SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME
PRIORITY: NMP

NANOTECHNOLOGY AND NANOSCIENCES, KNOWLEDGE-BASED MULTI-FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, AND NEW PRODUCTION PROCESSES AND DEVICES

Contract for: 

SPECIFIC TARGETED RESEARCH OR INNOVATION PROJECT

Annex I - “Description of Work”

Project acronym:	GSOMEN
Project full title: 	Growth and Supra-Organization of Transition and Noble Metal Nanoclusters
Proposal no.:	001594

Date of preparation of Annex I:		18/07/2004

1. Project summary 

A combined experimental and theoretical effort is undertaken to clarify (1) the mechanisms of nucleation and growth of bare and coated transition and noble metal nanoclusters, (2) the supra-organization of these nanoparticles in 1D, 2D and 3D super-structures, (3) the structure-properties relationships, with a full exploitation of the peculiar properties of these systems as the ultimate goal.
Bare metal nanoparticles are grown by direct in situ vapour deposition on oxide surfaces in UHV conditions. Coated metal nanoparticles are obtained by synthesis in homogeneous phase either using reverse micelles as nanoreactors or from the aggregation of solvated metal atoms, and subsequently deposited on the substrates. Oxide substrates are nanopatterned with the aim of achieving the full control of the supra-organization of the nanoclusters in different kinds of super-lattices.
Information on the basic metal-support, metal-ligand and nanoparticle-nanoparticle interactions is derived from the interplay of calibrated experiments and first-principle calculations, and is used to build up appropriate inter-particle potentials. These potentials are utilised in molecular dynamics and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of the various growth processes under realistic conditions, from which a direct comparison with actual growth experiments is immediately possible.
Once the structural properties are elucidated, general features of the structure-property relationships will be investigated.
The aim is to achieve control over the size, size distribution, morphology and properties of nanoparticles and super-lattices.

2. Project objectives

The objective of the project is to come to a deeper understanding, control and orientation of the mechanism of
•	nucleation and growth of transition and noble metal nanoparticles
•	supra-organization of the nanoparticles in 1D, 2D and 3D super-structures
•	structure-properties relationships
The ultimate goal is a full exploitation of the peculiar properties of these systems, with special attention to the electronic transport, optical, magnetic and chemical properties.

Two classes of nanoparticles have been selected among the possible ones, as being technologically important and among those whose preparation is most prone to be fully clarified:
•	supported metal nanoclusters, obtained through in situ vapour deposition of atoms or pre-formed clusters on an oxide surface under UHV
•	metal nanoclusters coated by a layer of surfactants, synthesised in the homogeneous phase using reverse micelles as nanoreactors or aggregation of solvated atoms (obtained via metal vapour deposition), and subsequently deposited on metal oxide or HOPG surfaces

The project is subdivided into six Work Packages (WP). WP1 will focus on protocols for substrate preparation. WP2 will focus on protocols for the growth of clusters on oxide surfaces. WP3 will focus on protocols for the growth of coated clusters and particles in homogeneous phase. WP4 will focus on protocols for structure/property relationships. WP5 will be devoted to: (1) the scientific management of the project, including the actions for review and assessment of the project results and their feedback into redefinition of the project operational goals; (2) the administrative management. WP6 will be devoted to the exploitation and dissemination activities.

3. List of Participants#

Partic.Role*	Partic. no.	Participant name	Participant short name	Country	
CO	1	Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche	CNR	Italy	
CR	2	Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia	INFM	Italy	
CR	3	Université Pierre et Marie Curie	UPMC	France	
CR	4	Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique	CNRS	France	
CR	5	Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique	CEA	France	
CR	6	Universität Ulm	UULM	Germany	
CR	7	Max Planck Gesellshaft	MPG	Germany	
CR	8	Universität Graz	UG	Austria	

