Research Bio

Michael W. Zuerch is a physical chemist whose research investigates ultrafast spectroscopy, quantum materials, and nanoscale dynamics. He is best known for developing X-ray and optical techniques to study electronic and structural dynamics in real time, revealing how materials respond to light and extreme conditions. Zuerch’s lab integrates ultrafast optics, nanoscience, and materials physics to probe quantum phenomena and guide the design of next-generation materials for energy and information technologies. His scholarship advances the frontiers of ultrafast science and condensed matter physics.

He is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley and Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Zuerch has received numerous awards, including the Bessel Prize (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation), the Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the Fresnel Prize (European Physical Society) and DOE Early Career funding. At Berkeley, he leads a lab in attosecond science and quantum materials research.

Research Expertise and Interest

collective phenomena in material, chemical material dynamics in surfaces and interfaces, symmetry-broken states and their emergence in condensed-phase systems, dynamical properties in artificial and correlated superlattices, ultrafast spectroscopy from THz to X-rays