Materials physics

At Karlstad University research in materials physics has a focus on experimental investigations of surfaces, interfaces, nanometer-size structures and nanostructured materials. The research projects comprises basic studies of the fundamental properties and structures of such materials as well as applied research aiming to develop applications, such as solar cells or molecular electronic devices.

Research is pursued in the following areas:
Some examples of current projects are:
• geometric and electronic structures of semi conductor surface and interface
• magnetic layers of semi-conductor surface lager
• nanostructured surfaces
• organic self-organised molecular layers
• thin films of conjugated polymers for solar cell applications
• nanocrystals of zinc oxide
• electric and mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes and nanostructures

The foremost experimental ”in-house” techniques are scanning tunnel microscopy (STM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission and scanning electron microscopy (TEM and SEM) for representing atomic, molecular and mesoscopic scales. The research group uses the national synchrotron light laboratory MAX-lab in Lund to study the electronic and geometric structure of surfaces using photo emission and Röntgen absorption. The experimental studies are complemented with theoretical calculations of the electronic and geometric structures of crystalline surfaces. Possible applications may be found in the area of molecular electronics, semi-conductor components, light diodes, solar cells, passivization of surfaces, surface chemistry, etc.