Research Programs, Initiated and Expired

The FHI first entered a transitional phase in which lone director Heinz Gerischer bore sole responsibility for the reorientation of the Institute. Nevertheless, an update of the Institute charter, finalized in 1974, established a pivot point for the organizational changes to come later. According to the revised charter the FHI comprised three sub-institutes an Institute for Physical Chemistry, under Gerischer, Block and Moliere an Institute for Electron Microscopy under Ruska and an Institute for Structure Research under Hosemann and Uberreiter. Which is to say, the new structure was practically identical to the one proposed in the context of deliberations over Brill s successor. 

5 Frisch, Goodall, Greenhow, Holzwarth, Knight, Single-Photon. 

Measurements taken on adsorbate coated electrodes led to the identification of superlattices, which allowed researchers to infer the geometrical position of chemisorbed molecules. Active in this field were Karsten Horn, TUexander Bradshaw (see below) and Harm Hinrich Rotermund, who would accept an offer to become Professor for Physics at Dalhousie University in Halifax in 2003. Ultimately, through this line of research, the binding sites, degree of dissociation and spatial position, as well as the lateral movement and reorientation of molecules such as CO, O2 and N2 adsorbed on metal or semiconductor surfaces could be explained. 

As shown by the sundry endeavors just described, Gerischer pursued electrochemical research with an uncommonly diverse range of methods. He thereby shaped his department into a hub for catalysis research true to the new orientation of the Institute. In spite of health problems, Gerischer would remain affiliated with the FHI after going emeritus in 1987. 

The main focus of Block s interests was the behavior of surfaces in strong electric fields, which he explored using field emission phenomena, especially field-ion microscopy and field-ion mass spectrometry. Field desorption permitted inferences regarding the electronic properties of surfaces and surface adsorbates, and the atomic scale resolution of the technique allowed very precise local analysis of crystallographically well-defined surfaces. However, it required that the substrate be manufacturable in the appropriate form, i.e. thin, sharp needles. Also, since the photoexcitation of field-ion formation using light, synchrotron radiation or laser pulses (photofield emission) evinced no penetrating power, it was treated as 

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