Roland Wester

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Roland Wester (born June 24, 1971 in Sinsheim ) is a physicist and professor at the Institute for Ion Physics and Applied Physics at the University of Innsbruck .

career

In 1999 Wester submitted his dissertation at the University of Heidelberg under the title Spatial Structure of Stored Molecular Ions by Coulomb Explosion . From 2000 to 2002 he was a post-doc at the University of California, Berkeley and then a research assistant and project manager at the Physics Institute at the University of Freiburg , where he completed his habilitation in 2007. From 2008 to 2010 he took over a professorship there. In 2010 he was appointed to the University of Innsbruck and has been a university professor there ever since. From 2012 he was director of the Institute for Ion Physics and Applied Physics and since 2015 he has been the spokesman for the FWF program Atoms, Light, and Molecules .

He has been a member of the Young Academy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences since 2013 .

Gustav Hertz Prize

In 2009 Wester received the “ Gustav Hertz Prize ” for his work on the course of chemical reactions in the gas phase, which similarly play an important role in the synthesis of complex molecules and in the metabolism of living cells. Thanks to a specially constructed apparatus, Wester was able to follow the course of such reactions with unprecedented accuracy, and he came across a previously unknown reaction mechanism. His work is a breakthrough in understanding the dynamics of chemical reactions.

The focus of his work is the interaction between molecules and electrically charged atomic particles (ions) in the form of “nucleophilic substitution”. During this reaction, parts of the starting molecule are exchanged for new groups of atoms. Wester investigated this process with a measuring device in which chemical reactions can be observed like in a game of billiards. First, the starting materials move towards each other in particle beams at a controlled speed. Eventually they meet and react with one another, whereupon the speed and direction of flight of the reaction products are measured. From the measurement data of incoming and outgoing particles, it is now possible to deduce what happens at the moment of the reaction - whether, for example, intermediate products are formed or the reaction partners are set in motion. In this way, the movements of all the particles involved - the so-called kinematics - are recorded during the entire reaction process.

Publications (selection)

  • Martin Stei, Eduardo Carrascosa, Alexander Dörfler, Jennifer Meyer, Balázs Olasz, Gábor Czakó, Anyang Li, Hua Guo, Roland Wester: Stretching vibration is a spectator in nucleophilic substitution . In: Science Advances . tape 4 , no. 7 , 2018, p. eaas9544 , doi : 10.1126 / sciadv.aas9544 .
  • Otto, R .; Brox, J .; Trippel, S .; Stei, M .; Best, T. et al .: Single solvent molecules can affect the dynamics of substitution reactions . In: Nature Chemistry . tape 4 , 2012, p. 534-538 .
  • Jennifer Meyer, Roland Wester: Ion Molecule Reaction Dynamics . In: Annual Review of Physical Chemistry . tape 68 , 2017, p. 333-353 , doi : 10.1146 / annurev-physchem-052516-044918 .
  • Best, T .; Otto, R .; Trippel, S .; Hlavenka, P .; Von Zastrow, A. et al .: Absolute photodetachment cross-section measurements for hydrocarbon chain anions . In: The Astrophysical Journal . tape 742 , no. 2 , 2011, p. 63 , doi : 10.1088 / 0004-637X / 742/2/63 .
  • Wester, Roland: Radiofrequency multipole traps: Tools for spectroscopy and dynamics of cold molecular ions . In: Journal of Physics B . tape 42 , 2009, p. 154001 .
  • J. Mikosch, S. Trippel, C. Eichhorn, R. Otto, U. Lourderaj, JX Zhang, WL Hase, M. Weidemüller, R. Wester: Imaging nucleophilic substitution reactions . In: Science . tape 319 , 2008, p. 183-186 .
  • J. Deiglmayr, A. Grochola, M. Repp, K. Mörtlbauer, C. Glück, J. Lange, O. Dulieu, R. Wester, M. Weidemüller: Formation of ultracold polar molecules in the rovibrational ground state . In: Physical Review Letters . tape 101 , 2008, p. 133004 .
  • W. Salzmann, T. Mullins, J. Eng, M. Albert, R. Wester, M. Weidemüller, A. Merli, SM Weber, F. Sauer, M. Plewicki, F. Weise, L. Wöste, A. Lindinger : Coherent transients in the femtosecond photoassociation of ultracold molecules . In: Phys. Rev. Lett. tape 100 , 2008, p. 233003 .
  • J. Mikosch, U. Frühling, S. Trippel, D. Schwalm, M. Weidemüller, R. Wester: Evaporation of buffer-gas thermalized anions out of a multipole rf ion trap . In: Phys. Rev. Lett. tape 98 , 2007, p. 223001 .

Web links

  • Homepage. Institute for Ion Physics and Applied Physics;

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Members of the OeAW. oeaw.ac.at, accessed on November 15, 2018 .
  2. ^ Gustav Hertz Prize 2009. DPG, accessed on November 15, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Wester, Roland
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH Sinsheim