This thesis would not have attained such a scientific level without the generous
assistance of a large number of people. Thus, I feel indebted to those who have
assisted me and I would like to thank them for their support during the last
years.
First and foremost I want to express my deep gratitude to my adviser Prof. Grasser
for providing me the opportunity to join his research group. Furthermore, he was
always eager to create a stimulating atmosphere and never missed an opportunity
to offer a few encouraging words. Furthermore, it has been a pleasure to
see how a small scientific group, that started from scratch, has achieved
considerable progress in its field, and gained international importance over the
years.
I want to thank Prof. Selberherr and Prof. Langer for providing excellent working
conditions, for the possibility to work at such a prestigious place, and for the
opportunity to attend several international scientific conferences. Furthermore,
I owe gratitude to Prof. Süss, who is willing to serve on my examination
committee.
I am thankful to my numerous colleagues, named individually in the following. First,
I want to thank Franz Schanovsky, who always took the time to discuss
highly challenging and lengthy topics about theoretical physics and let me
participate in his knowledge about first principles codes and numerical algorithms.
Furthermore, I value Paul Wagner’s elaborate comments on linguistic issues and
enjoyed conversations with him about swimming techniques. I have to thank
Oliver Triebl for his altruistic attitude in several situations. In particular, he
assisted me with my operating system and happily joined in philosophical
debates during lunch time. Furthermore, it was a pleasure to work with
Philipp Hehenberger who frequently entered into debates about recent football
games. Special thanks go to Markus Karner, who patiently introduced me to
numerous versions of the Vienna-Schrödinger-Poisson solver. I acknowledge Oskar
Baumgartner and Zlatan Stanojevic for their support during complicated
implementations in the Vienna-Schrödinger-Poisson solver as well as for
their help in preparing programming lectures. Furthermore, I am grateful to
Robert Entner, Martin Wagner, Markus Bina, and Johann Cervenka for their
sustained efforts in complicated computer affairs. I further thank Victor
Sverdlov, who shared his comprehensive knowledge and valuable wisdom to help
resolve some lengthy derivations. Last but not least, I want to name my
long-lasting roommates Martin Vasicek and Stanislav Tyaginov, who never lost
their sense of humor — even when imminent submission deadlines were
looming.
I very much appreciate Prof. Pantelides’ kind offer of a research visit at the
Vanderbilt University in Nashville to gain knowledge about first-principles
simulations in his group. Furthermore, I want to thank Dr. Mittendorfer for his
patient introduction into density functional calculations at the center of
computational material science.
Above all, I want to express my deep gratitude to my family, in particular to my parents, who gave me the possibility to attend a university. They continuously encouraged me during my education and my whole life — even supporting my crazy triathlon ambitions. I also want to thank my friends, especially Johannes Csmarits, who accompanied me during my student days and curiously followed my life as a researcher.