The international workshop DIET16 is the 16th edition of a highly successful conference series that serves as an important platform for researchers in the field of surface science to discuss their latest research results and to exchange new ideas. When first initiated in 1982, the conference acronym translated to “Desorption Induced by Electronic Transitions”. Over the decades, the DIET meetings were always at the forefront of surface science, picking up pioneering research directions in this area. In 2012, the international steering committee decided that this evolution should also be reflected in the title of the conference series, and, since then, internationally leading surface scientists meet every two years under the title “Dynamics, Interactions and Electronic Transitions at Surfaces”.
Following the above tradition, the DIET16 will cover cutting-edge research topics at the intersection of Physics and Chemistry, namely:
- (Photo-) catalysis and photochemistry
- Optical and electronic properties of nanoscale materials and structures
- Functionality in molecule/metal/semiconductor hybrid systems
- Non-equilibrium phenomena on atto- and femtosecond timescales
Importantly, these research areas are not isolated entities, but strongly rely on interaction with the wider community, as only collaboration with and feedback from neighbouring fields can ensure future progress. For instance, in photochemistry and catalysis, a recent breakthrough was achieved by applying ultrafast spectroscopy to understand the elementary steps of CO oxidation on ruthenium surfaces [1] and to study the dielectron hydrogen evolution reaction in water splitting [2,3]. On the other hand it was shown that a hybrid system of adsorbate molecules and nanoparticles can significantly enhance CO2 reduction [4]. In fact, it is the overlap of the above-mentioned research topics, their related or even similar scientific questions, experimental and theoretical approaches, that define the scope of the conference as discussed in the following.
The electronic structure of materials (soft and solid matter) determines not only their electronic properties, but also their optical, magnetic, and thermal characteristics. It is, thus, crucial to characterize and understand both, occupied and normally unoccupied electronic states of solids, nanoparticles, and molecules for almost any modern application. For example, the alignment of frontier molecular orbitals with metal or semiconductor bands critically determine the charge and energy transfer across hybrid interfaces and, therefore, the functionality of opto-electronic devices and solar cells [5,6]. Charge transfer processes are also crucial for photochemical and photocatalytic processes, where the energy transferred by the carriers is used to drive chemical reactions [7].
Closely related to this are plasmonic excitations, particularly in nanostructures, which have achieved major scientific attention in recent years [8,9]. Here, nanoscale objects are used to confine optical excitations and electric fields to significantly smaller dimensions than the diffraction limit. This approach enables researchers to apply high electric fields to enhance chemical reactions [10], to perform single-molecule spectroscopy [11], and to build nanoscopic devices [12] relevant for, for instance, information technology.
All these scientific challenges and questions are closely associated with non-equilibrium phenomena in the respective system that occur on ultrafast timescales. Understanding the ground state of a system is important; for a complete comprehension and ability to manipulate and control interface properties, its excited states need to be recognized and governed. The necessity of this control becomes most obvious when discussing light-matter interactions as for example in the 2D transition metal dichalcogenites [13,14], but it is also required for electrochemically relevant interfaces [15] as well as in organic materials [16].
Notably, in all the above-mentioned research topics, the last two years have led to significant scientific progress, reflected in numerous publications of our invited speakers in high-ranking journals. This involves, for instance, ultrafast dynamics and electronic coupling at surfaces and interfaces [5,17-19], light-matter interaction plasmonics [8,9,12-14], photochemistry and –catalysis at interfaces [2,7,10,20,21], as well as recent progress in attosecond spectroscopies [22-25]. It is needless to say that the above topics require state-of-the-art experimental and theoretical approaches that provide great sample control, highest spatial and temporal resolution techniques sensitive to surfaces and interfaces, as well as atomic scale, ab initio, and time-resolved calculations. Moreover, interaction and collaboration between the world-leading experts in these fields is essential. The DIET16 is an ideal and, importantly, timely platform to develop, extend, and maintain such network between established and emergent scientists in the field.
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