Project acronym COMBINE
Project From flies to humans combining whole genome screens and tissue specific gene targeting to identify novel pathways involved in cancer and metastases
Researcher (PI) Josef Martin Penninger
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUT FUER MOLEKULARE BIOTECHNOLOGIE GMBH
Country Austria
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS4, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary Cancer care will be revolutionized over the next decade by the introduction of novel therapeutics that target the underlying molecular mechanisms of the disease. With the advent of human genetics, a plethora of genes have been correlated with human diseases such as cancer the SNP maps. Since the sequences are now available, the next big challenge is to determine the function of these genes in the context of the entire organism. Genetic animal models have proven to be extremely valuable to elucidate the essential functions of genes in normal physiology and the pathogenesis of disease. Using gene-targeted mice we have previously identified RANKL as a master gene of bone loss in arthritis, osteoporosis, and cancer cell migration and metastases and genes that control heart and kidney function; wound healing; diabetes; or lung injury Our primary goal is to use functional genomics in Drosophila and mice to understand cell transformation, invasion, and cancer metastases of epithelial tumors. The following projects are proposed: 1. Role of the key osteoclast differentiation factors RANKL-RANK and its downstream signalling cascade in the development of breast and prostate cancer. 2. Requirement of osteoclasts for bone metastases and stem cell niches using a new RANKfloxed allele; function of RANKL-RANK in local tumor cell invasion. 3. Role of RANKL-RANK in the central fever response to understand potential implications of future RANKL-RANK directed therapies. 4. Integration of gene targeting in mice with state-of-the art technologies in fly genetics; use of whole genome tissue-specific in vivo RNAi Drosophila libraries to identify essential and novel pathways for cancer pathogenesis using whole genome screens. 5. Role of TSPAN6, as a candidate lung metastasis gene. Identification of new cancer disease genes will allow us to design novel strategies for cancer treatment and will have ultimately impact on the basic understanding of cancer, metastases, and human health.
Summary
Cancer care will be revolutionized over the next decade by the introduction of novel therapeutics that target the underlying molecular mechanisms of the disease. With the advent of human genetics, a plethora of genes have been correlated with human diseases such as cancer the SNP maps. Since the sequences are now available, the next big challenge is to determine the function of these genes in the context of the entire organism. Genetic animal models have proven to be extremely valuable to elucidate the essential functions of genes in normal physiology and the pathogenesis of disease. Using gene-targeted mice we have previously identified RANKL as a master gene of bone loss in arthritis, osteoporosis, and cancer cell migration and metastases and genes that control heart and kidney function; wound healing; diabetes; or lung injury Our primary goal is to use functional genomics in Drosophila and mice to understand cell transformation, invasion, and cancer metastases of epithelial tumors. The following projects are proposed: 1. Role of the key osteoclast differentiation factors RANKL-RANK and its downstream signalling cascade in the development of breast and prostate cancer. 2. Requirement of osteoclasts for bone metastases and stem cell niches using a new RANKfloxed allele; function of RANKL-RANK in local tumor cell invasion. 3. Role of RANKL-RANK in the central fever response to understand potential implications of future RANKL-RANK directed therapies. 4. Integration of gene targeting in mice with state-of-the art technologies in fly genetics; use of whole genome tissue-specific in vivo RNAi Drosophila libraries to identify essential and novel pathways for cancer pathogenesis using whole genome screens. 5. Role of TSPAN6, as a candidate lung metastasis gene. Identification of new cancer disease genes will allow us to design novel strategies for cancer treatment and will have ultimately impact on the basic understanding of cancer, metastases, and human health.
