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News

A diary of some remarkable events in the Surface Physics group…


International Brain Circulation

2019-Jan-Feb-Mar

  • Lots of coming and going in the surface physics group during the past few months: Jian Xu (a) returns to his home university in Chongqing, China. Zhiyu Zou (b) assumes a post-doc position at the University of Florida. Sebastian © takes off a week from his high-school studies to check out the lab live of physicists. Jakub Holobrádek (d) from TU Brno starts his Erasmus work with us, and so does Martin Štubian (e) and Radek Caesar (sorry, no picture available). Amy Brandt (f) from the University of South Carolina visits us for three months, and Manuel Ulreich (f) from Austria starts his Masters thesis work. It is great to welcome so many fresh faces, and we bid our outgoing colleagues a heartfelt farewell.


Polarons catch editor's eye

2019-Jan-10

The article: Reticcioli et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 016805 (2019)arXiv:1807.05859

Tableau Vivant Challenge

Our best effort 2018-Dec-20

  • Every year a different working group organizes the Institute's Christmas party. This year the Schütz biophysics group came up with a special task: To re-create a famous painting, in the fine tradition of tablau vivant. We have a lot of fun mimicking Lady Liberty, but our efforts are not good enough to win the coveted top prize.


Peter Varga 1946-2018

Peter_Varga 2018-Oct-27

  • With great sadness we announce that our colleague Peter Varga has passed on October 27, 2018. Peter Varga was the founder and longtime head of the Surface Physics Group at the Institute of Applied Physics (IAP), and he shaped it into one of world's leading centers of surface physics. Having retired as Professor at the TU Wien in 2011, he nevertheless remained an active member of our group and also kept contact with our friends in Brno where he had a “PostProf” position at CEITEC.

His funeral took place on Monday, November 5, 2018 in Maria Enzersdorf (Romantikerfriedhof, Grenzgasse 7). The Institute of Applied Physics mourns the loss of a long-time colleague and a good friend!

Peter Varga: Obituary, Nachruf, List of Publications.

Stijn Mertens Moves to Lancaster

2018-October Stijn Mertens

  • Stijn Mertens received a call as senior lecturer to the University of Lancaster, U.K., where he will be part of Energy Lancaster. He has spent 6 years at our institute. Amongst other activities, he built our electrochemistry lab, taught a popular course on electrochemical surface science, and conducted excellent research. We wish you all the best at your new position, Stijn!


Two New Group Members from China

2018-October Zhizhang WangHao Chen

  • This month, two new group members join us from China: Post-doc Zhizhang Wang will work with Martin Setvin on our q+ machine, and Hao Chen, a PhD student from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics is strengthening our surface chemistry expertise. Welcome!


Joint Project with CEITEC Brno

2018-Sept

  • Together with CEITEC Brno we are involved in a so-called H2020 Twinning Project, called 'SINNCE' (Strenghtening Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Research at CEITEC). We are looking forward to a continuing and even more fruitful collaboration with our friends in Brno.


ÖPG Students' Award for Sabrina Mayr

2018-Sept-12 Sabrina Mayr (right) at the Awards Ceremony

  • At the Annual Meeting of the Austrian Physical Society (ÖPG), Sabrina Mayr was awarded the Students' Award for the best master thesis. Her thesis Studies of Few-Monolayer Zirconia Films and Metal Nucleation on Zirconia Surfaces was carried out in the Surface Physics Group. Amongst many other achievements, Sabrina obtained the by far best STM images of zirconia surfaces in the world. One paper based on her work is already in press, further ones will follow. Congratulations Sabrina!


