CeNS, the Center for NanoScience at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, was founded to invest in this future. CeNS aims at interdisciplinary research on objects artificially tailored on the nanometer scale - new tools to support a future nanotechnology. Furthermore, it offers a wide educational program. The University of Munich with its large science base offers ideal conditions for such research activities. The synergetic interaction between different departments makes up CeNS: the emergence into the Nanoworld.
CeNSational Expertise

CeNS was initiated and established in 1998 by one theoretical and five experimental groups at the Department of Physics at the LMU and formally started its activities in the beginning of 1999. The expertise of the founding members covers the areas of:

photonics and optoelectronics (Prof. Jochen Feldmann)

biophysics on the nanometer scale (Prof. Hermann Gaub)

scanning probe analysis and nano-optics (Prof. Khaled Karrai)

nanometer semiconductor physics and devices (Prof. Jörg P. Kotthaus)

Institute for experimental physics biophysics and soft condensed matter physics (Prof. Joachim Rädler)

CeNS currently combines the activities of almost 200 highly motivated researchers and shares access to a manifold of scientific expertise and facilities.

These include laser laboratories for optical studies with the highest temporal and spatial resolution available, a broad range of scanning probe instruments for spatially resolved studies of structural, mechanical, electronic, and optical properties on the nanometer scale and advanced tools employing X-ray and neutron diffraction to study nanometer structures. Electronic properties of nanometer devices are investigated in a wide range of frequencies from radio waves through the infrared to optical frequencies. Patterning tools in a clean room include optical lithography, electron beam lithography, and scanning probe lithography with a large variety of etching and deposition technologies to produce specially designed patterns down to a few nanometers. New chemistry laboratories allow polymer films, self-assembled organic films and cell cultures to be prepared for interdisciplinary studies