Profil

The task of precise linking of nanodevices to the macroscopic world turns out to be challenging for fundamental physical reasons. Applications, which have been implemented so far, have mostly been discovered by chance and not by systematic development based on the question, what could be the most effective physical control parameter for a desired functionality of the nanostructure.

Consequently, the goal of this collaborative research center is at first to obtain a deep understanding of the interaction of nanostructures with each other and with the macroscopic world. This understanding is a prerequisite of the second goal, namely to gain control over their properties in order to use their intrinsic functionalities in devices or other future applications. The term “control” implies the establishment of a reproducible relation between the variation of an external parameter and the response of the nanostructure. By studying a representative diversity of nanostructures we want to obtain a maximum degree of predictability in the behavior of nanostructures upon external influence. This ability will add a new quality to the research in the field of nanoscience since most of the applications developed so far are single-case solutions with very limited scope to be transferable to modified concepts.