He is the founding director of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter [de] in Hamburg, Germany[1] and a professor of Physics at the University of Oxford.
[2] He was awarded the 2018 Frank Isakson Prize for his pioneering work on ultrafast optical spectroscopy applied to condensed matter systems.
[3] Cavalleri is known for his application of light to create new states of matter, and especially for the use of terahertz and mid-infrared optical pulses to sculpt new crystal structures.
[10][11] Cavalleri has also been amongst the people who applied the first femtosecond X-ray pulses to condensed matter systems, for example in his studies of photo-induced phase transitions.
[17] The American Physical Society awarded Cavalleri the 2018 Frank Isakson Prize for Optical Effects in Solids "for pioneering contributions to the development and application of ultra-fast optical spectroscopy to condensed matter systems, and providing insight into lattice dynamics, structural phase transitions, and the non-equilibrium control of solids".