FWF turns 50, and IAP members (and many friends) help celebrating

2018-Sept-8 The Materials Pavillion at FWF Be Open Festival


New Post-doc: Francesca Mirabella

2018-September-03 Francescha


Jan Balajka Defends his PhD Thesis

2018-August-31 Jan Balajka and Miquel Salmeron

  • Jan Balajka successfully defends his PhD thesis entitled “Interaction of Titanium Dioxide Surfaces with Liquid Water” with Prof. Miquel Salmeron from Berkeley acting as a most knowledgeable opponent. Jan passes with distinction, and they both pose for a picture at the UHV system 'Omega' that was Jan's sorrow and joy for the past few years. Congratulations!


The Joys of Attending Conferences

2018-August Happy at AirBnB

  • Our group has a strong showing at this year's ECOSS conference in Aarhus, Denmark. We present many talks, learn a lot of new science, make new friends, and enjoy each other's company.


The Importance of Trace Impurities and how to Avoid them

2018-Aug-24 The cleanest water drop comes from an icicle

  • Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is highly versatile material, used, e.g., for self-cleaning mirrors. When bringing one of its surfaces in contact with water, researchers around the world have observed a structure that was interpreted as ordering of water molecules or caused by carbon dioxide dissolved in the water. Jan Balajka and colleagues of the IAP surface physics group, together with Melissa Hines (Cornell University) could disprove these ideas. They have used what is probably the purest water drop on Earth, created from an icicle in ultrahigh vacuum (see photo). Surprisingly, the TiO2 surface structures turned out to come from trace impurities in the atmosphere such as formic acid, present in concentrations of only 1:1000000000! These results were published in the prestigeous journal Science.

The article in ScienceAbstract with access to full text
Perspective Article by Jeong Young Park
TU Press release in English and German
Media coverage: Der StandardORF ScienceSüddeutsche ZeitungDie WeltDie ZeitSternNew Scientistphys.orgwissenschaft.dechemie.deChemistry World, U.K.ChemEuropeLive Science, U.S.A.Index, HungaryNew Scientist, U.K.Sciences Avenir, FranceBBC Mundoc&en news

The Group Takes a Hike

2018-July-09 At Schneeberg

  • For our 5th Annual Group Outing we take public transport to Puchberg/Schneeberg and hike up to the Edelweisshütte. After a hearty lunch, some more hiking, and a relaxed coffee break, we return to Vienna: full of fresh air, tired, yet with a feeling of great accomplishment. Once again, Michael acted as a most fabulous tour guide.


Visit from UK: Paul

2018-June Paul and Gareth at the RT

  • Paul Ryan from Imperial College London and Diamond Light Source, UK, visits for a few months. He is working with Gareth on the single-atom catalysis project.


Building Bridges with Water Molecules

2018-June-27 Water, water everywhere!

  • Our paper about water adsorption on Fe3O4(001) has been published in PNAS. We are particularly proud of this work it was a very complex problem and it took the best of our capabilities in imaging, spectroscopy and theory to unravel. In the picture you see on of the structures formed in which water molecules adsorb on the surface Fe cations, with additional molecules bridging the gaps in a periodic fashion. Congratulations to all involved!

The paper can be found here: “Water agglomerates on Fe3O4(001)”PNAS (2018)

and the usual brilliant write up from Florian Aigner here: TU Webpage article. It was picked up by news media der Standard, apa

Dr. Daniel Halwidl

2018-June-15

  • Daniel Halwidl successfully defends his PhD thesis entitled “Surface Science Investigations on Single-Crystalline Ruthenates”. In the photo he poses with dissertation advisor Ulrike Diebold, co-advisor Michael Schmid, and external examiner Prof. Niklas Nilius from the University of Oldenburg. Congratulations!


Habilitation Martin Setvin

2018-June-13 Dozent Dr. Martin Setvin

  • Martin Setvin successfully defends his habilitation thesis. Soon he will receive the 'venia legendi', the right to teach and to independently supervise bachelor, master, and PhD theses at TU Wien. Congratulations!


Bakeout

2018-May-09 Zhiyu with his signature sign

  • In order to achieve excellent ultrahigh vacuum, a bakeout of the vacuum chamber is required that can last up several days. Sometimes this makes the security personnel in our building nervous. To prevent them from raising alarm, and calling us – typically in the middle of the night on weekends – Zhiyu designs this most helpful sign.


