In the DFG Collaborative Research Center Transregio 227 "Ultrafast Spin Dynamics", experimental and theoretical physicists from Berlin and Halle work together in the fields of surface physics, nanoscience, materials science, magnetism and ultrafast spectroscopy.

They focus on a special magnetic property of electrons: The so-called spin is a kind of intrinsic angular momentum that causes a magnetic moment and thus leads to magnetism. Transregio 227 investigates ultrafast changes in magnetic systems, specifically the dynamics on the time scale of femtoseconds. In materials that are only a few atomic layers thick, the properties can be controlled to a large extent via the interfaces.

In further subprojects, transregional research teams will advance understanding of the underlying processes and provide key elements for spin-based information technology that also operates in the terahertz frequency range. In the long term, this could make storage systems and information technologies that are applicable on ultrashort time scales possible.

The speaker of the Collaborative Research Center is Prof. Dr. Martin Weinelt from Freie Universität Berlin.