Max ERC Funding
2 499 465 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-01-01, End date: 2013-12-31
Project acronym CRYTERION
Project Cryogenic Traps for Entanglement Research with Ions
Researcher (PI) Rainer Blatt
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAET INNSBRUCK
Country Austria
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE2, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary Quantum computers offer a fundamentally new way of information processing. Within the scope of this proposal, quantum information processing with an ion trap quantum computer will be investigated. With the new combination of cryogenic technology and ion traps for quantum computing we intend to build a quantum information processor with strings of up to 50 ions and with two-dimensional ion arrays for an investigation of deterministic many-particle entanglement. The cryogenic traps will be applied for quantum simulations, for fundamental investigations concerning large-scale entanglement and for precision measurements enhanced by quantum metrology techniques employing entangled particles.
Summary
Quantum computers offer a fundamentally new way of information processing. Within the scope of this proposal, quantum information processing with an ion trap quantum computer will be investigated. With the new combination of cryogenic technology and ion traps for quantum computing we intend to build a quantum information processor with strings of up to 50 ions and with two-dimensional ion arrays for an investigation of deterministic many-particle entanglement. The cryogenic traps will be applied for quantum simulations, for fundamental investigations concerning large-scale entanglement and for precision measurements enhanced by quantum metrology techniques employing entangled particles.
Max ERC Funding
2 200 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-12-01, End date: 2013-11-30
Project acronym DARE
Project Soil Foundation Structure Systems Beyond Conventional Seismic Failure Thresholds: Application to New or Existing Structures and Monuments
Researcher (PI) George Gazetas
Host Institution (HI) NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS - NTUA
Country Greece
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary The main goal of the proposed research is to investigate the possibility of allowing below-ground support systems to respond to strong seismic shaking by going beyond a number of thresholds that would conventionally imply failure and are today forbidden by codes. Such thresholds include : (a) sliding at the soil-foundation interface ; (b) separation and uplifting of a shallow foundation from the soils ; (c) mobilization of bearing capacity failure mechanism for shallow foundations ; (d) structural yielding of pile foundations ; (e) combination of some of the above. Whereas under static loading conditions a slight exceedance of such thresholds leads to failure, the oscillatory nature of seismic shaking will allow such exceedances for a short period of time, with perhaps no detrimental or irreparable consequences. The latter take the form of permanent foundation displacements, rotations, or injuries , which the designer will aspire to confine within rational limits. The motivation and the need for this research has come from : (i) observations of actual behaviour in a variety of earthquakes ; conspicuous examples : the permanent tilting , overturning, and often survival of numerous buildings on extremely soft soil in Adapazari during the Kocaeli 1999 earthquake ; (ii) the foundation design of a number of critical structures (e.g., major bridge pier, air control tower, tall monuments, elevated water tanks,) against large seismic actions ; the disproportionately large overturning moment and/or base shear force of such slender structures can hardly be faced with today s conventional foundation methods, (iii) the need to seismically retrofit and rehabilitate older structures and historical monuments; (iv) structural yielding of pile foundations is now detectable (thanks to technological advances), thus eliminating one of the reasons for avoiding it.
Summary
The main goal of the proposed research is to investigate the possibility of allowing below-ground support systems to respond to strong seismic shaking by going beyond a number of thresholds that would conventionally imply failure and are today forbidden by codes. Such thresholds include : (a) sliding at the soil-foundation interface ; (b) separation and uplifting of a shallow foundation from the soils ; (c) mobilization of bearing capacity failure mechanism for shallow foundations ; (d) structural yielding of pile foundations ; (e) combination of some of the above. Whereas under static loading conditions a slight exceedance of such thresholds leads to failure, the oscillatory nature of seismic shaking will allow such exceedances for a short period of time, with perhaps no detrimental or irreparable consequences. The latter take the form of permanent foundation displacements, rotations, or injuries , which the designer will aspire to confine within rational limits. The motivation and the need for this research has come from : (i) observations of actual behaviour in a variety of earthquakes ; conspicuous examples : the permanent tilting , overturning, and often survival of numerous buildings on extremely soft soil in Adapazari during the Kocaeli 1999 earthquake ; (ii) the foundation design of a number of critical structures (e.g., major bridge pier, air control tower, tall monuments, elevated water tanks,) against large seismic actions ; the disproportionately large overturning moment and/or base shear force of such slender structures can hardly be faced with today s conventional foundation methods, (iii) the need to seismically retrofit and rehabilitate older structures and historical monuments; (iv) structural yielding of pile foundations is now detectable (thanks to technological advances), thus eliminating one of the reasons for avoiding it.