Spring Kebap: Record Turnout

2018-April-12 Lunch in the park

  • Spring is finally here. Following our annual tradition, we take advantage of one of the first warm days to storm our favorite kebap stand at Naschmarkt. Everyone comes along to hang out at the park and eat.


Vibration Isolation Patent

2018-March-20 High-resolution microscope suspended for vibration isolation

  • The Surface Physics Group has patented a device for suspending a load in a vibration-insulated manner, designed for high-resolution microscopy and nanotechnology. While other similar instruments are usually placed in the basement of a building in a quiet environment, the low-temperature non-contact AFM/STM at the IAP/TU Wien suspended according to the invention delivers excellent performance in spite of its place in the 5th floor of a building in downtown Vienna! The patented vibration isolation system also features accurate levelling even under changing load distribution during operation.

For more information, see the TU press release (English, German), the Youtube movie, article in Der Standard or the Feature in Nature on high-performance microscopy

Visiting Professor from Chongqing, China

2018-March-09

  • Professor Jian Xu (徐健) from the Dept. of Metallurgical Engineering, Chongqing University, joins our surface physics group. Jian will stay with us for one year to get his fingers dirty with UHV-based surface science experiments. A warm welcome!


Two Master Theses Defended

2018-March-19 Jakob and Sebastian with Giada and Michele

  • Jakob Hofinger and Sebastian Moser both pass their final exam. Their masters theses dealt with PLD growth of In2O3 and SrTiO3, respectively, and in both cases Michele and Giada were a big help.

Congratulations to Jakob, Sebastian, and the PLD team!

DPG - Post-deadline Talk

2018-March-14 Melissa Hines during her post-deadline talk

  • Melissa Hines comes all the way from the US to give a super-entertaining talk in front of a fully-packed auditorium during the post-deadline session at the DPG Meeting in Berlin.


DPG - German Physics Society Meeting 2018

2018-March-14 Room mates for a week

  • The surface physics group has a strong presence at this year's Spring Meeting of the DPG in Berlin. We report on our research results in 3 invited talks, 11 contributed talks, and 2 posters. In order to make the trip affordable, some of us bunk up in a big flat.


Gaede-Prize for Gareth Parkinson

2018-March-13 Gareth receives the Gaede Prize

  • Gareth Parkinson is awareded the Gaede Prize at the Spring Meeting of the German Physical Society in Berlin, Germany. This prize is given out annually to a young scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the field of vacuum science and technology.

Congratulations!

Three Group Members Placed Amongst the Top Three

2018-March-01 The Poster Presentation Winners

  • As in previous years the poster introduction session was a special highlight at the Symposium of Surface Science, 3S'18. Based on the creative and entertaining way they presented their scientific results, Honza, Matthias, and Roland scored top points.


Erasmus!!!!!

2018-February-12 Erasmus students from Brno

  • Each year we have the pleasure to host students from TU Brno/CEITEC. David Pokorný, Jakub Urbiš, Tomáš Krajňák, Martin Mikula, and Juraj Bobek have arrived in our lab. We very much look forward to working with our new friends.


Avoiding the Polar Catastrophe

The labyrinth is the way out 2018-Feb-02

* Ionic crystals - materials that are composed of positively and negatively charged ions - can be put into a highly unfavorable situation. When split in half along certain crystallographic directions the electrostatic energy diverges. To alleviate this so-called polar catastrophe, materials can react in a variety of ways. In a recent paper, Martin Setvin and co-workers from the Surface Physics group and from the University of Vienna show the surface of a KTaO3(001) single crystal after cleaving, heating, and exposure to water vapor. Six different mechanisms to compensate polarity are encountered. One of the most pretty solutions, a nano-labyrinth with 4-5 atom-wide walls, is shown in the image on the right.

