My research interest covers several aspects of ‘Nonlinear Photonics’ with fundamental and applicative aspects in semiconductors and cold atoms.

One main activity is the exploration of self-organization in coupled light-matter systems, in particular the investigation of spontaneous phases and phase transitions in well-controlled cold atom systems with light-mediated coupling simulation of condensed matter phases. This includes self-organized magnetic ordering and atomic crystallization in self-organized optical lattices. We are working towards the realization of supersolids in quantum degenerate gases. Another focus is the investigation of solitons and structured light in vertical-cavity semiconductor lasers (VCSELs), nonlinear laser dynamics and spintronics and in general the understanding of the complex nonlinear processes determining and partially limiting the performance of semiconductor-based photonic devices and lasers and their control and applications. Many activities have strong interdisciplinary connections to self-organization phenomena in nonequilibrium system ubiquitous in Nonlinear and Complexity Science, technology and nature.

I studied physics at the University of Göttingen, Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh) and the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. There I received my Diplom in physics in 1992, my Dr. rer. nat (PhD) in 1996, and my habilitation in 2002. In 1998 and 1999 I have been working as a postdoc at the Institut Non Lineaire de Nice with a Feodor-Lynen fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation. In May 2005 I joined the Photonics Group of the Department of Physics at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow (Scotland, UK) as a lecturer. I am Professor of Nonlinear Photonics since November 2012.