Max ERC Funding
2 399 992 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-12-01, End date: 2013-10-31
Project acronym GEMIS
Project Generalized Homological Mirror Symmetry and Applications
Researcher (PI) Ludmil Katzarkov
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Country Austria
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary Mirror symmetry arose originally in physics, as a duality between $N = 2$ superconformal field theories. Witten formulated a more mathematically accessible version, in terms of topological field theories. Both conformal and topological field theories can be defined axiomatically, but more interestingly, there are several geometric ways of constructing them. A priori, the mirror correspondence is not unique, and it does not necessarily remain within a single class of geometric models. The classical case relates $\sigma$-models, but in a more modern formulation, one has mirror dualities between different Landau-Ginzburg models, as well as between such models and $\sigma$-models; orbifolds should also be included in this. The simplest example would be the function $W: \C \rightarrow \C$, $W(x) = x^{n+1}$, which is self-mirror (up to dividing by the $\bZ/n+1$ symmetry group, in an orbifold sense). While the mathematics of the $\sigma$-model mirror correspondence is familiar by now, generalizations to Landau-Ginzburg theories are only beginning to be understood. Today it is clear that Homologcal Mirror Symmetry (HMS) as a categorical correspondence works and it is time for developing direct geometric applications to classical problems - rationality of algebraic varieties and Hodge conjecture. This the main goal of the proposal. But in order to attack the above problems we need to generalize HMS and explore its connection to new developments in modern Hodge theory. In order to carry the above program we plan to further already working team Vienna, Paris, Moscow, MIT.
Summary
Mirror symmetry arose originally in physics, as a duality between $N = 2$ superconformal field theories. Witten formulated a more mathematically accessible version, in terms of topological field theories. Both conformal and topological field theories can be defined axiomatically, but more interestingly, there are several geometric ways of constructing them. A priori, the mirror correspondence is not unique, and it does not necessarily remain within a single class of geometric models. The classical case relates $\sigma$-models, but in a more modern formulation, one has mirror dualities between different Landau-Ginzburg models, as well as between such models and $\sigma$-models; orbifolds should also be included in this. The simplest example would be the function $W: \C \rightarrow \C$, $W(x) = x^{n+1}$, which is self-mirror (up to dividing by the $\bZ/n+1$ symmetry group, in an orbifold sense). While the mathematics of the $\sigma$-model mirror correspondence is familiar by now, generalizations to Landau-Ginzburg theories are only beginning to be understood. Today it is clear that Homologcal Mirror Symmetry (HMS) as a categorical correspondence works and it is time for developing direct geometric applications to classical problems - rationality of algebraic varieties and Hodge conjecture. This the main goal of the proposal. But in order to attack the above problems we need to generalize HMS and explore its connection to new developments in modern Hodge theory. In order to carry the above program we plan to further already working team Vienna, Paris, Moscow, MIT.