The article in ScienceAbstract with access to full text
TU Press release in English and German
Media coverage: die PresseAPAWelt der Physik

"JSPS 141st Committee Award" for Peter Varga

Peter Varga 2017-December-4

* During the opening ceremony of the ALC'17 conference in Kauai/Hawaii today Peter Varga received the Award of the 141st Committee on Microbeam Analysis of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS) for (quote) ”… his distinguished contribution on the clarification of surface phenomena by atomic level investigation and the development of novel functional materials.” Congratulations, Peter!

Mandana Joins the Group

2017-December-1 Hanging meniscus.

  • Mandana Azmi starts her appointment at IAP. She will pursue her PhD in electrochemical surface science under the guidance of Stijn Mertens.


Lighting Up the Library

2017-November/December Library Owl with

  • The TU library is celebrating its 30th anniversary. As part of the festivities, some stunning research results are projected onto the big owl that adorns the corner of the library building. The nice work by Stijn Mertens et al. on electrochemical switching of friction was chosen as one of the show cases.


Flora: Mysteries of Tantalate

2017-November-27 Flora with well-deserved flowers

  • Second successfully-defended Masters thesis this month: Flora Poelzleitner worked on “Polarity compensation on KTaO3(001) surfaces”. Her research results were included in our paper on the polar catastrophe, see the news entry above.


Sabrina: Caesar of Zirconia

2017-November-23 Peter, Sabrina, and Michael.

  • Sabrina Mayr successfully defends her Master's thesis on “Studies of Few-Monolayer Zirconia Films and Metal Nucleation on Zirconia Surfaces”. The group and her family celebrate the happy occasion and, in best Italian tradition, place the well-earned laurel wreath on her head.


Kardinal Innitzer Award for Gareth Parkinson

Steven, Christine, Gareth, and Elena Parkinson at the Palace of the Austrian Arch Bishop 2017-November-11

  • For his outstanding habilitation thesis, Gareth Parkinson is awarded the 'Förderpreis' of the Kardinal Innitzer Studienstiftung. The award ceremony took place at the formidable Episcopal Palace, located in the center of Vienna. Gareth's family came all the way from England to celebrate.


Video: Vibration Isolation for High-Resolution Microscopy

Vibration Isolation for the QPlus High-Resolution Scanning Probe Microscope 2017-October-24

  • How to achieve scanning probe microscopy with sub-picometer resolution in the 5th floor of a building in busy downtown Vienna? The Surface Physics Group has devised a solution by suspending the machine from a frame or the ceiling, with highly accurate levelling and a performance that rivals very expensive active vibration control systems, at much lower cost (patent pending). Watch the Youtube movie.


Visiting Professor from Cornell

2017-October-19 Prof. Melissa Hines

  • Prof. Melissa Hines of Cornell University, USA is staying with us this fall. Melissa is a renowned surface chemist and, amongst other things, she is interested in TiO2. We warmly welcome her and wish her - in fact, all of us - a productive stay.


Featuring Polarons: PRX and Nature Reviews

2017-October-15 Nc-AFM of 1x2

  • For a long time the (1×2) reconstruction of one of our favorite materials - rutile TiO2(110) - has puzzled us, and many of our colleagues world-wide. Based on Martin Setvin's beautiful STM/AFM results, our DFT friends at the University of Vienna have figured out that polarons are of essence. Our paper, which appeared in PRX earlier this month, has caught the eye of one of the editors of Nature Reviews.


How to Sputter-Deposit Ultrathin Films

2017-October-06 Sputter source glowing

  • In surface science it is essential to cleanly grow ultrathin films with a carefully-controlled thickness of less than one monolayer. For some materials (zirconium, say), this is difficult: Even though the melting point is exceedingly high, the vapor pressure is low. To circumvent this problem we have refined a UHV-compatible sputter deposition source. Read here how our source works and how well it performs.


