Faculty/Staff

• Associate Professor, Physics

Degrees:

• Diploma, Doctor (University of Regensburg)

Biography:

Dr. Heidrun Schmitzer received her Doctoral degree from the University in Regensburg in optics and solid state physics under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Dultz. She worked on research projects on fiber and polarization optics for the German Telekom in Frankfurt and also taught two years at the Montessori-School in Regensburg. She was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Chemnitz from 2000 to 2001 and joined the physics faculty at Xavier in 2002.

Dr. Schmitzer´s interests are optics, especially nonlinear optics, polarization optics and quantum optics. Besides her publications she holds 19 patents in this field. Her research is in optomechanics involving the spin of photons. She also likes hands-on physics experiments and physics toys. She enjoys presenting from time to time some physics experiments in German at German Fairview School as a volunteer. In her free time she drags her husband and two sons along to sites which have been important for the history of science. Reading and sport in small doses round out her recreational activities.

Click here for a list of Dr. Schmitzer's publications.