In the following you will find a selection of open student theses at our chair. Further theses in the mentioned topics are possible on request. Please feel free to contact us!

Please note that there are guidelines (opens in new tab) and LaTeX templates available to help creating presentations, writing reports, Bachelor's or Master's theses.

  • Rational Approximation Algorithms for High-Dimensional Surrogate Modeling

    2026

    Master thesis, HiWi Position, Project

    Supervisors: Dr.-Ing. Moritz von Tresckow, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Herbert De Gersem

    Announcement as PDF

  • VERGEBEN-Apply AI techniques to EMC Field Simulation: A Master's Thesis Opportunity at Bosch

    2026

    Master thesis

    The Challenge: Shrinking mobility electronics with increasing functionality create critical EMC challenges. Complex multi-component systems demand innovative simulation approaches that combine classical field solvers with modern AI techniques.

    The Opportunity: Join Bosch's EMC Expert Team and TU Darmstadt's TEMF Institute to develop AI-enhanced electromagnetic simulation methods for real eBike applications.

    You will:

    • Apply AI/ML techniques to accelerate and improve electromagnetic field simulations

    • Model and simulate production-relevant eBike EMC radiated emission scenarios

    • Master CST Studio Suite and AI frameworks in an industrial context

    • Collaborate with experienced EMC engineers and researchers

    Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Yvonne Späck-Leigsnering

    Announcement as PDF

  • Design of a GUI-Based and Testable Post-Processing Framework for Wakefield Simulations using CST Studio Suite

    2026

    HiWi Position

    To support post-processing of CST Studio Suite results from the Wakefield and Eigenmode solvers, an existing modular MATLAB workflow is extended with graphical user interfaces developed using MATLAB App Designer. The goal is to develop MATLAB GUIs (App Designer) that provide a unified and user-friendly interface for routine analysis (import, evaluation, visualization, export). The implementation will follow clean-code principles and will be complemented by an automated test suite that verifies selected outputs against analytically solvable benchmark cases to ensure long-term reliability and reproducibility.

    Supervisor: Pascal Reinhart , M.Sc.

    Announcement as PDF

  • Software Architecture and Validation of a Modular GPU Ray-Tracing Backend using NVIDIA OptiX

    2026

    Bachelor thesis, Master thesis

    Ray tracing is a central component of geometry-based propagation, as it provides the geometric information required to analyze visibility, intersection points, and reflection paths in complex environments. While the underlying idea is straightforward, the computational cost grows quickly with increasing scene complexity and ray counts, making CPU-based approaches a bottleneck for realistic meshes.

    This work develops and validates a modular GPU-accelerated ray-tracing backend based on NVIDIA OptiX. The backend is designed as an independent software component with clean interfaces and a reproducible data pipeline. It exports SBR-ready geometric path data, including hit/miss information, hit positions, surface normals, primitive/material identifiers, and accumulated path lengths for multi-bounce traces.

    Supervisor: Pascal Reinhart , M.Sc.

    Announcement as PDF

  • Wakefield Simulations of a Beam Collimator Using CST Studio Suite

    2026

    Bachelor thesis, Master thesis, HiWi Position

    Collimators are beamline components used to define the beam aperture and intercept halo particles in order to protect downstream equipment and reduce uncontrolled losses. In this project, electromagnetic wakefields in an existing beam collimator geometry will be studied using CST Studio Suite. The geometry is already available and will be imported into CST for numerical wakefield simulations. The focus is on extracting and analyzing key wakefield quantities such as longitudinal and transverse impedances extract loss and kick factors, shunt impedances, quality factors and resonance frequencies. The simulation outputs will be post-processed using the provided post-processing software in MATLAB.

    Supervisor: Pascal Reinhart , M.Sc.

    Announcement as PDF

  • Reduced magnetic vector potential formulation of the magnetoquasistatic Maxwell equations

    2025

    Master thesis, HiWi Position, Project

    The reduced magnetic vector potential (RMVP) formulation has recently been used to drastically speed up the simulation of accelerator magnets at CERN. The formulation decomposes the magnetic vector potential into several components, depending on the different subdomains of the computational domain. With the currents in a coil being known, it starts by computing a source magnetic vector potential with Biot-Savart's law and proceeds with the corrections towards the total solution. In this process, the magnetostatic Maxwell equations are used.

