Cent. Eur. J. Phys. • 7(2) • 2009 • 207-208DOI: 10.2478/s11534-009-0050-8

Central European Journal of Physics

Solid state surfaces and interfaces

Editorial

Reinhard Denecke1∗, Józef Korecki2† , Emil Pincik3‡ , Pavel Jelinek4§, Krzysztof Malarz2¶

1 Universität Leipzig, Wilhelm–Ostwald–Institut für Physikalische und Theoretische ChemieLinnestr. 2, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany

2 AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Scienceal. Mickiewicza 30, PL-30059 Cracow, Poland

3 Institute of Physics SAS, DAPDúbravská cesta 9, SK-84511 Bratislava, Slovakia

4 Insitute of Physics of the ASCRCukrovarnicka 10, CZ-16200 Prague, Czech Republic

PACS (2008): 99.10.Np

© Versita Warsaw and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

The current issue of the Central European Journal ofPhysics is the first topical issue in seven years of the jour-nal history. The issue contains several papers devoted tosurface physics. Results of theoretical, computational andexperimental studies are included in this issue.The participants of the 6-th international conference in theseries of the Solid State Surfaces and Interfaces confer-ences (SSSI 2008)1 and the 11-th Symposium on SurfacePhysics (SSP 2008)2 were invited to submit their contri-butions to this topical issue.

The 6-th Solid State Surfaces and Interfaces conferencewas an event leading to notable improvement of coop-

∗E-mail: denecke@uni-leipzig.de†E-mail: korecki@agh.edu.pl‡E-mail: emil.pincik@savba.sk§E-mail: jelinekp@fzu.cz¶E-mail: malarz@agh.edu.pl1 http://www.lm.uniza.sk/∼jurecka/konferencie/s6/2 http://www.fzu.cz/activities/conferences/ssp11/

eration among scientists working in both basic and ap-plied research of surfaces, interfaces and thin films, re-spectively. About 75 persons were taking part in the con-ference. At present, the scales of investigated structuresare reaching atomic sizes and this fact determines uti-lization of extremely sensitive measurement equipments,topical research practice and skills, progressive theoreti-cal approaches, and the newest computational techniques.We like to emphasize that several very interesting ex-perimental and theoretical contributions, both experimen-tal and theoretical ones, were presented also in the re-lated fields of high temperature superconductive materialsand physics. By opinion of many participants those con-tributions constituted a very welcome and reinvigoratingaddendum to the standard conference topics. The eventwas organized on 24-27 November 2008, and hosted atSmolenice Castle (Slovak Republic), which is full of his-torical monuments and charm. The classical atmosphereof the castle certainly contributed to comfortable and suc-cessful course of both conference presentations and re-lated social activities.

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Solid state surfaces and interfaces

The 11-th Symposium on Surface Physics was organizedby the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences ofthe Czech Republic and by the Union of Czech Mathemati-cians and Physicists. The symposium followed the for-mat of previous international meetings held in SmoleniceCastle (1971 and 1984), Bechyne Castle (1980 and 1987),Chlum Castle (1990 and 1993), Trest Castle (1996, 1999and 2002) and Prague (2005).

The first meeting in the year 1971 starting this series ofconferences was devoted mainly to the early stages ofdevelopment of the low-energy-electron diffraction tech-niques for surface crystallography. Outstanding scientistslike C. B. Duke, G. Ertl, K. Kambe, K. Muller and J. B.Pendry were among the invited speakers. Symposium pro-ceedings of the invited lectures, first published as sepa-rate books by Elsevier and later in the Progress of Sur-face Science, together with selected contributions in theCzechoslovak Journal of Physics reflect rapid developmentof surface physics in the last decades.

The symposium took place in a friendly atmosphere, withmany stimulating discussions focusing on recent chal-lenges and problems stemming from different branches ofphysics at surfaces. The scientific program was hand-somely complemented by an excursion to the Prague Cas-tle and adjacent palatial gardens, quartet concert and adinner held at Profesni Dum located in Pragues historicalcenter in the Lesser Town.

During the symposium M. A. Van Hove received the ErnstMach medal of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Re-public for his long-term succesful cooperation with Czechcolleagues.

The 6-th SSSI 2008 conferences topics included: physicsand chemistry of atomically clean surfaces, physics andchemistry of surface and interface defect states, physicsand chemistry of ultra-and very-thin film growth, physicsand chemistry of interfaces with ultra- and very-thin films,role of interfaces in LTS and HTS structures, new ap-proaches at formation and investigation of ultra- and very-thin films, low temperature plasma and low energy ion-surface interactions related with formation of thin films,nanotechnology and nanostructured materials, nanostruc-tures in cryoelectronics, single- and multi-layer based de-vices and applications, role of negative ions in thin filmgrowth, thin film-based photovoltaic and MOSFET de-vices.

The crystallographic and electron structure aspects of sur-face physics were emphasized during the 11-th SSP 2008meeting.

AcknowledgmentsThe 6-th conference SSSI 2008 was supported by the Slo-vak Grant Agency under grant APVV-0577-2007. The 11-th symposium SSP 2008 was sponsored by the EuropeanPhysical Society.

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