Research at PDI is carried out in interdisciplinary Core Research Areas (CReAs), in which scientists, engineers and technicians from the four departments collaborate for a certain period of time on a common scientific topic. Currently, the institute operates five Core Research Areas, which can be divided into three methodically driven called Nanofabrication, Nanoanalytics, and Nanoelectronics, and three topically driven called III-V Nanowires for Optoelectronics, Control of Elementary Excitations by Acoustic Fields, and Intersubband Emitters: GaAs-based Quantum-Cascade Lasers.