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THIN FILMS, SURFACES AND INTERFACES

Techniques based on photoemission are extremely surface sensitive and are thus very well suited to study ultrathin films and surfaces, providing a typical information depth of a few nanometers. The element selectivity of photoemission makes it also a powerful tool for studies of interfaces.

Examples of photoemission studies range from fundamental electronic properties of nanoparticles or graphene to stability of industrial coatings under different temperature and gas environments.

 

CATALYSIS

In the NAPP station, the characterization capabilities of X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (sample chemistry and electronic structure) are extended from the UHV regime to a background pressure up to 20 mbar, enabling the study of gas-solid and gas-liquid interfaces. Some applications are in-situ characterization of heterogeneous catalysts, corrosion processes, wetting, etc.

 

NANOMAGNETISM

There is an ongoing quest to improve microelectronic elements based on magnetization in order to reduce size and energy consumption while keeping short read/write times and long-term stability. Magnetic PEEM (e.g. using the circular and/or linear dichroism effect) permits mapping the element specific magnetization state with very high spatial resolution and constitutes thus a valuable tool in the search for novel materials for information storage.

 

ENERGY

Many materials relevant for energy applications (fuel cells, photovoltaics, hydrogen storage, etc.) are based on subtle modifications of well-known materials or combinations of them. The details of the chemistry and/or electronic properties like e.g. band alignment of such materials can be studied by photoemission spectroscopy and microscopy.