Profil

The CFN is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the State of Baden-Württemberg and the Universität Karlsruhe (TH) at the Universität Karlsruhe (TH) since July 1st 2001. 25 groups from the Universität Karlsruhe (TH) and 10 groups from the Forschungszentrums Karlsruhe GmbH are participating, leading to a total of about two hundred scientists involved. The CFN comprises four research areas: (A) Nano-Photonics, (B) Nano-Electronics, (C) Molecular Nanostructures und (D) Nanostructured Materials. The projects within these four areas are cooperations between the faculties of Physics, Chemistry, and Electrical Engineering & Information Technology. Background: Structures with dimensions from below one micrometer down to the size of only a few or even single atoms are currently subject of intense research worldwide. These nanostructures (1 nanometer =m) form the basis of a technology referred to as nanotechnology, which is sometimes termed "key technology of the 21st century". As a matter of fact, there are already a number of nanotechnological products on the market, such as highly disperse fluids, emulsions or powders. Besides the mere size reduction leading to behavior different from the bulk, nanostructures can exhibit a number of fundamentally different and novel properties, which simply do not occur in their macroscopic counterparts.