Research Interest

Ludger Wirtz works in theoretical solid-state-physics which means that he tries to understand the macroscopic properties of various materials starting from the microscopic (atomic) structure of the underlying crystals. He studies the interaction of light with materials. This activity is also called « theoretical spectroscopy ». It serves, in particular, for the theoretical/computational description of a large variety of spectroscopic techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, optical absorption, and luminescence. These experimental techniques can give a lot of information on the atomic structure and on defects if they are accompanied by precise calculations. Even though the fundamental physical mechanisms of these techniques are  known, the precise implementation of computational schemes based on many-body perturbation theory remains a challenge on which the group is working. We apply the methods in particular to 2D materials and to defects in semiconductors.

Biography

Ludger Wirtz is the Head of the Physics and Materials Science department of the University of Luxembourg and leads a research group in theoretical solid-state physics. He studied physics at the University of Bonn (Germany) and at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville (USA). In 2001, he received his PhD from the Vienna University of Technology (Austria). After a postdoctoral stay in San Sebastián (Spain), he worked as CNRS researcher at the Institute for Electronics, Microelectronics, and Nanotechnology in Lille (France). In 2012 he became Full Professor of physics in Luxembourg. He has published 100 papers, 3 book chapters and holds 1 patent.