Laser Research ERC Starting Grant for Clara Saraceno
New sources of terahertz radiation should deliver previously unimagined insights into areas such as the behaviour of water.
Prof Dr Clara Saraceno from the Electrical and Information Engineering Faculty at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) aims to find new highly-efficient sources of light waves in the terahertz range. A Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) will support her research. The funding of around 1.4 million euros has been provided for a period of five years.
Groundbreaking insights
“If we succeed in finding these unconventional light sources that emit high-energy radiation in the terahertz range, it would be a groundbreaking development for many fields of research in chemistry, physics and biology”, explains Clara Saraceno. Terahertz radiation is already being used in the RUB Cluster of Excellence Ruhr Explores Solvation, in short Resolv, to investigate in more detail how water molecules interact with various binding partners such as proteins. The researchers hope to use the new light sources to gain further insights into previously unresearched areas dealing with processes between the solvent water and substances dissolved in it.
