Dr. Niclas Müller wins the prestigious Gerhard Ertl Young Investigator Award
The Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society is proud to announce that Dr. Niclas Müller, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Physical Chemistry, has been awarded the Gerhard Ertl Young Investigator Award 2025. This esteemed accolade is presented by the Surface Science Division of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG) and recognizes a young researcher for their outstanding research in the field of surface science.
Dr. Müller was honored for his groundbreaking work entitled “Imaging Infrared Materials Excitations with Sum-Frequency Spectro-Microscopy,” which he presented at the DPG Spring Meeting. His innovative research focuses on the characterization of nanoscale solid-state materials with nonlinear optical microscopy. This opens a route to characterize atomically thin materials and nanophotonic structures with unparalleled sensitivity. These novel optical microscopes, developed by the groups of Dr. Alexander Paarmann and Dr. Martin Thämer, allow for detailed spatial, spectral, momentum, and crystallographic analysis of material properties and light-matter interactions with a resolution much shorter than the infrared wavelengths.
About Dr. Niclas Müller:
Education:
- PhD in Physics (summa cum laude), Freie Universität Berlin, 2020
- Thesis: ‘Tailoring Plasmon-Enhanced Light-Matter Interaction’
- M.Sc. in Physics, Freie Universität Berlin, 2014
- B.Sc. in Physics, Freie Universität Berlin, 2012
Career:
- Postdoctoral Researcher, Fritz Haber Institute, since May 2023
- Leopoldina Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Cambridge, UK, 2021-2023
- Research Associate, Freie Universität Berlin, 2014-2015, 2018-2021
- Doctoral Fellowship, Deutsche Telekom Stiftung, 2015-2018
Dr. Müller has also recently received three poster prizes for his work on sum-frequency microscopy at international conferences, including the Gordon Conference on Plasmonics and Nanophotonics in the USA in 2024, the MQT 2024 Conference in Chile, and the IWEPNM 2025 Conference in Austria.
The Gerhard Ertl Young Investigator Award, sponsored by the journal Surface Science through Elsevier Scientific Publishing, has been recognizing exceptional young researchers since 2010. Dr. Müller's achievement highlights the innovative research being conducted at the Fritz Haber Institute and underscores the institute's commitment to advancing the field of surface science. Congratulations to Dr. Müller on this outstanding achievement!
