Our Program
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Form: Application for Approval of a Bachelor's or Master's Thesis
We offer high-quality education (Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD programs) in the fields of molecular spectroscopy, laser and terahertz technology, and observational astronomy. Even during their Bachelor’s program, we enable students to participate in international research projects.
Within our main areas of research—terahertz and laser spectroscopy—we study astrophysically relevant molecules by exposing them to electromagnetic radiation under controlled conditions in the laboratory. The rotational-vibrational spectra of the molecules measured in this way provide precise information about the molecules’ properties and are essential for our astronomical observations of the corresponding substances in the interstellar medium.
For our laboratory work, we have access to state-of-the-art laboratories in Kassel and—thanks to close collaboration within the SFB 956 —also at the University of Cologne. Students thus learn how to use various measuring instruments and, during stays of several days in Cologne, gain insight into other laboratories and a different research group.
For laser spectroscopy, we have access to modern lasers, optically parametric oscillators (OPOs), and high-resolution infrared spectrometers in the Kassel laboratories. The molecules under investigation are generated in a supersonic jet stream.
As part of a collaboration with our colleagues working on-site, we also conduct measurements at the“SOLEIL”particle accelerator facility in France. This provides students with an opportunity to gain interesting insights into the operation of such a large-scale facility.
In addition, in collaboration with astronomers, we conduct measurement campaigns at radio telescopes such as the 30-meter IRAM telescope in the Sierra Nevada, Spain. Here, the molecular spectra we measure in the laboratory form the basis for targeted astronomical observations.
We are networked with various institutions in Germany, Europe, and around the world. As part of a team of international scientists, we are thus able to conduct focused, promising research. For you as a student, this means the opportunity to get involved early on in a current, dynamic field of research.
Since we are a research group newly established at the University of Kassel in 2012, you have a unique opportunity to contribute your own ideas to the group’s structure and development.