Frank Stefani

Frank Stefani (* 1962 in Upper Lusatia , GDR ) is a German physicist.

From 1983 Stefani studied physics at the Technical University of Dresden with a diploma in 1988 on the density of states of a three-dimensional disordered system in a strong magnetic field. He then went to the University of Leipzig , where he received his doctorate in 1994 with Wolfgang Weller (dissertation: A new field-theorerical approach to disordered systems: the g-field-technique ). From 1994 to 1996 he was at the Institute for Applied Geodesy in Leipzig and from 1996 at the Research Center Dresden-Rossendorf .

At first he dealt theoretically with quantum field theory of disordered systems. As a geophysicist, he dealt with radar height measurements of the Antarctic ice sheet and with geoid determination. Later he dealt with magnetohydrodynamics and dynamo experiments of charged metallic liquids (theoretical and experimental). He also dealt with the inverse problem of reconstructing the velocity of charged liquids from the measurement of magnetic fields.

In 2008 he and Günther Rüdiger received the science award : Society needs science for the experimental proof of magnetorotation instability (MRI) in the PROMISE experiment (Potsdam ROssendorf Magnetic InStability Experiment). It plays an important role in the creation of magnetic turbulence in accretion disks, which enables the formation of compact objects such as black holes or protostars. He then also investigated non-axisymmetric magnetorotation instabilities, for example in the case of an azimuthal magnetic field.

Fonts (selection)

with A. Gailitis u. a .: Detection of a flow induced magnetic field eigenmode in the Riga dynamo facility, Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 84, 2000, p. 4365
with A. Gailitis u. a .: Magnetic field saturation in the Riga dynamo experiment, Phys. Rev. Lett., Volume 86, 2001, p. 3024
with Agris Gailitis, Olgerts Lielausis, Ernests Platacis, Gunter Gerbeth: Colloquium: Laboratory experiments on hydromagnetic dynamos, Reviews of Modern Physics, Volume 74, 2002, p. 973
with M. Seilmayer, G. Rüdiger u. a .: Experimental Evidence for Nonaxisymmetric Magnetorotational Instability in a Rotating Liquid Metal Exposed to an Azimuthal Magnetic Field, Phys. Rev. Lett., Volume 113, 2014, p. 024505
with Oleg Kirillov: Extending the Range of the Inductionless Magnetorotational Instability, Phys. Rev. Lett., Volume 111, 2013, p. 061103
with G. Rüdiger u. a .: Experimental Evidence for Magnetorotational Instability in a Taylor-Couette Flow under the Influence of a Helical Magnetic Field, Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 97, 2006, p. 184502
with Thomas Gundrum, Gunter Gerbeth: Contactless inductive flow tomography, Phys. Rev. E, Volume 70, 2004, p. 056306

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personal data
SURNAME	Stefani, Frank
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German physicist
DATE OF BIRTH	1962
PLACE OF BIRTH	Upper Lusatia , GDR