# All participants enter the project at month 1 and leave at month 36

Pert diagram showing main mutual interactions
between the units

10. Gender issues

objectives:
•	ensure equal educational and professional opportunities
•	facilitate the women staff involvement in the research activity of the consortium, by removing practical and cultural obstacles mainly related to the role of women in the family life
•	promote the women assumption of responsible position in the consortium scientific activity and management
•	attract women scientist to undertake a scientific carrier in this field
	
actions:
Each project partner commits itself to promote gender equality. This effort is already visible in the composition of the proponent groups, which all include women at PhD, researcher or professor/manager level (specifically, about 25% of the permanent staff is composed by women). One of the four WPs is scientifically coordinated by a woman, who will also be a member of the Dissemination and Communication Committee and promote within this Committee activities related to promotion of gender equality. To facilitate the participation of women to the consortium activity, up to 5% of the entire consortium budget will be allocated for this purpose. The consortium will organize a nursery or kindergarten service at each consortium meeting and will pay travel expenses for children in pre scholar age. In case of long term personnel exchanges, the consortium contribution can cover travel, school and accommodation expenses for children in pre scholar or scholar age. The Scientific Committee will mandatory include a woman, that in addition to its scientific and management activity will directly supervise the gender-equality promotion activity and will periodically report to all the project participants (important indicators will be considered the percentage of women among doctoral and post-doctoral students, permanent staff, and among newly recruited permanent staff). In particular, when selecting personnel to be recruited for the development of the project, women will be preferentially considered in case of equal professional value. The consortium will also take care of public image of women in science.
A report about the promotion of gender equality, including statistical data, will be delivered at the end of the project.
We expect an appreciable increase of the women number and contribution in the field at the end of the project, with respect to the initial situation.

Appendix A - Consortium description 

A.1 Participants and consortium

Unit 1 (CNR). Theoretical-experimental unit of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR; http://www.cnr.it/), Italy. CNR is the major Italian research institution. The Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici (IPCF; http://www.ipcf.cnr.it/) consists of more than 80 researchers and is dedicated to the computational and spectroscopic characterization of molecular and solid-state systems. The unit is lead by Dr. A. Fortunelli (Role: Project Coordinator) (Molecular Modeling Laboratory, IPCF, Pisa). Other Principal Investigators: Dr. G. Vitulli (ICCOM, Pisa); Dr. P. Traldi (ISTM, Padova); Dr. L. Pardi ((HF)2-Laboratory, IPCF, Pisa).
Expertise in: parametrization of semi-empirical potentials + electronic structure and properties of metal nanoclusters (Fortunelli) [5-7]; synthesis of coated metals nanoclusters + their deposition on oxide surfaces, starting from solutions obtained by Metal Vapor Deposition (Vitulli) [15]; application of mass spectrometry in different fields and in instrumental developments (Traldi) [17]; EPR measurements on clusters of transition magnetic metals (Pardi) [34].
Contribution: theoretical calculations on model compounds to derive information on basic interactions + derivation of the parameters of metal-support, metal-surfactant/solvent/ligand and nanoparticle-nanoparticle potentials + chemical, electronic, optical and magnetic properties via a band separation analysis (Fortunelli); preparation of ligand-stabilized solvated metal clusters with various associations of metals and ligands (Vitulli); MALDI-TOF characterization of solvated metal clusters (Traldi); EPR measurements on the nucleation and growth of solvated metal nanoclusters (Pardi); DOSY and T2 NMR experiments on ligand-stabilized solvated metal clusters.
Resources. Equipment: a few workstations and PCs; 3 MVD reactors (2 based on the Joule effect, 1 on electron beam); High-Field high resolution EPR spectrometer (12T, 95-300 GHz); 2 MALDI-TOF systems with delayed extraction and post-source decay; NMR VT-spectrometer Varian INOVA 600. Personnel: 7 permanent staff members, 1 post-doc, 3 PhD students. Financial support from Italian CNR and industries.
Short CV of Alessandro Fortunelli. MS in Chemistry 1983 at the Scuola Normale and University of Pisa, Italy. Researcher at Italian CNR since 1984. First Researcher at Italian CNR since 1999. Scientific Activity: Work on the description of the electronic structure of atoms, molecules and solids, with specific attention to methodologies which can allow one to extend the theoretical treatment onto realistic chemical systems. Author of  more than 70 publications on international journals. 16 Invited Talks at Conferences. Invited Professor at Pisa University (Italy) 1988 and Parma University (Italy) 1997. Research Topics: Density-functional theory as applied to the evaluation of electronic properties; First-principles parametrization of semi-empirical Hamiltonians; Decomposition of metal-ligand interaction energies; Theoretical treatment of transition metal nanoclusters and their properties.

