Applied optical sensor technology and spectroscopy

Application of modern, laser-based optical processes to environmental and life science issues (incl. clinical diagnostics and biosensor technology) in combination with innovative organic or f-element-based luminescence probes

Our research topics are located in the scientific fields of life and environmental sciences and use laser-based optical spectroscopy as a “tool”. Stationary and time-resolved absorption and emission spectroscopy are used as experimental techniques (“tools”). Organic dyes and f-elements (lanthanides and also selected actinoids) are used as optical probes.

Basic photophysical investigations aimed at the detailed description of intra- and intermolecular deactivation processes as well as applied questions from a wide range of scientific disciplines are the subject matter. Among other things, organic dyes are used as optical probes in biomimetic and biological systems. By applying fundamental photophysical effects, such as Förster radiationless energy transfer (“FRET”), processes of biomolecules are investigated at the molecular level (e.g. protein folding, DNA hybridization or antigen-antibody interactions).

Furthermore, lanthanide ions (and to some extent also actinoids) are used as luminescence probes for speciation, e.g. to investigate the mobility of heavy metals in the environment, or as emission centers in nanoparticles with potential applications for the development of novel sensor technology in biology or clinical diagnostics. The application of lanthanide-based frequency upconversion in connection with nanoparticles is a particularly exciting field of research.

State-of-the-art laser and spectrometer systems for applications in the field of time- and spatially-resolved luminescence spectroscopy (ps to ms time range) as well as transient absorption spectroscopy in the UV/Vis/NIR spectral range.

Setups can be adapted to a wide variety of sample geometries and thus offer maximum flexibility in adapting to the respective problems.

The excellent infrastructure of the modern photonics laboratories combined with first-class instrumentation and the pronounced interdisciplinary orientation of the research topics form the basis for cooperation with partners from the research and application fields of environmental and life sciences.