band gap formation and Anderson localization in disordered photonic materials with structural correlations
L.S. Froufe-Perez, M. Engel, J.J. Saenz, F. Scheffold
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114, 9570-9574 (2017)
Alberto Leonardi received a grant from the Emerging Talent Initiative in the field of nano-structured single-particle inorganic materials. This initiative is designed to support excellent postdoctoral researchers by providing them with an opportunity to develop scientific independence and establish themselves in their field of research. Congratulations!
EAM Science meets Fiction is a scientifically oriented exhibition that includes literature contributions. Our lab contributed one computer rendering of a clathrate crystal made from triangular bipyramids taken from a recent publication.
The exhibition takes place from Sept 16 to Oct 27 in the church “Kreuz+Quer, Haus der Kirche”, Bohlenplatz 1, 91054 Erlangen.
Zhiyu Song joined the group as a PhD student. He will be working on hydrogels and simulate their mechanical properties. Welcome!
At the Tag des CBI 2017 Prof. Michael Engel presented his inaugural lecture.
Marco Klement joined the group as a PhD student. He will be working on developing and applying computational methods for the study of anisotropic particles. Welcome!