Reinhard Kienberger

Professor Reinhard Kienberger is a distinguished physicist at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where he serves as Professor of Laser and X-ray Physics within the TUM School of Natural Sciences. He also holds the position of Vice-Dean for Study and Teaching and is a member of the School Council. His research focuses on attosecond physics, where his team develops and utilizes the shortest light pulses ever created to study ultrafast processes in atoms, molecules, and solid matter.

Prof. Kienberger was born in 1971 and completed his doctorate at TU Vienna in 2002, where he conducted the first measurement of attosecond pulses. This groundbreaking work contributed to his supervisor Ferenc Krausz receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2023. Following his doctorate, he received a scholarship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences to work as a postdoctoral researcher at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Laboratory in the USA (2004). Since 2006, he has led a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching, serving as a Max Planck Fellow from 2014 to 2019. He was appointed Professor of Experimental Physics at TUM in 2008 through the Munich Centre for Advanced Photonics Excellence Cluster and has headed the Chair of Laser and X-ray Physics (E11) since 2013. In March 2018, he became a member of the University Council at Graz University of Technology.

Professor Kienberger's research in attosecond physics represents the frontier of ultrafast science. His team uses high-energy ultra-short laser pulses to create light pulses as short as 80 attoseconds - a timescale where one attosecond relates to one second as one second relates to the age of the universe. With these incredibly brief pulses, his group can time-resolve electronic processes in atoms, molecules, and solid matter. This research has significant implications for molecular electronics, biophysics, photovoltaics, and nanosystems. The group's work spans from fundamental quantum phenomena to practical applications in medical imaging and materials science.

Analysis of Prof. Kienberger's recent publications reveals a consistent focus on advancing attosecond measurement techniques and exploring their applications. His work bridges fundamental physics with practical technologies, particularly in X-ray generation, ultrafast electron dynamics, and precision laser measurement. The research shows increasing interdisciplinary connections, with applications emerging in medical physics, materials characterization, and quantum technology.

Professor Kienberger has received numerous prestigious awards for his contributions to physics:

• Prize for Research in Laser Science and Applications from the European Physical Society (2016)
• ERC Consolidator Grant (2014)
• ICO Prize in Optics from the International Commission for Optics (2010)
• ERC Starting Grant (2008)
• Sofja Kovalevskaja-Preis from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2006)

With 143 publications cited approximately 15,000 times and an h-factor of 41 (as of 2023), Prof. Kienberger has established himself as a leading figure in ultrafast physics. His research group at TUM continues to push the boundaries of what can be measured and controlled on the attosecond timescale, with potential applications across multiple scientific and technological domains. The group maintains strong collaborations with the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics and other international research institutions, fostering a dynamic environment for training the next generation of physicists.