Unit 2 (INFM). Theoretical-experimental unit of the Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia (INFM; http://www.infm.it), Italy. INFM carries out fundamental and applied research on the physical properties of atomic, molecular and condensed matter systems. The INFM - National Research Center on nanoStructures and bioSystems at Surfaces (S3) in Modena (http://www.s3.infm.it) aims specifically at understanding and exploiting the role of surfaces and interfaces to design matter and functions at the nanoscale, and involves more than 50 researchers. The unit is lead by Prof. Dr. S. Valeri (Role: Coordinator of Work Package 1) (S3 and Physics Department, University of Modena). Other Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. G. Pacchioni (Role: Member of the Scientific Committee) (INFM-unit-Milano-Bicocca and Department of Materials Science, University of Milano-Bicocca), Dr. R. Ferrando (INFM-unit-Genova and Physics Department, University of Genova), Prof. Dr. G. Granozzi (INFM-unit-Padova and Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Padova).
Expertise in: UHV growth of oxide or metal/oxide layers, and of planar networks of regularly spaced nano-particles (dots or wires) + study of their magnetic and electronic properties (Valeri) [10]; quantum mechanical description of oxide surfaces, metal overlayers, and supported metal nanoclusters, with emphasis on localized phenomena on surfaces, through embedded cluster models or periodic supercell calculations (Pacchioni) [26,30]; static and dynamic simulations of the growth of nanoclusters in the gas phase and of surface growth through atom-atom or molecule-molecule potentials + energy optimization of large clusters (Ferrando) [4,5]; synthesis in UHV of oxide films and their characterization with emphasis on structure, defectivity, strain, oxide-substrate relationship, interfacial geometric structure (LEED, XPD, UPS/XPS) + epitaxial matching determination (XPD) + synchrotron-based characterization of nanostructures (Granozzi) [11].
Contribution: preparation of FIB-patterned MgO and Mo surfaces + growth of Co and Fe aggregates by MBE on defective or nano-patterned MgO substrates + their structural (LEED, XPD, EXAFS) and morphological (STM/AFM) characterization + study of their electronic (UPS/XPS, AES) and magnetic (XMCD, MLDAD) properties (Valeri); quantum mechanical characterization of perfect and patterned or defected surfaces + their interaction with single metal atoms and small clusters + identification of preferred sites for cluster nucleation and growth + spectroscopic and chemical properties of surface defects, supported atoms and clusters, and adsorbed molecules (Pacchioni); generalization of the MD code to metal-support, metal-surfactant/solvent/ligand and nanoparticle-nanoparticle interactions + simulation of the growth of nanoparticles and nanocrystals (Ferrando); preparation of oxide surfaces with controlled distribution of vacancies and/or dislocations, and with controlled strain + growth of metallic nanowires and nanodots exploiting preferential nucleation over anisotropic oxide ultrathin films (Granozzi).
Resources. Equipment: DB system (FEI Strata DB235) including FIB and SEM; MBE, sputter deposition; surface science techniques (VT-STM/AFM, UPS/XPS, XPD, AR-XPS, LEED, FT-IRAS, TPD); Linux clusters (32-processors) and access to supercomputing centers. Personnel: 13 permanent staff members, 2 post-docs, 7 PhD students. Financial support from Italian MIUR, INFM and national and European industries.
Short CV of Sergio Valeri. MS in Physics 1972 at University of Bologna, Italy. Full Professor at University of Modena and Reggio EMilia, Italy since 2002. Topics of research: Electronic and magnetic properties of solid surfaces, interfaces and low-dimensional systems; interaction of energetic particles with solid surfaces; development of electron spectroscopies (including synchrotron radiation); morphology, structure and reactivity of oxide ultrathin layers; transition metals on oxide and metal-ixide multilayers: epitaxy, structure, interfacial reactions, electron correlation, magnetic properties; surface nanopatterning by metal deposition through lithografic or FIB-sculpted masks. Scientific manager of CNR, INFM and MIUR projects in the field of microelectronics and spintronics. In charge of the division “Nanostructured magnetic surfaces and materials” of INFM-S3. Author of 137 papers on international journals.