Max ERC Funding
1 060 800 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-01-01, End date: 2013-12-31
Project acronym MEDIGRA
Project Mechanics of Energy Dissipation in Dense Granular Materials
Researcher (PI) Ioannis Vardoulakis
Host Institution (HI) NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS - NTUA
Country Greece
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary Granular materials are of interest to different fields of the physical sciences and engineering. To model their behaviour, either a solid- or fluid mechanics approach is used. Rather than deforming uniformly, granular fluids develop thin shear-bands, which mark areas of flow, material failure and energy dissipation. The MEDIGRA project proposes a thorough experimental, theoretical and numerical study of the Mechanics of Energy DIssipation in dense GRAnular materials. The fundamental challenge faced by the project is to quantify the various energy dissipation mechanisms in dense granular materials using innovative thermo-poromechanical experiments. The measured characteristics are expected to lead to the formulation of appropriate analytical and numerical tools aimed to describe the mechanical behaviour of granular materials from the rigorous angle of energetics. In particular, the project proposes to: 1) Design, develop, install and exploit a novel Thermographic High Speed Cylinder Shear Apparatus (THSCSA) to study the properties of the mechanical and thermal boundary layer that is forming at the inner rotating-drum material interface, as well as determining the required thermographic properties of granular materials. 2) Convincingly quantify the way the total energy dissipation is split into heat production, grain breakage and other mechanisms, using the project-developed THSCSA apparatus and other advanced experimental apparatuses. 3) Develop physical models and robust numerical tools capable of incorporating the experimentally obtained dissipation characteristics. 4) Test the knowledge acquired within the project in two applications (shear segregation and landslide modelling). The project aims to advance our knowledge on the basic physics behind long-standing open problems such as the “heat-flow paradox” in earthquake mechanics, the lifetime prediction of imminent catastrophic landslides and the applicability of continuum approximations to segregation phenomena.
Summary
Granular materials are of interest to different fields of the physical sciences and engineering. To model their behaviour, either a solid- or fluid mechanics approach is used. Rather than deforming uniformly, granular fluids develop thin shear-bands, which mark areas of flow, material failure and energy dissipation. The MEDIGRA project proposes a thorough experimental, theoretical and numerical study of the Mechanics of Energy DIssipation in dense GRAnular materials. The fundamental challenge faced by the project is to quantify the various energy dissipation mechanisms in dense granular materials using innovative thermo-poromechanical experiments. The measured characteristics are expected to lead to the formulation of appropriate analytical and numerical tools aimed to describe the mechanical behaviour of granular materials from the rigorous angle of energetics. In particular, the project proposes to: 1) Design, develop, install and exploit a novel Thermographic High Speed Cylinder Shear Apparatus (THSCSA) to study the properties of the mechanical and thermal boundary layer that is forming at the inner rotating-drum material interface, as well as determining the required thermographic properties of granular materials. 2) Convincingly quantify the way the total energy dissipation is split into heat production, grain breakage and other mechanisms, using the project-developed THSCSA apparatus and other advanced experimental apparatuses. 3) Develop physical models and robust numerical tools capable of incorporating the experimentally obtained dissipation characteristics. 4) Test the knowledge acquired within the project in two applications (shear segregation and landslide modelling). The project aims to advance our knowledge on the basic physics behind long-standing open problems such as the “heat-flow paradox” in earthquake mechanics, the lifetime prediction of imminent catastrophic landslides and the applicability of continuum approximations to segregation phenomena.
Max ERC Funding
981 600 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-11-01, End date: 2011-10-31
Project acronym NEURONAGE
Project Molecular Basis of Neuronal Ageing
Researcher (PI) Nektarios Tavernarakis
Host Institution (HI) IDRYMA TECHNOLOGIAS KAI EREVNAS
Country Greece
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS4, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary Ageing is associated with marked decrease of neuronal function and increased susceptibility to neurodegeneration, in organisms as diverse as the lowly worm Caenorhabditis elegans and humans. Although, age-related deterioration of the nervous system is a universal phenomenon, its cellular and molecular underpinnings remain obscure. What mechanisms are responsible for the detrimental effects of ageing on neuronal function? The aim of the proposed research programme is to address this fundamental problem. We will implement an interdisciplinary approach, combining the power of C. elegans, a highly malleable genetic model which offers a precisely defined nervous system, with state-of-the-art microfluidics and optical imaging technologies, to manipulate and monitor neuronal activity during ageing, in vivo. Our objectives are four-fold. First, develop a microfluidics platform for high-throughput manipulation and imaging of specific neurons in individual animals, in vivo. Second, use the platform to monitor neuronal function during ageing in isogenic populations of wild type animals, long-lived mutants and animals under caloric restriction, a condition known to extend lifespan from yeast to primates. Third, examine how ageing modulates susceptibility to neuronal damage in nematode models of human neurodegenerative disorders. Fourth, conduct both forward and reverse genetic screens for modifiers of resistance to ageing-inflicted neuronal function decline. We will seek to identify and thoroughly characterize genes and molecular pathways involved in neuron deterioration during ageing. Ultimately, we will investigate the functional conservation of key isolated factors in more complex ageing models such as Drosophila and the mouse. Together, these studies will lead to an unprecedented understanding of age-related breakdown of neuronal function and will provide critical insights with broad relevance to human health and quality of life.