Tenure for Gareth Parkinson

2017-September-01 Gareth and his research group

  • We are extremely pleased to learn that Gareth Parkinson has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. He will continue his highly-successful research into the surface science of heterogeneous catalysis together with his growing surface physics subgroup focused on iron oxides.


Erasmus Forever!

2017-July-31 Our Erasmus students at the group outing

  • This year our group hosted again three Erasmus students from TU Brno/CEITEC. As always, it was an extremely pleasant and productive experience for us: Michal Andrýsek worked on the growth of metastable ferromagnetic iron layers, and Tomáš Axman and Mojmír Komora designed and tested a high-pressure cell and a UHV-compatible liquid doser, respectively.


Habilitation for Stijn Mertens

2017-July-10 Habilitationsschrift

  • Stijn Mertens successfully defends his habilitation thesis. This is the last step towards receiving the venia legendi, the right to teach and to officially supervise graduate students at TU Wien. Congrats, Stijn!


Matthias Müllner Gets Married

2017-July-09 Matthias Wedding Band

  • We extend our warmest congratulations to Matthias and Tini, who tied the knot this weekend, and we wish them a great honeymoon trip together with their daughter Sophie.


Zhiyu Zou for Zirconia

2017-July-08 Zhiyu Zou

  • We welcome a new post-doc, Zhiyu Zou, to our group. Zhiyu comes from Trieste, where he worked on graphene-based systems. At TU Wien, he will strengthen our efforts to better understand the fundamental surface properties and chemistry of zirconia.


Group Outing

2017-July-04 Group Hike

  • Now it is seriously a tradition: July has arrived and we need to get out of the city for some fresh air and exercise. Our 4th Annual Group Outing brings us to Payerbach, where we hike in the beautiful mountain area of Lower Austria.


Promotion "sub auspiciis" for Roland Bliem

2017-May-16 Dr. Roland Bliem

  • Roland Bliem graduates with a "promotio sub auspiciis praesidentis rei publicae"”. This honour is based on top academic performance and is awarded to only a handful of PhD students in the whole country. With a GPA of 1.0 (the best grade on Austria's 5-point scale) from high school all the way through his studies at the university, Roland is one of the selected few. A big day for Roland, the institute, and the surface physics group.

TU press release (in German) der standard Tiroler Tageszeitung


Intrepid in Inclement Weather

2017-May-03 Wet at Donauinsel

  • We decide that a barbecue at Donauinsel might be a good idea. Martin Setvin reserves a Grillplatz and brings coal and his young family. It rains a bit. Nevertheless everyone comes out, and we are having a great time.


Florian: A Glorious Finish and A Fresh Start

2017-April-26 Gareth, Florian, and his significant other.

  • Florian Kraushofer successfully defends his Masters thesis, and he has already landed a job: on Monday he will start as a PhD student with Gareth.


Vienna March for Science

2017-April-22 The surface physics group at the March for Science

  • On April 22, people around the world gather to support science and to acknowledge the critical role it plays in each of our lives. Members of the surface physics group & friends do their share by joining the Vienna March for Science.


Igor Joins the Group

2017-April-4 Igor builds new sensors

  • Igor Sokolović has decided to pursue his PhD degree with us. He is supported by the doctoral programme Solids4Fun and will work with Martin Setvin on our new q+ AFM. Here you can see him getting his fingers dirty (well, not in the literal sense) while building sensors for the microscope.


Traditional Spring Kebap

 Kebap at Naschmarkt  Erasmus students trying new maneuvers

2017-March-28

  • Earlier than usual, spring has arrived this year. Temperatures will reach 25°C here in Vienna on the weekend, so we hurry to eat our traditional spring kebap before summer arrives. Our Erasmus students from Brno university meanwhile relax while driving their new car.