Unit 3 (UPMC). Unit of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), France, one of the  largest in France. The Laboratoire des Matériaux Mésoscopiques et Nanométriques (LM2N, http://www.sri.jussieu.fr) is part of the section on Condensed Matter and New Materials. The unit is lead by Prof. Dr. M.-P. Pileni (Role: Coordinator of Work Package 3).
Expertise in: fabrication by soft chemistry and collective (organization-induced) properties of nanocrystal self-assemblies with varying size and shape [1] + magnetic supra-organization in the presence of external fields [23]
Contribution: synthesis of 1D, 2D and 3D superlattices made of cobalt or silver nanoparticles obtained in reverse micelles + their XRD, SEM, TEM and AFM/STM characterization + information on basic metal-surfactant/solvent and nanoparticle-nanoparticle interactions + collective properties of super-lattices: optical (UV-vis polarization spectroscopy) and magnetic (SQUID).
Resources. Equipment: SEM, TEM, VT-superconducting magnet (3°K, 7T), STM/AFM, SQUID magnetometer, XRD, UV-VIS-NIR. Personnel: 12 permanent staff members, 3 PhD students. Financial support from various national and international sources.
Short CV of Marie-Paule Pileni. MS in Physical Chemistry 1969 at UPMC, Paris. Full Professor at UPMC since 1990. Topics of research: Colloids Science; Physical Chemistry in Condensed Matter; Nanomaterials: Synthesis, Characterization, Physical Properties and Organization in Mesoscopic scale: Collective Properties; Photochemistry in Gas Phase, Photophysics and Photobiology, Solar Energy, Chemical Modification of Enzymes. Director of the Laboratoire des Matériaux Mésoscopiques et  nanomètriques, LM2N since 2001. More than 300  publications in international journals. 20 chapters in books.Member of Institut Universitaire de France since 1999. Doctor Honoris Causa, Chalmer University, Göteberg, Sweden (2002). Award of Japanese Chemical Society (2001). Langmuir Award, American Chemical Society (2000). Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur (1999).

Unit 4 (CNRS). Theoretical-experimental unit of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France. CNRS is the major French research institution. The Centre de Recherche en Matière Condensée et Nanosciences (CRMCN, http://www.crmcn.univ-mrs.fr./) is based in Marseille. It consists of more than 100 people working on problems of condensed matter and material science. The unit is lead by Prof. Dr. C. Henry (Role: Coordinator of Work Package 2). Other Principal Investigator: Dr. C. Mottet.
Expertise in: nucleation and growth kinetics of supported metal nanoclusters + characterization of their structure, morphology and reactivity (Henry) [2]; atom-atom and tight-binding description of (supported) transition and noble metal clusters (Mottet) [4,5,9,25]
Contribution: information on basic metal-support interactions + nucleation and growth kinetics by Helium diffraction + characterization of structure and morphology in situ by LEED and SFM/ATM or ex situ by HRTEM + growth on defective or patterned surfaces + adsoption sites by in situ FT-IR and MMB (Henry); theoretical description of the growth of magnetic clusters and of their interaction with support and/or ligands through tight-binding approaches (Mottet).
Resources. Equipment: STM/AFM, AES, EELS, TEM + microanalysis, (environmental) HR-TEM, MBRS, surface IR; a few workstations and PCs. Personnel: 7 permanent staff members, several post-docs and PhD students. Financial support from EC and French CNRS and industries.
Short CV of Claude Henry. Research Director (1st class) at CNRS. Research Topics: Nucleation and Growth of metal clusters on oxides surfaces by diffraction of  He atoms (TEAS), Auger Electron Spectroscopy, HRTEM and AFM. Electronic structure of metal clusters studied by EELS; Structure and electronic properties of metal clusters on various substrates by UHV STM; Adsorption and bimolecular reaction kinetics on supported clusters and thin films studied by IR and MBRS. Author of  more than 100 publications. 70 Invited Talks at Conferences (40 International) and 4 International Schools. Chairman of  3 International Conferences. Invited Professor at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale at Lausanne (Switzerland) 1992. Member of the Advisory Board of  5 CNRS laboratories in France. Humboldt Gay-Lussac Research Prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2001).