Summary
Ageing is associated with marked decrease of neuronal function and increased susceptibility to neurodegeneration, in organisms as diverse as the lowly worm Caenorhabditis elegans and humans. Although, age-related deterioration of the nervous system is a universal phenomenon, its cellular and molecular underpinnings remain obscure. What mechanisms are responsible for the detrimental effects of ageing on neuronal function? The aim of the proposed research programme is to address this fundamental problem. We will implement an interdisciplinary approach, combining the power of C. elegans, a highly malleable genetic model which offers a precisely defined nervous system, with state-of-the-art microfluidics and optical imaging technologies, to manipulate and monitor neuronal activity during ageing, in vivo. Our objectives are four-fold. First, develop a microfluidics platform for high-throughput manipulation and imaging of specific neurons in individual animals, in vivo. Second, use the platform to monitor neuronal function during ageing in isogenic populations of wild type animals, long-lived mutants and animals under caloric restriction, a condition known to extend lifespan from yeast to primates. Third, examine how ageing modulates susceptibility to neuronal damage in nematode models of human neurodegenerative disorders. Fourth, conduct both forward and reverse genetic screens for modifiers of resistance to ageing-inflicted neuronal function decline. We will seek to identify and thoroughly characterize genes and molecular pathways involved in neuron deterioration during ageing. Ultimately, we will investigate the functional conservation of key isolated factors in more complex ageing models such as Drosophila and the mouse. Together, these studies will lead to an unprecedented understanding of age-related breakdown of neuronal function and will provide critical insights with broad relevance to human health and quality of life.
Max ERC Funding
2 376 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-05-01, End date: 2015-04-30
Project acronym QIT4QAD
Project Photonic Quantum Information Technology and the Foundations of Quantum Physics in Higher Dimensions
Researcher (PI) Anton Zeilinger
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Country Austria
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE2, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary One of the most important developments in modern physics was the recent emergence of quantum information science, which by its very nature is broadly multidisciplinary. It was started by investigations of the foundations of quantum mechanics, and fundamental quantum concepts, most notably, entanglement, play a key role. We are now at an historic moment where a major qualitative step, both in developing a new technology and applying it to new fundamental questions, can be made. In this proposal, we aim to combine the investigation of fundamental questions with the development of micro-optics technology to reach a new level of both quantum information experiments and fundamental tests of quantum mechanics. We propose to utilize the advanced development of micro-optics to build novel integrated quantum optics photonic chips. High quality micro-optics will allow precise control over many properties, including birefringence, dispersion, periodicity, and even absorptive properties. We will combine this with novel highly efficient detectors, hopefully, in the long run, also integrated into the same microchips. By their very nature, the new multi-mode devices will make new higher-dimensional regions of Hilbert space and new types of multi-photon entanglement accessible to experiment. Such devices will enable many new fundamental investigations of quantum mechanics, such as, to give just one example, exploring quantum complementarity both between different numbers of photons and as a function of Hilbert space dimension with significant mathematical implications. Most importantly, we are convinced that many new ideas will arise throughout the project. The new integrated quantum optical chips will also be important in quantum computation, specifically with cluster states and similar complex quantum states. With these chips, we will realize multi-qubit procedures and algorithms and demonstrate the feasibility of all-optical quantum computation in realistic scenarios.
