KARSTEN POHL

Assistant Professor, Physics Department and Materials Science Program
Undergraduate Director, Department of Physics

(603) 862-4197
(f) (603) 862-2998
9 Library Way, Durham, New Hampshire 03824
E-mail: karsten.pohl@unh.edu karsten.pohl (at) unh edu

http://pico.unh.edu/

Expertise:

Experimental Condensed Matter Physics, Surface Science, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Scientific Instrumentation Development

Professional Interests:

My area of research in condensed matter physics is experimental surface science at the nano-scale. The field is driven by the quest for smaller, faster, brighter and longer-lived in the development of electronic, magnetic, and photonic devices resulting in ever greater miniaturization and growing importance of surfaces, interfaces, and thin films as surface- to-volume ratios increase. The physical properties of low- dimensional structures are in general very different from those of bulk matter. If at least one dimension of such structures is small enough that quantum-mechanical effects become important, their electronic, magnetic, and catalytic behavior is particularly fascinating. Our research involves the study of the interplay of electronic, vibrational and structural surface properties at the atomic scale.

In one of our NSF funded research projects e.g. we are exploring the driving forces in self-assembly, a powerful natural method for the growth of nanodevices on strained crystal surfaces. Here we are in particularly interested in the kinetics and thermodynamics of nanostructure formation. Specific measurement techniques in ultra-high vacuum include atomic resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and photoelectron spectroscopy utilizing synchrotron radiation sources. My research group is also involved in the development and construction of scanning probe microscopes for imaging at the nanoscale.

Education

1997	Ph.D. in Physics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
1990	Diplom in Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany

Publications

2003	Stability of Nanostructures at Metal Surfaces K. Pohl Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, published by Marcel Dekker, Inc. (2003)
2003	Multilayer thermal expansion of Be(0001) determined from surface core level shifts A. Baraldi, S. Lizzit, K. Pohl, P. Hofmann, S. de Gironcoli Europhysics Letters 63 (2003) 364
2001	Direct Observation of Misfit Dislocation Glide on Surfaces J. Figuera, K. Pohl, O. Fuente, A. Schmid, N. Bartelt, C. Carter, R. Hwang Physics Review Letters 86 (2001) 3819
1999	Vibrations of a two-dimensional vacancy island crystal in a strained metal film K. Pohl, J. Figuera, M. Bartelt, N. Bartelt, J. Hrbek, R. Hwang Surface Science 433-435 (1999) 506
1999	Identifying the forces responsible for self-organization of nanostructures at crystal surfaces K. Pohl, M. Bartelt, J. Figuera, N. Bartelt, J. Hrbek, R. Hwang Nature 397, (1999) 238 (featured in Scientific American, p.26, April 1999)
1998	Anomalously Large Thermal Expansion at the (0001) Surface of Beryllium without Observable Interlayer Anharmonicity K. Pohl, J.H. Cho, K. Terakura, M. Scheffler, E.W. Plummer Physics Review Letters 80, 2853 (1998)