The Department of Surface and Nanostructures Physics (S&NP) carries out research on the science and technology of low-dimensional metallic nanostructures (quantum wells, quantum wires and atomic chains) grown on highly ordered Si vicinal surfaces.
Low dimensional metallic systems refer to those systems in which at least one of the three dimensions is roughly below 10 nm (1nm =1/1000 μm). Examples of low dimensional metallic systems are 2-dimensional ultra-thin films, nanowires, and atomic chains. The dimensional constraint on the system gives rise to quantum size effects, which can significantly change the energy spectrum of electrons. As a consequence the modified behavior of the nanostructures may result in their use in wide range of nanotechnology.
Our research activity is focused on production of nanostructures and description of the morphology and the electronic states in the nanostructures. To this aim we use following experimental techniques: Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED), Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM), Angle-Resolved Photo-Electron Spectroscopy (ARPES) and in-situ (in UHV conditions) surface resistivity measurements.
We perform the Density Functional Theory (DFT) simulations of crystalline and electronic structures and analyze the results to determine nature of the nano-systems.