Switching Oxygen Molecules On and Off

2017-March-14 The qPlus sensor with the tip at the left

  • The oxygen molecule O2 is chemically inert (except at high temperatures), but becomes reactive when an additional electron gets added. This process happens in biology, catalysis and can be also triggered by light on some surfaces. Martin Setvin of the Surface Physics Group managed to switch oxygen molecules adsorbed at a titanium dioxide surface back and forth between the non-reactive (neutral) and reactive (O2-) state and examine them in detail using non-contact atomic-force microscopy (nc-AFM) with the tiny tip of a so-called qPlus sensor (image). The results were published in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS).

Publication in PNAS
TU Press Release in English and German
Media Coverage: APA · Der Standard · ORF · MyScience · Chemie.de


Tutorial Review on Surface Defects in Bulk Oxides

2017-March-03 photo

  • Some of us write a tutorial review on surface defects on bulk oxides, and how to characterize them with atomically-resolved Scanning Probe Microscopy. The article will be published in the journal Chem. Soc. Rev. Here you see a photo of the authors. (Taking the photo was a bit difficult, as co-author Margareta Wagner is spending a year at the Steinrück group in Erlangen, Nürnberg. With a little help from skype we manage nevertheless.)


TU Ball 2017

2017-January-26 TU Ball 2017

  • Every year our university celebrates its traditional ball at the Hofburg palace. The surface physics group participated enthusiastically, and met up with friends, colleagues, and visitors.


Degree for Iris

2017-January-18 Iris Dorner celebrates her degree

  • Today Iris Dorner finished her Masters studies. In her masters thesis, she helped us to improve our EC-STM, and here we help her celebrate her degree. Congratulations!


Research Funding is A-Comin'

2016-December-23

Happy New Year!

  • In recent weeks, several of our research proposals were approved for funding: The group is part of the consortium of the H2020 project A-LEAF (“An Artifical Leaf: A Photo-electro-catalytic Cell From Earth-Abundant Materials for Sustainable Solar Production of CO2-based Chemicals and Fuels”). In a joint Belgian/Austrian Research Project, Stijn Mertens & friends will investigate the

“Boron nitride nanomesh for actuated self-assembly”, and the WWTF will fund our work on “Modeling and Design of Epitaxially Strained Nanoislands” as part of the 'Mathematics and..' initiative. We are set for a Happy New Year 2017!

Grp Goes Brno

2016-December-7 The Group in Brno

  • A division of TU surface physicists heads out to Brno to inspect the new lab facilities at CEITEC, discuss possible future collaborations, and taste local beers.


Oscar Defends his Dissertation

2016-October-21 Dr. Oscar Gamba with Gareth Parkinson

  • Oscar Gamba, who worked with Gareth for several years, receives his Ph.D. degree Thanks to his research, we now understand the surface chemistry of magnetite much better.


Habilitation Gareth Parkinson

Gareth Parkinson 2016-October-03

  • Gareth Parkinson successfully defends his habilitation and our institute gains a newly-minted 'Dozent'. Congratulations!


Bilge Returns to MIT

2016-August-31 Bilge and Michele

  • Prof. Bilge Yildiz is saying good bye with a nice farewell party. She has been visiting with us for a good (in fact: very good) year. We are sad to see her leave, but have many ideas for continued and future collaborations. Also, Roland will be joining her soon at MIT.


A Big Week for Roland

2016-July-29 Dr. Bliem and his new wife

  • Roland Bliem defends his PhD thesis entitled “Single Metal Adatoms at the Reconstructed Fe3O4(001) Surface”. His paper on Pt dimers appears in PNAS – see the next entry. Most importantly, he just got married!

We wish the beautiful couple much happiness and continued success.

