TRR researcher Dr. Xuekai Ma receives a prestigious award from the Chinese government for his PhD studies in theoretical physics. The highly competitive “Chinese government award for outstanding self-funded Chinese PhD students abroad” is annually given to only about one per mille of Chinese students who seek to obtain a PhD abroad (only 32 recipients in 2018 in Germany across all disciplines). The award has a monetary value of $6.000. “I am happy that with this award the Chinese government recognizes Dr. Ma’s excellent work as a PhD student” says his PhD advisor Professor Stefan Schumacher. The official award ceremony will be held in June in Berlin.
Dr. Ma started his PhD studies at the University of Jena and in 2015 relocated to Paderborn University to join the “Theory of Functional Photonic Structures” group led by Stefan Schumacher, where in 2017 he completed his PhD studies. During his PhD Dr. Ma successfully developed, numerically implemented, and applied theoretical models to investigate nonlinear optical excitations in quantum fluids of light and matter in two-dimensional semiconductor nanostructures (quantum-well based planar micro-resonators). In the future these systems may serve as a platform for optically controlled functional elements and optical integrated circuits for communication networks. Since 2018 Dr. Ma is a postdoctoral researcher in the collaborative research center TRR142 “Tailored nonlinear photonics” where he continues his theoretical work as part of a joint project with experimental colleagues from the TU Dortmund. In the focus of his work are both fundamental aspects and the study of application-oriented concepts such as optical switching and control of topological excitations in the nonlinear systems investigated.
During his PhD studies Dr. Ma has published numerous scientific articles in high and highest ranking international journals, including two in the highly regarded Physical Review Letters. Many of these papers stem from joint work together with experimental partners. “His excellent publication record with several well cited papers speaks of the relevance of his work” comments his PhD advisor.
