First Workshop of the ESF Programme

Electron Induced Processing at the Molecular Level (EIPAM)

Programme | List of Participants | Accommodation

Welcome to this the first workshop of the ESF Programme on Electron Induced Processing at the Molecular Level (EIPAM). The Programme has been active since July 2004 with the first EIPAM Fellows being appointed in September and the first short exchange visits having taken place. However this workshop is the first opportunity to bring together the major partners involved in the programme to discuss the scientific policy of the programme (the initial meeting of the Steering group held in Lyons in June 2004 being a purely administrative action). Each of the main partners will present a review of their research and discuss its future direction. The meeting will also provide the opportunity for discussing which EU research groups that would benefit from being invited to participate in the programme.

The Workshop is arranged in sessions which reflect the scope of the programme including both experimental and theoretical research. The meeting will conclude with my own Professorial inaugural lecture to which I am delighted to welcome colleagues and friends !

The meeting will also include the Second meeting of the Steering Committee at which our ESF co-ordinator Ms Chantal Durant will be present to discuss administrative arrangements and budgetary issues.

Scientific Summary
The ability to understand, manipulate and control physico-chemical processes at the molecular level is one of the great challenges of modern research and underpins the development of vibrant new technologies of the 21st century, for example the development of nanolithography. Such single molecule engineering requires selective bond cleavage in target molecules to allow subsequent management of the local site chemistry. Recent research has revealed that it is possible to influence the excitation and dissociation of molecules through the manipulation of electron interactions at the individual molecular level. Since electrons are ubiquitous in nature and electron induced reactions (in the gaseous phase, on surfaces and in the condensed phase) initiate and drive the basic physical-chemical processes in many areas of science and technology from industrial plasmas to living tissues our ability to control electron interactions provides exciting new opportunities that can now be exploited by both the research and technological communities. For example, the development of the Scanning Tunnel Microscope (STM) -an electron emitter- has introduced the capability of atomic-scale imaging, analysis and individual atomic/molecular manipulation providing a new technology that has the opportunity to revolutionize the scientific approach in many aspects of both the material and life sciences.

Currently several European groups are at the forefront of such pioneering research but, in contrast to the USA and Japan, the European research effort is fragmented and coordination is rudimentary or absent. The present ESF programme Electron Induced Processing at the Molecular Level (EIPAM) has been designed to bring together Europe´s leading experimental and theoretical groups in a large-scale, multidisciplinary and collaborative research programme that will both maintain its international excellence and establish Europe as the centre for investigations of molecular control through electron processing with direct relevance in many areas from the basic sciences to industrial applications.

Nigel Mason Chair EIPAM Programme

Accommodation

Delegates will be staying at:
The Peartree Bridge Hotel, Waterside, Peartree Bridge, Milton Keynes, MK6 3PE. Tel 01908 691515. Fax 01908 247982. Click for Map.