The Pairing and Separation of Pt Atoms

2016-July-28 A Pt dimer at the Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> surface

  • Sintering - the aggregation of catalytically active, metallic nanoparticles into bigger clumps - is one of the major causes of catalyst de-activation. This is particularly important in the emerging field of single-atom catalysis, the main research topic of the START project of Gareth Parkinson. A detailed STM and DFT study, mainly conducted by Roland Bliem, and published in PNAS, shows how single Pt atoms on the Fe3O4(001) surface are made mobile by CO, and how they merge into bigger clusters. Interestingly, the smallest cluster, a Pt dimer, is stabilized by the CO molecules. When the sample is heated, and the CO desorbs, and the two Pt atoms separate again.

Original Publication
TU press release · Der Standard · Tiroler Tageszeitung

Zdenek Jakub

2016-July-16 Zdenek

  • Zdenek Jakub joins the group as new a PhD student. He is no stranger to us, though: Zdenek studied at the TU Brno and already worked with us as an Erasmus student and during his Masters thesis. We are very happy that he joined us now officially!


Making it Stick on the Cover of Nature

2016-June-30

  • The article "Switching stiction and adhesion of a liquid on a solid" by Stijn Mertens et al. is featured on this week's cover of Nature Magazine. The work describes dynamic contact angle measurements of a single drop of 0.1 M HClO4 on a single layer of BN supported on Rh(111). Friction can be changed reversibly by applying an appropriate electrochemical potential that leads to the intercalation of H between BN and the Rh.


The Group Bikes

2016-June-21 In Illmitz (Photo: Daniel Halwidl)

  • This year, our annual group outing brings us to the beautiful area around Neusiedlersee. We bike a lot (some of us even more than others), quench the resulting thirst, taste local foods, hang out in the shade, and a few brave people even go swimming in the lake. Overall, everyone was having a good time.


Christian Doppler Award for Roland Bliem

2016-June-17 LR Martina Berthold, Daniel Rettenwander, Roland Bliem (http://service.salzburg.gv.at/lkorrj/Index?cmd=detail_ind&nachrid=56686)

  • Roland Bliem, a PhD student in our group, has received the Christian-Doppler-Preis 2015 in the category Physics for his work on metal adsorption on the magnetite (001) surface. The Christian-Doppler-Preis is the science award of Roland's home province Salzburg, awarded biennially to researchers under 40 years of age. It is named after the famous physicist Christian Doppler who was born in Salzburg in 1803.

Salzburger Nachrichten
Aktuelles TU Wien


Dr. Stefan Gerhold

2016-June-10 Wolf Widdra, Stefan Gerhold and Ulrike Diebold

* Stefan Gerhold successfully defends his PhD thesis entitled “Surface Reactivity and Growth of Strontium Titanate (110)”. Afterwards he celebrates with examiner Prof. Wolf Widdra, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, and advisor Ulrike Diebold.


Martin^3

Tech Martin, Martin Jr., and Czech Martin 2016-May-16

  • Martin Calkovsky (center) from Brno University of Technology joins us as an Erasmus student for one semester. In order to tell him apart from 'Tech Martin' (left) and 'Czech Martin' (right) we decide to affectionately call him 'Martin Jr.'


Visiting Prof Picks Up Local Traditions

Bilge serves champagne 2016-May-10

  • Bilge Yildiz, our visiting professor, has learned that her latest research results have been accepted for publication in Nature Materials. As is customary in our group, this happy news deserves some serious celebration. Abhorred by the idea of warm champagne, we are quick (perhaps a bit too quick) to help out with a little lN2. The resulting, somewhat unorthodox, state of matter of the celebratory beverage does not prevent us from partying on, with Bilge's group partaking per skype.


PRL Features 30 Years of STM (and we made the list)

2016-May-4


Jake is Done

Jake defends his thesis 2016-April-22

  • Jong Il Jake Choi successfully defends his PhD thesis entitled “Studies of Zirconia Surfaces On the Atomic Scale”. Congratulations, Dr. Choi!


Clusters, Clusters, Everywhere...

TOC 2016-April-18


Spring has Sprung

Kepab at Naschmarkt 2016-April-5

  • First nice day of the year. Following our tradition we venture out to Naschmarkt, where we greet the season with a kebap lunch.


