Prof. Dr. Melanie Schnell

Melanie Schnell leads the Spectroscopy of Molecular Processes group at DESY and is Professor of Physical Chemistry at Kiel University. Her main research activities concentrate on better understanding chemical processes on the molecular level, which will then lead to the ability to control and even manipulate them. To reach these goals, her group develops novel spectroscopic methods, especially in the area of rotational spectroscopy. The researchers focus in particular on broadband rotational spectroscopy using chirped microwave pulses, which enable new spectroscopy applications in structure determination as well as studies of molecular dynamics. With a novel extension of rotational spectroscopy, the enantiomers of chiral molecules can be differentiated and complex mixtures of chiral molecules can be analysed. One aim of these research activities is to separate chiral molecules, for example to exploit them for precision measurements.