The research profile of division A is based on long standing experience in chemical physics. It also makes use of a broad expertise in ultra short experimental and theoretical physics.

Division A is - jointly with division C - responsible for the development and operation of the femtosecond application laboratories of the MBI. In addition, division A manages the laboratory facility for combined experiments with laser and synchrotron radiation at BESSY II.

See also Topical seminars of Division A.

Division A is substructured in three departments:
Department			Department head
	A1	Surface Spectroscopy	Prof. Dr. M. Weinelt, MBI and FU-Berlin
	A2	Gas Phase Spectroscopy	NN
	A3	Ultrafast Lasers and Nonlinear Optics	Dr. F. Noack

The titles of the departments indicate the know-how available in Division A. In summary the areas of competence are described as follows:
Experimental	surface physics and measuring techniques; femtosecond laser application to surfaces, combined experiments with laser and synchrotron radiation laser spectroscopy and real time studies of free clusters, bio-molecules and He-nanodroplets involving complex experimental setups with time resolved multi colour pump-probe measurements molecular beam techniques, cluster sources, fotoion-fotoelectron-coincidence, spatially resolved particle detection free cluster studies with synchrotron radiation; photoemission from liquid water jets and salt solutions development of fs-laser systems (sub-50 fs - 2 ps) with special properties for selected applications; measurement and manipulation of laser parameters by non linear optical methods, in particular in extreme spectral ranges such as in the VUV micro material structuring with fs - lasers synthesis of organic molecules (extended pi-systems) for special thin film functions
Theory	generation and propagation of ultrashort light pulses ab-initio-calculations for small cluster structures and model calculations for the ultra fast dynamics of clusters

In the framework of the research structure of the MBI, scientists of division A participate in the following projects:
click to see details of projects
1-01 Ultrafast Nonlinear Optics and Few Cycle Pulses			J. Herrmann, F. Noack, G. Steinmeyer
1-02 Short Pulse Laser Systems			U. Griebner, V. Petrov, M. Kalashnikov
2-03 Free Clusters and Molecules			T. Schultz and C. P. Schulz
3-01 Dynamics at Surfaces and Structuring			A. Rosenfeld, M. Weinelt
3-04 Transient Structures and Imaging with X-Rays			H. Stiel, M. Wörner, M. Zhavoronkov
Close Collaborations also exist
between
2-03	and project	2-02 Ionization Dynamics in Intense Laser Fields
2-03	and project	2-04 Molecular Vibrational and Reaction Dynamics in the Condensed Phase
3-01	and project	3-02 Solids and Nanostructures