Valuable Addition from Italy

Giada transferring a sample 2016-March-14

  • Giada Franceschi, a physics student from Polimi in Milano joins us for a 6 months. She is working on her Masters thesis, performing growth and surface experiments using our Laser MBE.


Martin Setvin: Ertl Award Finalist

DPG Spring Meeting 2016-March

  • The surface physics group shows a strong presence at this year's Spring Meeting of the German Physics Society in Regensburg, Germany. Most prominently, Martin Setvin is selected as a finalist for the Gerhard Ertl Young Investigator Award, and gives a brilliant talk summarizing his research on fundamental photocatalytic processes. Well done, Martin!


Laser MBE has Arrived

PLD, STM and RHEEd 2016-March

  • The first paper reporting results from our Laser MBE setup will appear soon: Stefan Gerhold et al., “Adjusting Island Density and Morphology of the SrTiO3(110)-(4×1) Surface: Pulsed Laser Deposition Combined with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy” shows what happens during the very initial stages of homoepitaxial growth. Our new toy works well and more exciting results are in the works. Stay posted!


More on Fe3O4

Burgers and Beer 2016-March

  • The manuscript “Fe3O4(110)-(1×3) Revisited: Periodic (111) Nano-Facets” by Gareth Parkinson et al. will appear as a Letter in the journal Surface Science. We celebrate with beer and 'burgers.


Collaborations are Paying Off

2016-March

  • We happily report that four manuscripts have been accepted recently. Each paper has resulted from an extended collaboration. The one entitled “Interplay between steps and oxygen vacancies on curved TiO2(110)” by L. Alejandro Miccio et al., will appear in the journal Nanoletters. Former Post-doc Zhiming Wang is the first author of “Itinerant polaronic carriers in a SrTiO3-based two-dimensional electron gas”, to appear in Nature Materials, and of “Transition from Tetrahedral to Octahedral Coordination for High TiO2 Coverages of the (110) Surface of Strontium Titanate”, which is accepted for publication in Nanoletters. The group of Juan de la Figuera was leading the collaboration on “Co on Fe3O4(001): Towards precise control of surface properties”, published in The Journal of Chemical Physics. Congratulations to all co-authors!


Workshop Celebration

Workshop celebration 2016-February-29

  • Our excellent technicians help Michael with realizing his ingenious ideas. We warmly thank Rainer, Martin, Herbert, and Marie, and we eat lots of cake.


Oleg Gives Pizza Talk

Oleg talks about his university 2016-February-19

  • Our visitor from the prestigious Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Oleg Feya, gives one of our pizza talks. He entertains us with stories about the founding fathers of his university, and explains how the program package USPEX can be used to predict structures.


TU Ball

The dancing part of the surface physics group 2016-January-28

  • Each year our university celebrates its traditional ball in the fabulous Hofburg Palace. Some of us dress up in our finest and go out for a few elegant rounds of Viennese waltz. We meet up and, after a while, we also spot Jiri and his dancing partner prancing through the halls.


How many physicists does it take...

Hard at work Physicists adsorbed on the sofas. 2016-January-26

  • … to assemble an Ikea sofa?


Zbynek Novotny receives Loschmidt Prize

Zybnek Novotny (4th from left 2016-January-19

  • Dr. Zbynek Novotny is one of two recipients of this year's Loschmidt Prize. This prize is awarded annually by the Austrian Chemical Physics Society for an outstanding PhD thesis. Zbynek received his doctorate in 2013 under the guidance of Prof. Ulrike Diebold; his thesis is entitled “The Fe3O4 Surface as an Adsorption Template”. He is currently a post-doc the Pacific Northwest National Lab in Washington State, U.S. Congratulations, Z!

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Archive of Previous Surface Physics News (2006-2015)

surface/news/index.1552239640.txt.gz · Last modified: 2019-03-10 18:40 by Ulrike Diebold