The course presents structure-property relationships in complex materials, such as ferroic crystals, heterostructures and disordered materials.

Because of their aesthetic nature crystals are termed "flowers of mineral kingdom". The aesthetic aspect is closely related to the symmetry of the crystals which in turn determines their optical properties. It is the purpose of this course to stimulate the understanding of these relations with a particular focus on those phenomena occurring in intense light fields as they are provided by lasers.

The properties of crystals, which make up a large part of solid materials, are closely related to the symmetry of their internal structure. The objective of the crystallography lecture is to provide concepts and mathematical fundamentals of symmetry theory, structure-property relationships, and the basic principles of structure determination. Simple crystal structures will be discussed.

The aim is an overview of the different ordering phenomena that occur in materials: magnetic, electrical, mechanical, structural. Special emphasis is placed on a comprehensive definition of the term "ferroic". Novel forms of order, such as multiferroicity, are of particular interest. Their exploration and the material functionalities derived from these are a central theme in our Department.