ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

The key aim of the project is to correlate the electronic transport properties of nanoscale metallic contacts with their structure. The electronic transport properties through a metallic contact of atomic dimensions are governed by the atomic structure and by the chemical properties of the contact as well as by the wave nature of electrons. This leads to plateaus of the conductance measured as a function of contact size that do not necessarily correspond to integer multiples of the conductance quantum. I will investigate whether and how atomic as well as electronic shell effects influence the atomic structure of nanoscale metallic contacts. We will measure both electronic transport properties and structural properties concurrently and determine their mutual relation on each individual contact. The contacts will be fabricated by Joule heating a nanowire until thermally assisted electromigration sets in and thins the nanowire to form a contact. The structural properties of these nanocontacts will be studied using scanning force microscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy with atomic resolution in ultrahigh-vacuum. This approach will allow us to use clean superconducting contacts and to exploit superconductivity in order to study the electronic transport properties of the contacts. The electronic transport properties will be studied employing multiple Andreev reflections to determine the number and transmission coefficient of electronic conduction channels. Eventually, a deeper understanding of the relation between structure and electronic transport properties will be obtained which is a prerequisite to tailor the electronic transport properties of nanoscale metallic contacts.

1 513 000 €

Start date: 2010-01-01, End date: 2015-12-31

Evidence demonstrating the presence of mirror neurons in the adult human brain has led many researchers to suggest a fundamental role for the mirror neuron system (MNS) in human mentalizing behavior and social cognition. Recent findings have also suggested strong relationships between MNS impairments and neurodevelopmental disorders in which mentalizing behavior is impaired. In light of this evidence, it has become of paramount importance to understand whether or not the MNS is present at birth and how its functional properties develop throughout infancy. The current project will address these questions within the context of a neuroconstructivist framework, according to which a basic perception-action coupling mechanism would be present from birth, and undergoes a series of refinements through experience and visuomotor learning. Using behavioral, electromyographic and electrophysiological measures, the project aims to investigate action understanding and emotion recognition in newborns and infants. Behavioral looking time and eye-movement paradigms will be used to test infants ability to visually anticipate the action s goal. Electromyographic paradigms will allow for testing of when and how the activation of infants muscles is affected by the goal of the observed action or the emotion expressed by the observed face. Electrophysiological paradigms will be used to investigate modulations of infants EEG activity during the execution and observation of grasping actions.

1 208 400 €

Start date: 2009-12-01, End date: 2015-05-31

The interest in and hence the need for coherent short-wavelength (EUV spectral range) laser sources is rapidly increasing. Potentially, such sources will allow for novel approaches in fundamental science, metrology, imaging, spectroscopy and might even enable new lithographic production techniques. One example is Atto-Science, one of the groundbreaking topics in physical science of the next decade. High harmonic generation (HHG) in noble gases is considered as the most suitable technique to generate spatially coherent EUV light. Unfortunately, the conversion efficiency of HHG is rather small. Furthermore, conventional ultra-short pulse laser sources required for HHG are limited in average power due to thermo-optical problems, therefore, the resulting EUV radiation is characterized by an extremely low number of photons per unit time (average power). Consequently, all the applications of EUV radiation suffer from the lack of powerful coherent light sources in this interesting spectral range, which results extremely long integration or processing times. Ultimately this lack of power make current EUV sources be considered as laboratory curiosities without any relevance for real world applications. The goal of the proposed project is to investigate novel methods to increase the efficiency and the average output power of HHG based EUV light sources. Of outmost importance is the development of efficient, compact and powerful (>3 kW average power) high peak power (>100 MW) ultra-short pulse (<200 fs) laser systems to drive the HHG process. Fiber based amplifiers have the potential to fulfil this parameter range in a compact und ultra-stable manner allowing the generation of EUV radiation outside a specially protected laboratory environment. In summary, the goal of the proposed project is the development of efficient and powerful tailored, meaning application-oriented, EUV light sources.

1 450 000 €

Start date: 2009-11-01, End date: 2013-10-31

Hadrons, the building blocks of all matter in Nature, are not fundamental but composed of quarks and gluons. Up to now we do not know HOW NATURE MAKES HADRONS one of the most important questions of contemporary structure-of-matter physics. Major breakthroughs are to be expected with new experimental facilities such as FAIR. Most studies in hadron physics at HESR/FAIR will employ beams of unpolarized antiprotons, but the most spectacular opportunities will arise for polarized antiprotons the physics case is exceptional. The flag-ship experiment, Drell-Yan production in double polarized proton-antiproton scattering, gives direct access to transversity , the terra incognita of nucleon spin structure. The provision of such beams presents enormous scientific / technological challenges and has never been achieved with intensities sufficient for the crucial experiments. State-of-the-art techniques are capable of producing intensities less than ~10^5 s-1, which cannot be efficiently accumulated. It is the aim of this project to develop an efficient method for POLARIZING ANTIPROTON BEAMS by in-situ build-up in a storage ring. The only viable method to do this effectively is through "spin-filtering" by the repeated interaction of an antiproton beam with a polarized hydrogen gas target in a cooler storage ring. This technique works with protons, but it is not clear how the polarization build-up happens in detail. Spin-filtering needs to be optimized and, in particular, it must be extended to antiprotons. Within the framework of this project, the aim is to provide polarized antiproton beams in a storage ring with at least WITH 10 ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE higher intensity than previously possible. A very experienced team of scientists and engineers is needed, and this is available within my group. We will also strongly benefit from our collaboration partners. Thus, it is a "now or never" opportunity. If successful, a new era will open with fascinating experiments.

2 448 376 €

Start date: 2010-05-01, End date: 2016-04-30