Unit 5 (CEA). Unif of the Commissariat à L'Energie Atomique (CEA), France. The Département de Recherche Fondamentale sur la Matière Condensée (DRFMC, http://www-drfmc.cea.fr/) is a multidisciplinary structure of more than 400 researchers. The unit is lead by Dr. G. Renaud.
Expertise in: in situ X-ray characterization in UHV of the atomic structure (by in situ GIXS) and the morphology (by in situ GISAXS) of metal nano-particles during their growth on a substrate, and of the substrate surface structure [8,31-32]
Contribution: in situ preparation and characterization (AES, RHEED, LEED, GIXS, GISAXS) of patterned oxide substrates, and of supported metal self-assemblies + determination and analysis of the kinetics of nucleation, growth and coalescence of these particles + GIXS and GISAXS experiments, performed at the European Synchrotron Research Facility (ESRF), to provide detailed morphological parameters such as the exact particle shape (presence of facets …), size and size distribution.
Resources. Equipment: Surface diffraction synchrotron beamline at the ESRF, equipped with in situ GIXS and GISAXS for VT-deposition (200-2500° K), plus ion bombardement, gas introduction, AES, RHEED, quadrupole mass analyser, quantitative LEED, AES. Personnel: 2 permanent staff members, 2 post-docs, 1 PhD student. Financial support from French CEA.
Short CV of Gilles Renaud. 1988 PhD-thesis in solid-state Physics. Postdoctoral fellowship at AT&T Bell Laboratories (U.S.A). Since 1990 researcher at CEA-Grenoble. Research topics: Physics of nanostructures; Surfaces; Interfaces; Molecular Beam Epitaxy; Synchroton Radiation; Ultra-High Vacuum; X-Ray Scattering; X-Ray Absorption. Titles: Researcher, Engineer. Laboratory responsible (SP2M/NRS) (14 persons). Beamline responsible « CRG-Interfaces » at ESRF (15 persons). Instrument responsible (CRG/IF-SUV : surface diffraction) (9 persons). 70 publications in international journals. 50 invited talks to international conferences.

Unit 6 (UULM). Unit of the University of Ulm (Germany). The Section of Surface and Catalysis (http://www.uni-ulm.de/aok/) of the University of Ulm is active in microscopic aspects of surface reactions and growth processes on the atomic scale, nanostructuring, and heterogeneous catalysis. The unit is lead by Prof. Dr. U. Heiz (Role: Coordinator of Work Package 4).
Expertise in: development and application of methods for the synthesis of metal oxide thin films, where the focus is on the formation and characterization of defect sites on the oxide surfaces + preparation of size-selected metal clusters by softlanding mass-selected gas phase cluster ions onto oxide surfaces + in situ study of the chemical, electronic and optical properties by surface analysis techniques (FT-IR, TPR, MBRS, microcalorimetry, MIES, UPS, AES, EW-CRDS) [12]
Contribution: deposition of size-selected near-noble (Pd, Pt) and noble (Ag, Au) metal clusters on SiO2 crystalline layers and on regular and defective MgO surfaces + study of size-dependent chemical, electronic and optical properties.
Resources. Equipment: Cluster source with soft-landing facilities, FT-IR, TDS, MIES, MBRS, AES, UPS, EW-CRDS, Microcalorimetry. Personnel: 4 permanent staff members, 3 post-docs and 4 PhD students. Financial support from Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft, Humboldt Foundation, Swiss National Science Foundation, Landesstiftung Baden-Wüttemberg.
Short CV of Ulrich K. Heiz. 1986-1987: Master’s degree in Physical Chemistry, University of Bern (Switzerland), Institute of Analytical and Physical Chemistry. 1987-1991: Ph.D. degree in Physical Chemistry, University of Bern (Switzerland), Institute of Analytical and Physical Chemistry. Abilitation in Experimental Physics, University of Lausanne (Switzerland), Institute of Physics. Professor at the University of Ulm (Germany). Coauthor of more than 70 scientific papers in refereed journals. Andrew Mellon, Swiss National Science Foundation and Alexander von Humboldt fellowships. Appointed for several professorships (UC Berkeley, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Milwaukee, USA).

