Welcome to the Laboratory of Nanostructures in Matrices

We are interested in the size-evolution of the properties of materials when their size gets very small, in the nanometer scale. We are also interested in the influence that the support, which is isolating these particles from each other, has on these properties.

The particles we consider are composed of a few to a few thousands of metal atoms. In these small metal clusters the band structure characteristic of the bulk metal is not yet formed and they therefore exhibit very interesting properties that are strongly size-dependent. It has been recently shown that small metal clusters can emit light, be catalytically active or have unusual magnetic properties.

We produce mass-selected metal clusters and deposit them in inert matrices under UHV conditions and use techniques such as optical spectroscopy, squid magnetometry or electrical transport measurements to interrogate them.

Contact information

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
Institut de Physique des Nanostructures
PH B - station 3
CH-1015 Lausanne
Switzerland

Phone: +41 21 69 33320, +41 21 69 30302
Fax: +41 21 69 33604
Email: Florence Choulat or Chantal Roulin (secretaries)

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