Christoph Helmut Keitel (born 30 July 1965 in

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

, Germany) is a German physicist, presently a director at the

Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics The Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik ("MPI for Nuclear Physics" or MPIK for short) is a research institute in Heidelberg, Germany. The institute is one of the 80 institutes of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Max Planck Society), an independent, ...

(''Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik'') in Heidelberg and an honorary professor ("Honorarprofessor") at Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg. Christoph H. Keitel studied physics and mathematics at the

Leibniz University Hannover Leibniz University Hannover (), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public university, public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational School, the university has undergone six period ...

and physics at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

, where he received his doctorate in 1992 after graduating (1990) under Georg Süßmann. After several years of research at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

in Albuquerque and the

Imperial College Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural district in South Kensington that included museums ...

in London, he worked as a Marie Curie Fellow at the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (; ) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. It is the largest education facility in the Austrian States of Austria, ...

. In 1998, he became a junior research group leader of a DFG Collaborative Research Centre at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

, where he habilitated in 2000 on Atomic Systems in Intense Laser Fields and obtained the

venia legendi Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellen ...

.CV on the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics website
/ref> His teaching activities at the Universities of Freiburg and Düsseldorf were followed by his admission as a scientific member of the

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

in 2004 and his appointment as a director at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) in Heidelberg, serving as the Managing Director of the entire institute from 2006 to 2008 and since 2024 (until 2026). He is the founder and spokesperson of the interdisciplinary International Max Planck Research School ''Quantum Dynamics in Physics, Chemistry and Biology'' at MPIK, established in 2007. In 2005 he was appointed honorary professor at the Ruprecht Karls University Heidelberg. Keitel works primarily in the field of theoretical laser-induced quantum dynamics,

quantum electrodynamics In particle physics, quantum electrodynamics (QED) is the Theory of relativity, relativistic quantum field theory of electrodynamics. In essence, it describes how light and matter interact and is the first theory where full agreement between quant ...

and nuclear and

high-energy physics Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the scale of protons and neutrons, while the stu ...

with extremely strong laser fields. In the field of high-precision quantum electrodynamics, his team developed theoretical methods for the search for new physics in order to test established theories with unprecedented precision together with experimental colleagues. For the interaction between

atomic nuclei The atomic nucleus is the small, dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom, discovered in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford at the University of Manchester based on the 1909 Geiger–Marsden gold foil experiment. Aft ...

and X-ray light, his department succeeded in creating a fundamental understanding of nuclear quantum dynamics, both theoretically and experimentally, as well as in providing new applications for controlling the emitted X-ray light and nuclear excitation (nuclear

quantum optics Quantum optics is a branch of atomic, molecular, and optical physics and quantum chemistry that studies the behavior of photons (individual quanta of light). It includes the study of the particle-like properties of photons and their interaction ...

). His work is particularly groundbreaking in the field of physics with extremely strong laser pulses and has opened up new avenues for laser-controlled high-energy physics and laboratory astrophysics. In 2003, Keitel was honoured with the Gustav-Hertz-Preis of the

German Physical Society The German Physical Society (German: , DPG) is the oldest organisation of physicists. As of 2022, the DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 52,220, making it one of the largest national physics societies in the world. The DPG's membership peaked ...

and in 2023 he was awarded the Willis E. Lamb Prize. Members of his group have received over 20 major awards, including eight Otto Hahn Medals for outstanding doctoral theses. More than 30 of them have since been appointed to professorships worldwide.Awards and appointments of group members of the Keitel Department at the MPI for Nuclear Physics
/ref>

Publications (selected)

* Z. Gong, X. Shen, K. Z. Hatsagortsyan, C. H. Keitel, ''Electron slingshot acceleration in relativistic preturbulent shocks explored via emitted photon polarization''
Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, (2023) 225101A slingshot for electrons in astrophysical plasma shocks
* T. Sailer, V. Debierre, Z. Harman, F. Heiße, C. König, J. Morgner, B. Tu, A. V. Volotka, C. H. Keitel, K. Blaum, S. Sturm, ''Measurement of the bound-electron g-factor difference in coupled ions''
Nature 606, (2022) 479-483Quantum electrodynamics tested 100 times more accurately
* K. P. Heeg, A. Kaldun, C. Strohm, C. Ott, R. Subramanian, D. Lentrodt, J. Haber, H.-C. Wille, S. Goerttler, R. Rüffer, C. H. Keitel, R. Röhlsberger, T. Pfeifer, J. Evers, ''Coherent x-ray-optical control of nuclear excitons''
Nature 590, (2021) 401-404Atomic nuclei in the quantum swing
* N. Camus, E. Yakaboylu, L. Fechner, M. Klaiber, M. Laux, Y. Mi, K. Z. Hatsagortsyan, T. Pfeifer, C. H. Keitel, R. Moshammer, ''Experimental evidence for quantum tunneling time''
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, (2017) 023201Measuring time in a quantum tunnel
* V. A. Yerokhin, E. Berseneva, Z. Harman, I. I. Tupitsyn, C. H. Keitel, ''g-factor of light ions for an improved determination of the fine-structure constant''
Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, (2016) 100801
* S. Sturm, F. Köhler, J. Zatorski, A. Wagner, Z. Harman, G. Werth, W. Quint, C. H. Keitel, K. Blaum, ''High-precision measurement of the atomic mass of the electron''
Nature 506, (2014) 467-470
* M. Klaiber, E. Yakaboylu, H. Bauke, K. Z. Hatsagortsyan, C. H. Keitel, ''Under-the-barrier dynamics in laser-induced relativistic tunneling''
Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, (2013) 153004
* A. Di Piazza, C. Müller, K. Z. Hatsagortsyan, C. H. Keitel, ''Extremely high-intensity laser interactions with fundamental quantum systems''
Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, (2012) 1177–1228
* B. King, A. Di Piazza, C. H. Keitel, ''A matterless double slit''
Nature Photonics 4, (2010) 92-94
* H. Hu, C. Müller, C. H. Keitel, ''Complete QED Theory of Multiphoton Trident Pair Production in Strong Laser Fields''
Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, (2010) 080401
* T. Bürvenich, J. Evers, C. H. Keitel, ''Nuclear Quantum Optics with X-Ray Laser Pulses''
Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, (2006) 142501
* M. Fischer, N. Kolachevsky, M. Zimmermann, R. Holzwarth, T. Udem, T. W. Hänsch, M. Abgrall, J. Gruenert, I. Maksimovic, S. Bize, H. Marion, F. Pereira Dos Santos, P. Lemonde, G. Santarelli, P. Laurent, A. Clairon, C. Salomon, M. Haas, U. D. Jentschura, C. H. Keitel, ''New Limits on the Drift of Fundamental Constants from Laboratory Measurements''
Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, (2004) 230802
* C. H. Keitel, ''Narrowing Spontaneous Emission without Intensity Reduction''
Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, (1999) 1307–1310

References

External links

Homepage at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keitel, Christoph Helmut 1965 births Living people 21st-century German physicists German quantum physicists Academic staff of Heidelberg University German theoretical physicists Leibniz University Hannover alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Academic staff of the University of Freiburg Max Planck Institute directors People from Lübeck