Unit 7 (MPG). Unit of the Max Planck Gesellshaft (MPG, http://www.mpg.de/), Germany. The Fritz-Haber-Institut (FHI; www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/)  is one of the major institutes in Germany for the study of surfaces and catalysis. It is divided into five departments (Inorganic Chemistry, Chemical Physics, Molecular Physics, Physical Chemistry, Theory). The Chemical Physics Department is directed by Prof. Dr. H.-J. Freund and consists of about 60 scientists. The unit is lead by Prof. Dr. H.-J. Freund.
Expertise in: development of methods for the growth and characterization of oxide/metal and metal/oxide films + deposition of metal nanostructures on oxide surfaces + chemical, electronic, optical and magnetic characterization of metal and oxide surfaces, and of metal nanoarrays on oxide surfaces [14]
Contribution: preparation and characterization of crystalline SiO2 layers; noble (Au, Ag) and near-noble (Pd, Pt) metal nanocluster deposition on SiO2 surface + their optical, electronic and magnetic properties.
Resources. The group operates 18 multi-purpose UHV machines with capabilities covering basically all relevant surface analytical techniques: ESR, fast IRAS, in situ PM-IRAS and SFG, STM, XPS, EELS, HR-electron spectroscopy at the BESSY II storage ring. Personnel: 22 permanent staff members, 10-15 postdocs, 20-25 PhD students. Financial support from a variety of sources: Max-Planck Society for a large part, but also external (national and international) sources.
Short CV of Hans-Joachim Freund. PhD in 1978 at the University of Cologne. Work at the University of Pennsylvania, as associated professor at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (1983-1987), as full professor at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, where he founded and headed a DFG funded research group on model catalysts (1987-1995), as director (and head of the Department of Chemical Physics ) of the FHI. Adjunct Professor at the Ruhr-Universität in Bochum, and of the Freie Universität, Technische Universität, and Humboldt Universität in Berlin. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Award 1995. Member of the Chemical Sciences Section of the Academia Europea (1996-) and of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1998-). Fellow of the American Physical Society (2001-). He is member of several scientific societies and has published more than 350 scientific papers.

Unit 8 (UG). Unit of the Karl-Franzens University at Graz (Austria). The Surface Science group (http://surface-science.uni-graz.at/frame_introduction.htm) at UG is active in interdisciplinary research on surfaces, interfaces and thin films. The unit is lead by Prof. Dr. F. P. Netzer.
Expertise in: growth and characterization of the atomic level structure of oxide films + fabrication of oxide nanostructures on metal surfaces by self assembly + study of the formation of defects on oxide surfaces + application of scanning probe techniques to insulating surfaces + synchrotron-radiation-based spectroscopies + phonons of oxide nanostructures by HREELS [13]
Contribution: preparation of strained, stepped and defective oxide surfaces + characterization of these oxide surfaces at the atomic level + characterization of the metal-oxide interface with a view towards the physical and chemical parameters controlling the self-assembly process.
Resources. Equipment: 8 UHV systems with facilities for STM, VT-STM, LEED, SPA-LEED, UPS/XPS, ARUPS, HR-XPS, HREELS, IPES, TDS, SAM. Personnel: 4 permanent staff members, 2-3 post-docs,  typically 5 PhD students.
Short CV of Falko P. Netzer. 1971 PhD-graduation at the University of Innsbruk (Austria). Since September 1991 full professor of Experimental Physics at UG. Research Topics: Surface and Interface Physics. Author of  more than 280 publications. 50 Invited Talks at International Conferences, more than 300 lectures at conferences. Guest scientist at FHI, University of Munich (Germany), Maryland (USA), National Bureau of Standards, Surface Science Division (USA), University of Osnabrück (Germany), University of California-Berkeley (USA). Sandoz Price for “Investigations on the interactions of gases with solid surfaces” (1977). Award of title: Extraordinary University Professor at University of Innsbruck (1986). President of the Austrian Physical Society (2001-2002).