Roland Sauerbrey received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Würzburg, Germany, in 1981. After a post doc period at the Rice University in Houston, Texas, he became an Assistant Professor at Würzburg University. From 1985 to 1994 he was a member of the Electrical Engineering Faculty at Rice University. In 1994 Dr. Sauerbrey accepted a position as a Professor of Physics at the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena, Germany. simultaneously holds a professorship for quantum optics at the Technical University of Dresden. Dr. Sauerbrey’s scientific work is mainly concerned with the interaction of intense laser light with matter as well as laser development. From 2002 to 2004 he was also the President of the German Physical Society. Since April 2006 he has been the Scientific Director of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and he simultaneously holds a professorship for quantum optics at the Technical University of Dresden. Dr. Sauerbrey’s scientific work is mainly concerned with the interaction of intense laser light with matter as well as laser development.

    At intensities above 10¹⁸Wan^-2relativistic effects start to dominate the interaction of light and matter. Of particular interest is the acceleration of particles by intense laser light. Electrons may be accelerated to GeV engines and protons up to 100 MeV have been generated. Applications of such novel techniques include the development of proton beams for the radiation therapy of cancer, innovative x-ray sources based on Compton-scatting of laser light at a 40 MeV electron beam or even new experiments to explore the dielectric properties of the vacuum.