Vibhuti Rai was awarded the Gerhard Ertl Young Investigator Award 2026
Dr. Vibhuti N. Rai
Dr. Vibhuti N. Rai, postdoctoral researcher at Freie Universität Berlin in the group of TRR 227 project leader Katharina Franke (B05), has been awarded the Gerhard Ertl Young Investigator Award of 2026. The prize, named after Nobel Laureate Gerhard Ertl and presented by the Surface Science Division of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG), honors early career achievements in surface science.
News from Mar 20, 2026
Dr. Rai’s research focuses on light-matter interaction at the nanoscale, with particular emphasis on ultrafast dynamics at atomic scale spatial resolution. His work examines the optical response of individual quantum systems, including molecules and atomic scale defects in two-dimensional materials, providing new insights into fundamental quantum phenomena relevant for future optoelectronic technologies.
At the DPG Spring Meeting 2026, he presented results from this research in a talk titled “Effect of atomic scale defects on light matter interaction in transition metal dichalcogenides.” The work demonstrates how single atom defects affect long range coherent phonons in semiconductors. The results were recently published in Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adz6549) within the framework of the collaborative research center TRR 227.
Dr. Rai completed his PhD at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology with support from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship.
Congratulations to Vibhuti for this great success!
Original publication:
Influence of atomic-scale defects on coherent phonon excitations by THz near fields in an STM
V. N. Rai, J. Sim, F. Faaber, N. Bogdanoff, S. Thrishin, P. Wiechers, T. S. Seifert, T. Kampfrath, C. Lotze, and K. J. Franke
Sci. Adv. 11 50, eadz6549 (2025) - DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adz6549