Summary
One of the most important developments in modern physics was the recent emergence of quantum information science, which by its very nature is broadly multidisciplinary. It was started by investigations of the foundations of quantum mechanics, and fundamental quantum concepts, most notably, entanglement, play a key role. We are now at an historic moment where a major qualitative step, both in developing a new technology and applying it to new fundamental questions, can be made. In this proposal, we aim to combine the investigation of fundamental questions with the development of micro-optics technology to reach a new level of both quantum information experiments and fundamental tests of quantum mechanics. We propose to utilize the advanced development of micro-optics to build novel integrated quantum optics photonic chips. High quality micro-optics will allow precise control over many properties, including birefringence, dispersion, periodicity, and even absorptive properties. We will combine this with novel highly efficient detectors, hopefully, in the long run, also integrated into the same microchips. By their very nature, the new multi-mode devices will make new higher-dimensional regions of Hilbert space and new types of multi-photon entanglement accessible to experiment. Such devices will enable many new fundamental investigations of quantum mechanics, such as, to give just one example, exploring quantum complementarity both between different numbers of photons and as a function of Hilbert space dimension with significant mathematical implications. Most importantly, we are convinced that many new ideas will arise throughout the project. The new integrated quantum optical chips will also be important in quantum computation, specifically with cluster states and similar complex quantum states. With these chips, we will realize multi-qubit procedures and algorithms and demonstrate the feasibility of all-optical quantum computation in realistic scenarios.
Max ERC Funding
1 750 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-01-01, End date: 2013-12-31
Project acronym QUANTUMPUZZLE
Project Quantum Criticality - The Puzzle of Multiple Energy Scales
Researcher (PI) Silke Buehler-Paschen
Host Institution (HI) TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN
Country Austria
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE3, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary Matter at the absolute zero in temperature may reach a highly exotic state: Where two distinctly different ground states are separated by a second order phase transition the system is far from being frozen; it is undecided in which state to be and therefore undergoes strong collective quantum fluctuations. Quantum criticality describes these fluctuations and their extension to finite temperature. Quantum critical behaviour has been reported in systems as distinct as high-temperature superconductors, metamagnets, multilayer $^3$He films, or heavy fermion compounds. The latter have emerged as prototypical systems in the past few years. A major puzzle represents the recent discovery of a new energy scale in one such system, that vanishes at the quantum critical point and is in addition to the second-order phase transition scale. Completely new theoretical approaches are called for to describe this situation. In this project we want to explore the nature of this new low-lying energy scale by approaches that go significantly beyond the state-of-the-art: apply multiple extreme conditions in temperature, magnetic field, and pressure, use ultra low temperatures in a nuclear demagnetization cryostat, and perform ultra-low energy spectroscopy, to study carefully selected known and newly discovered heavy fermion compounds. Samples of outstanding quality will be prepared and characterized within the project and, in some cases, be obtained from extrenal collaborators. New approaches in the theoretical description of quantum criticality will accompany the experimental investigations. The results are likely to drastically advance not only the fields of heavy fermion systems and quantum criticality but also the current understanding of phase transitions in general which is of great importance far beyond the borders of condensed matter physics.
