TechBlog

The Springer journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry has chosen the Austrian chemist Thomas Lummerstorfer (31) as the recipient of its Best Paper Award 2007. Lummerstorfer’s paper “Monolayers at solid-solid interfaces probed with infrared spectroscopy” discusses an infrared technique which is expected to gain substantial importance in various fields of nanoscience. The winning paper will receive special prominence on an ABC cover. The Award is accompanied by EUR 1,000, sponsored by Springer.

Lummerstorfer’s paper is a review of his work establishing a new sandwich-like optical configuration for the measurement of infrared spectra of thin films and solid-solid interfaces. The study represents the first experimental demonstration of an enhancement effect that was theoretically predicted several decades ago but could never be verified experimentally.

This configuration allows not only the measurements of monolayer infrared spectra on a wide range of metal and nonmetal substrates with greatly improved sensitivity, but also allows reactions and processes taking place at the interface between two solid materials to be monitored spectroscopically.

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Researchers in Israel say they have succeeded in putting a version of the Bible on a chip smaller than a pinhead. Its 300,000 words in Hebrew were inscribed on a silicon surface at the Haifa Institute of Technology.

Scientists say the aim of the project is to increase young people’s interest in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

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