Empa Colloquia, Seminars & Events

Numerous structures have been developed in electrical engineering to help the radiation of electromagnetic waves at microwave frequencies. In this presentation, Olivier Martin Professor at EPFL describes the functioning principles of plasmonic antennas and their fabrication.

Low-dimensional assemblies, where order and organization follow supramolecular principles, have assumed remarkable importance due to their outstanding physical and/or chemical properties. An easy method to produce tailored functional materials combines self-assembly and Langmuir-Blodgett assembly. In this talk Petra Rudolf illustrates how this new approach allows the deposition of graphene on a variety of substrates.

The protection of metals and alloys against corrosion is a major issue in many respects including, but not limited to, scientific and technical aspects. In his lecture Philippe Marcus shows how a surface science approach contributes to provide a detailed understanding of corrosion at the nanoscale. The emphasis will be placed on the growth, structure and corrosion protection properties of ultrathin oxide layers formed on metals and alloys in aqueous solution.

Materials like Bi-Sb alloys, Bi2Se3 or Bi2Te3 have been known and studied for decades, mostly for their interesting thermoelectrical properties. They are insulators with relatively small band gaps, which are opened by the spin-orbit interaction. Recently, it was recognized that the topology of the electronic states separated by this gap is non-trivial. Jürg Osterwalder gives an introduction to the new aspects of these materials.

The field of printed electronics or organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) has been identified by both industry and academia as an interesting area to pave the way towards new applications in electronics such as flexible displays or low cost RFID tags. In his talk, Marcel Kastler discusses the latest material generations for the fabrication of display backplanes.

Transport emissions are on the increase - more than in any other industrial sector. In his talk, Prof Sausen presents QUANTIFY, a project in which scientists studied and quantified the impact of transport on the composition of the atmosphere, on clouds and on climate.

Spin is a fundamental quantity in quantum mechanics. Andreas J. Heinrich from IBM Research, Almaden, shows how a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) can be used to study the dynamic evolution of individual spin systems on surfaces on time scales ranging from pico- to nanoseconds.

Biomimetics wants to enhance technology with the introduction of ideas derived from biology. But there is no proof that the technical systems work in the same way as the biological ones. Tiny innovations such as Gecko adhesive or Velcro are not going to lead to a revolution. Prof Julian Vincent from University of Bath explains, why a wider vision is needed.

In seiner Antrittsvorlesung als Professor für Photonik an der ETH Zürich spricht Empa-Direktor Gian-Luca Bona über die Möglichkeiten der Datenübertragung in optischen Netzwerken und über die physikalischen Probleme bei Baukomponenten und -systemen, wenn diese nur noch wenige Nanometer gross sind.

Third generation synchrotrons provide an average X-ray brightness 109 times that of a laboratory source, making trivial many experiments which were formerly impossible. But standard short-wavelength synchrotron light is also incoherent and limited. Prof. Bruce D. Patterson from PSI presents the operating principle for a national XFEL facility, the SwissFEL.