In the first two semesters, you will attend lectures in theoretical and experimental physics as well as seminars. There is a compulsory course in advanced quantum mechanics in the first semester, but most other courses during this phase are electives and can be chosen according to your interests and desired specialisation. The lectures are accompanied by practical classes in which experiments are performed and/or theoretical exercises in which solutions to physics problems are worked out and presented by the students. In addition, you will learn to develop a scientific topic based on existing literature and present it to your fellow students in two seminars. Finally, a few courses of general studies can be freely chosen from the university's complete lecture catalogue. In particular, this includes the possibility to attend German language classes.
In your second year, you will join one of the research groups within the department and work on a supervised individual research project that will form the basis for your Master's thesis. The special skills and knowledge required for the project are acquired during a preparatory phase in the third semester. After completion of the research project, the written thesis will be submitted at the end of the fourth semester. Usually, the thesis work is defended in a colloquium, which consists of a presentation followed by questions.

Course objectives

Degree holders have a deep understanding of the fundamentals of physics and have the qualifications for independent scientific work in research and technology. The special expertise in optoelectronics, materials science, and/or computational physics (depending on the choice of specialisation), represents a key advantage for employment in the optics and electronics industry or in relevant academic institutions. The degree also qualifies graduates to enter PhD programmes in Paderborn or elsewhere.

• International guest lecturers