“Diverse hobbies are everything for me as a physicist”

Meet our new doctoral candidate Benjamin Trey!

By day, our new PhD candidate Benjamin Trey is a physicist. By night, he sometimes swaps his laser goggles for the DJ booth. Benjamin recently joined us from the University of Hamburg and DESY to pursue his PhD in ultrafast optics in the research group of Prof. Ferenc Krausz. Get to know him and his research in the interview below. 

What’s will be your main research focus for your PhD?

If you want to detect cancer in blood with spectroscopy, you need a very high signal-to-noise ratio. My goal is to push the frontiers of infrared spectroscopy for molecular fingerprinting by scaling the output of Cr:ZnS laser amplifiers. High peak-power, short laser pulses could make it easier to detect the subtle molecular differences between blood samples from cancer patients and healthy persons.

What excites you most about this field?

I am most excited about two things: Firstly, I am looking forward to developing really specialized knowledge about a unique laser amplifier, and secondly, I am interested in the development of the molecular fingerprint for blood sera and its usage for cancer detection.

What and where did you study?

I studied Physics at the University of Hamburg in cooperation with the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), where I focused on integrated optics. For my master’s thesis, which I completed under the supervision of Prof. Tobias Herr and Prof. Franz Kärtner, I worked on an experiment towards single-shot sensing of electron bunches in a linear particle accelerator.

What attracted you to the IMPRS-APS program?

Here at IMPRS-APS, I enjoy the combination of two things. Firstly, the scientific discussion with other PhD students in a really comfortable atmosphere, and secondly, I appreciate the networking of IMPS-APS with other research groups and companies. When meeting the other PhD students within IMPRS-APS, there is always an open, honest and tolerant atmosphere.

What skills do you want to develop during your PhD?

In this scientific environment, I want to further improve my scientific communication skills, whether in presentations to team members or at conferences. Of course, I also want to become specialised in laser physics and gain plenty of hands-on lab experience, especially in building lasers and troubleshooting them. I’m sure that Garching is a unique place to learn all this, and that is definitely one of the main reasons why I am here.

What’s a fun fact about you, a hobby or something else that you enjoy outside research?

Diverse hobbies are everything for me as a physicist. Besides my PhD, my heart lies on engaging for young communities like student or sport clubs. In addition to that, I am mixing electronic music in different locations. (You can check out Benjamin’s music  here.) 

Thanks for the interview and a great start into your PhD journey!

 

Photos: Nina Beier, Benjamin Trey, Otti Bar Hamburg