    Extending the reduced magnetic vector potential formulation to the magnetoquaistatic Maxwell equations is not straightforward. Due to the eddy currents, the current distribution in conducting domains is not known beforehand and depends on the surrounding domain. This causes errors in the total solution. It is expected that an iterative scheme that iterates between the different domains can effectively account for the eddy current effects.

    Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Herbert De Gersem

    Announcement as PDF

  • Modeling of Sputtering Distributions on Cavities with CST Microwave Studio

    2025

    Bachelor thesis, Master thesis, Projectseminar, HiWi Position

    The operation of bulk Nb accelerator cavities is extremely expensive due to the low-temperature helium cooling. It is expected that Nb3Sn-coated cavities and cavities with superconductor-insulator-superconductor layered coatings can be operated with higher fields and higher temperatures, leading to a decrease in power consumption. Such coatings are applied to the cavity via sputtering. However, the sputtering distribution on a complex shape, such as a TESLA cavity, is typically inhomogeneous. This leads to the question of what the influence of inhomogeneous sputtering is on the quality of the cavity. Before attempting to answer this question, we want a way to represent this sputtering distribution in a simulation software standard in the field, namely CST.

    Supervisor: Aaron Gobeyn , M.Sc.

    Announcement as PDF

  • Accelerating and Automating Magnet Design and Simulation with Image Recognition

    2025

    Bachelor thesis, Projectseminar

    Computational engineering and numerical simulations are essential in designing and analyzing accelerator magnets, especially as magnet geometries become more complex. During the early design phase, engineers often need to explore multiple magnet designs quickly for rough quality estimates. However, modeling each design in a sophisticated CAD software can be time-consuming and inefficient, as many ideas will not make it past the initial phase.

    This proposal aims to accelerate the process by leveraging image recognition. You will develop a Python package that can interpret hand-drawn, 2D magnet geometries– recognizing the iron yoke shape and coil wire positions – and convert them into a format compatible with our in-house Biot-Savart-based solver [1] for magnetic field simulations.

    Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Herbert De Gersem

    Announcement as PDF

  • Electromagnetic characterization of nanostructured plasmonic photocathodes

    2025

    Bachelor thesis, Master thesis, Projectseminar

    This project focuses on the numerical characterization of sub-wavelength

    nanostructured photocathodes, which are a promising technology for

    improving photoemission quantum efficiency. By engineering the surface

    of the photocathode with a periodic array of nanogrooves, the structure

    can support a Surface-Plasmon-Polariton (SPP) mode. When coupled with

    an excitation laser pulse, this SPP mode enhances photon absorption,

    resulting in an increase in quantum efficiency (QE) and a reduction in the

    power requirements for the photocathode-laser system.

    This research aims to contribute to the development of more efficient

    electron sources for future applications, particularly in the context of

    high-duty-cycle upgrades at facilities like the European XFEL (EuXFEL).

    Supervisor: Margarita Bulgacheva, M.Sc.

    Announcement as PDF

  • Multiphysical simulation of High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) coils

    2025

    Bachelor thesis, Master thesis

    High-temperature superconductors (HTS) are essential for high-field applications like particle accelerators. Their nonlinear material properties and strong dependence on temperature and magnetic fields make simulations challenging. Accurate modeling is crucial for optimizing HTS conductor designs.

    This thesis aims to implement an electromagnetic simulation of HTS conductors in COMSOL Multiphysics or CST Studio Suite using the T-A or H-ϕ formulation. The focus is on analyzing magnetic field and current distribution under realistic conditions. Depending on the scope, mechanical stress from Lorentz forces may also be investigated to assess coil stability.

    Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Herbert De Gersem

    Announcement as PDF

  • Quantification of magnetic shielding caused by metallic beam pipes

    2024

    Bachelor thesis, Master thesis, Project

    A multitude of devices is required to accelerate charged particles on a closed orbit of a synchrotron ring. A beam pipe separates the vacuumized particle beam trajectory from all other equipment in the tunnel and consists classically of conducting material. Bending magnets apply a strong Lorentz force on the particles which must rise proportionally to the particles’ energy. According to Lenz’ law, unwanted eddy currents are induced in the beam pipe in order to resist the change of magnetic flux density.

