Bachelor theses

For information on bachelor theses see here.

Diploma/master theses

There are always possibilities for diploma/master theses in our group. The following paragraphs will give you a rough overview of the activities and challenges you will experience during your thesis work:

At the beginning you will typically spend a considerable amount of time in our local cleanroom facilites, fabricating your sample. This usually involves steps of optical and electron beam lithography as well as electrically contacting the resulting chip. Enthusiasm as well as patience is helpful when fiddling around with small objects and tricky processing techniques.

Measurements are then carried out at low temperatures. Our low temperature lab comprises several cryostats that allow measurements at temperatures down to 20 mK. Our group concentrates on studying the electric properties of nanostructures but also considers the interplay of electrons with mechanical and optical excitations. Our most important tool are transport measurements, sending electrons (or holes) through the nanostructures. Challenges include measuring very small signals at very low sample temperatures, eliminating noise sources and dealing with samples that are easily destroyed by electrostatic discharges or high voltages.

In order to succeed with such a complex and exciting experiment involving different apparatuses and lab environments, the importance of teamwork can not be overestimated. The cleanroom facilities and cryostats are shared with other scientists, hence you can count on help whenever obstacles occur. You will, however, be responsible for your own project.

Close cooperation with theorists facilitates interpretation of our experimental results. You should therefore be familiar with solid state physics, quantum mechanics and electrodynamics.

If you are interested in doing nanoscale semiconductor physics at low temperatures, feel free to contact us at any time.

PhD theses (and postdoc positions)

If you're interested in doing a PhD or postdoc in our group, please e-mail your application including a detailed statement of motivation to Stefan Ludwig.