Rudolf Schaefer

Prof. Dr.

Rudolf Schaefer received the diploma degree in materials science and the Ph.D. degree in engineering from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany, in 1985 and 1990, respectively. He then joined the IBM Research Center in Yorktown Heights, USA, and the Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, as a Postdoctoral Researcher in 1991 and 1992, respectively. In 1993 he moved to the IFW Dresden where he became head of the Department of Magnetic Microstructures in 2002. In 2011, he was appointed Adjunct Professor for Magnetic Materials at the Institute for Materials Science, Technical University Dresden. His areas of interest span magnetic materials with a focus on magnetic microstructures and domain imaging by Kerr microscopy. He has published more than 240 technical articles in peer-reviewed journals, including book chapters, and he has coauthored the Springer textbook Magnetic Domains together with Alex Hubert. Prof. Schaefer was member of the Technical Committee of IEEE Magnetics  Society from 2008 to 2014 and he was member of the societies Conference Executive Committee since 2015, serving as its chair from 2017 to 2024. In 2013 he was elected Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Magnetics Society. He furthermore is director of the evico magnetics GmbH.

The evico magnetics GmbH was founded in 2006 as spin-off of the Leibniz Institut for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW) Dresden. The main products are: (i) Advanced magneto-optical wide-field Kerr microscope systems for the visualization of magnetic domains and magnetization processes in all kinds of magnetic materials. The Kerr microscopes also serve as magneto-optical magnetometers for the sensitive and local measurement of hysteresis loops by MOKE magnetometry. (ii) High Pressure Milling Vials with a gas temperature monitoring system for the synthesis of magnetic powders and hydrogen storage materials. See evicomagnetics.com for information.

Keynote speech topic:

Magneto-optical microscopy - basics, developments, applications