    This work aims to quantify this disadvantageous effect of beam pipes on the field quality of bending magnets.

    Supervisor: Dominik Moll , M.Sc.

    Announcement as PDF

  • Simulation of the signal influence by different line configurations

    2024

    Master thesis

    Announcement as PDF

  • Electrodynamic Model of a Pyrotechnical Switch for High Voltage Battery Systems

    2022

    Master thesis

    Introduction: Soon the electromotive market will rapidly grow up. One aspect for this growth is the increase of the energy density of high voltage battery systems. This systems are built up with Li-Ion cells with a module voltage up to 850V. To increase the performance of such systems, the inner resistance of the module has to be as small as possible. As a result, the short circuit current of such High Voltage Batteries reaches up to 20kA. To interrupt such a high short circuit current within 2ms the Pyrotechnical Battery Disconnector was developed by Joyson Safety Systems Aschaffenburg GmbH.

    Task: Development of an electrodynamic model of a pyrotechnical battery disconnector. Transient nonlinear electrodynamic FE simulations to improve the design of the Pyrotechnical Battery Disconnector.

    Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Herbert De Gersem

    Announcement as PDF

  • Numerical Simulation of SRF Gun Coupler Kicks

    2022

    Bachelor thesis, Master thesis, HiWi Position

    At DESY the currently available electron gun is based on a normal conductive copper cavity operated in pulsed mode. It will be replaced by a superconducting variant to enable also CW operation. The required electromagnetic field in the cavity is then excited by a dedicated input-coupler system originating from the well-known TESLA input power coupler. Additional HOM couplers are not considered in the current design phase but may be added if required. Due to the asymmetric coupling of the resonator fields to the external sources the extracted electron beam will observe a parasitic coupler kick which has to be minimized.

    Supervisor: Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Ackermann

    Announcement as PDF

  • Simulation of the electromagnetic properties of accelerator cavities

    2022

    Master thesis

    At DESY in Hamburg the particle accelerator PETRA will be equipped with new rf resonators for the acceleration of the particles. For this reason the electromagnetic properties of these cavities have to be investigated. The 3D electric and magnetic fields can be simulated with numeric tools. And these fields need to be evaluated by post processing to calculate the accelerating and deflecting effects on the charged particle beam.

    Supervisor: Dr. phil. nat. Wolfgang F.O. Müller

    Announcement as PDF

  • Homogenization Technique for the Thermal Simulations of Hollow Conductors

    2025

  • Automated domain decomposition for electric machines with convergence studies

    2025

  • Surface Impedance Boundary Conditions for a Scattered Field Formulation

    2025

  • Finite-Element Electric-Machine Simulations Accelerated by Cheap Surrogates

    2025

  • Numerical Simulation of a Plasmonic Niobium Photocathode for SRF Gun Applications

    2025

  • Predicting Radiated Emissions of eBikes

    2024

  • Modeling and Simulation of Magnetic Coupling in EMC Filters

    2024

  • Entwicklung und Validierung eines EMV-Simulationsmodells für einen neuartigen eBike-Antrieb

    2024

  • Convergence Study of the Updated Reduced Magnetic Vector Potential Formulation

    2024

  • Enabling Quasi-3D Simulations in Pyrit - a finite-element solver in Python

    2024

  • Finite-Element Electric-Machine Simulations Accelerated by Cheap Surrogates

    2024

  • Optimization of a High Voltage Direct Current Cable Joint

    2024

  • Optimization of a 320kV Cable Joint Specimen During Steady State Operation

    2024

  • Simulation of HVDC Cable Joints

    2024

  • Geometry/Topology Optimization in High End Lithography

    2024

  • Modeling and Simulation of Foil Windings

    2024

  • Nonlinear Eddy Current Simulations of Fast Orbit Corrector Magnets

    2024

  • Particle-in-Cell Simulations of an Electron Gun Model using CST

    2024

  • Development of a Multirate Method for Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis in Nonlinear Networks

    2022

  • Modeling and Simulation of Insulation Layers in Superconducting Magnets

    2021

  • Architecture Optimization in Physics-Informed Neural Networks

    2021