Summary
Matter at the absolute zero in temperature may reach a highly exotic state: Where two distinctly different ground states are separated by a second order phase transition the system is far from being frozen; it is undecided in which state to be and therefore undergoes strong collective quantum fluctuations. Quantum criticality describes these fluctuations and their extension to finite temperature. Quantum critical behaviour has been reported in systems as distinct as high-temperature superconductors, metamagnets, multilayer $^3$He films, or heavy fermion compounds. The latter have emerged as prototypical systems in the past few years. A major puzzle represents the recent discovery of a new energy scale in one such system, that vanishes at the quantum critical point and is in addition to the second-order phase transition scale. Completely new theoretical approaches are called for to describe this situation. In this project we want to explore the nature of this new low-lying energy scale by approaches that go significantly beyond the state-of-the-art: apply multiple extreme conditions in temperature, magnetic field, and pressure, use ultra low temperatures in a nuclear demagnetization cryostat, and perform ultra-low energy spectroscopy, to study carefully selected known and newly discovered heavy fermion compounds. Samples of outstanding quality will be prepared and characterized within the project and, in some cases, be obtained from extrenal collaborators. New approaches in the theoretical description of quantum criticality will accompany the experimental investigations. The results are likely to drastically advance not only the fields of heavy fermion systems and quantum criticality but also the current understanding of phase transitions in general which is of great importance far beyond the borders of condensed matter physics.
Max ERC Funding
2 100 043 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-06-01, End date: 2015-05-31
Project acronym SEPON
Project Search for emergent phenomena in oxide nanostructures
Researcher (PI) Falko Netzer
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAET GRAZ
Country Austria
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE4, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary Oxide nanostructures in low dimensions on well-defined metal surfaces form novel hybrid systems with tremendous potential and impact in fundamental research and for the emerging nanotechnologies. The focus of the project is on the fabrication of two-, quasi-one-, and quasi-zero-dimensional oxide nanostructure model systems suitable for elucidation of their emergent properties in terms of structure, electronics, magnetism, and catalytic chemistry. This will be achieved by controlled self-assembly in ultrahigh vacuum, with atomic-scale precision, and in-situ characterisation employing the full palette of modern surface science methodology. Established kinetic preparation routes as well as a new approach to steer the self-assembly via external fields will be applied to the growth of a variety of transition metal oxides on suitable substrate surface templates. The stabilisation mechanism of polar oxide surfaces in nanoscale oxide objects, the catalytic chemistry of a nanoscale inverse model catalyst consisting of oxide nanowires coupled to an array of one-dimensional metal step atoms, and the magnetic properties of a surface-supported oxide quantum dot superlattice will be among the emergent phenomena to be probed in this project. Such fundamental questions will be addressed in a close collaboration between state-of-the-art experimental and theoretical techniques. The possibility to separate dimensionality from nanoscale effects made possible by the model systems created here will add an extra dimension in the understanding of oxide nanophase systems.
Summary
Oxide nanostructures in low dimensions on well-defined metal surfaces form novel hybrid systems with tremendous potential and impact in fundamental research and for the emerging nanotechnologies. The focus of the project is on the fabrication of two-, quasi-one-, and quasi-zero-dimensional oxide nanostructure model systems suitable for elucidation of their emergent properties in terms of structure, electronics, magnetism, and catalytic chemistry. This will be achieved by controlled self-assembly in ultrahigh vacuum, with atomic-scale precision, and in-situ characterisation employing the full palette of modern surface science methodology. Established kinetic preparation routes as well as a new approach to steer the self-assembly via external fields will be applied to the growth of a variety of transition metal oxides on suitable substrate surface templates. The stabilisation mechanism of polar oxide surfaces in nanoscale oxide objects, the catalytic chemistry of a nanoscale inverse model catalyst consisting of oxide nanowires coupled to an array of one-dimensional metal step atoms, and the magnetic properties of a surface-supported oxide quantum dot superlattice will be among the emergent phenomena to be probed in this project. Such fundamental questions will be addressed in a close collaboration between state-of-the-art experimental and theoretical techniques. The possibility to separate dimensionality from nanoscale effects made possible by the model systems created here will add an extra dimension in the understanding of oxide nanophase systems.
Max ERC Funding
2 026 800 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-12-01, End date: 2013-11-30
