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Nanoscale analysis
Overview:
Researching the nanometer scale is currently
of great relevance in many branches of modern science and engineering.
As nanoscience and nanotechnology develop, powerful nanodiagnostic
tools capable of recording chemical information with exquisite spatial
resolution will become increasingly important.By combining scanning near-field optical microscopy
- the "optical member" of the family of scanning probe microscopies
- with optical spectroscopy, it is possible to obtain molecular
information from sample areas as little as 50 nm in diameter. SNOM
is based on a subwavelength light source that is scanned above the
object of interest at a distance of a few nm. In the optical near
field, the illuminated area is not limited by diffraction, but merely
by the size of the illumination source. An attractive feature is
that SNOM experiments can be carried out at ambient conditions.
We are using high quality SNOM probes with high optical throughput
produced by chemical etching methods.
Techniques:
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Questions
that are being addressed with these methodologies include the
determination of the composition of thin solid films, the characterization
of novel materials, the investigation of biological objects in
their natural environment, and the study of chemical reactions
on supported catalysts.
Personnel:
Dr. Thomas Schmid joined our group in
2005 as a Postdoc for the SNOM project. Having
done his Ph.D. in Munich he is experienced in laser
spectroscopy, fiber optics and the investigation of
biological samples. In
2007 he got appointed as senior research associate and lecturer. |
Dr. Maryia Nudnova obtained PhD in Moscow Institute of Physics and
Technology, followed by a scientific researcher at in MIPT. She has
joined the group in May 2011 and is now working on the SNOM-MS project. |
Roman M. Balabin started his Ph.D. in November 2008 after obtaining a M.Sc. at Gubkin Russian State University of Moscow. Roman is experienced in molecular spectroscopy (IR, Raman, and SFG), physical and quantum chemistry (stereochemistry, intermolecular interaction), and surface science. He has also participated in research projects in Göttingen (group of M. Suhm), Heidelberg (M. Grunze), and Basel (J.P. Maier). |
Liang Zhu received a master degree in nanoscience from the University of Ulm in germany and worked as a material analyst at AMD Dresden, before he started a Ph.D. thesis in our group. His knowledge in nano-optics helps him working in the SNOM-MS project. |
Lothar Opilik received the M.Sc. in chemistry from the ETH Zurich. After carrying out his master thesis on photophoresis of aerosol particles at the TU Munich he started his PhD in our group in October 2009. |
Johannes Stadler Johannes Stadler started his Ph.D. in November 2007. During his diploma thesis in Meixner group at Tübingen he acquired experience with Raman microscopy. Currently, his works includes Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy on inorganic samples and Tip-Enhanced Full Spectroscopic Imaging of opaque samples using a new type of top illumination TERS System. Additionally, confocal Raman spectroscopy, AFM and STM analysis are part of his active projects. |
Carolin Blum has received her diploma in chemistry from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. During her diploma thesis she worked on new separation techniques for carbon nanotubes and their low-wavenumber Raman signals. She joined our group in March 2011 for her PhD studies in the field of TERS on biological samples. |
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Contact:
Dr. Thomas Schmid, schmid@org.chem.ethz.ch
Dr. Maryia Nudnova, nudnova@org.chem.ethz.ch
Roman M. Balabin, balabin@org.chem.ethz.ch
Johannes Stadler, stadler@org.chem.ethz.ch
Liang Zhu, zhu@org.chem.ethz.ch
Carolin Blum, blum@org.chem.ethz.ch
Prof. Dr. Renato Zenobi, zenobi@org.chem.ethz.ch
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