Alexis Baratoff
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Titular Professor APS Fellow office 3.01a tel +41 (0)61 207 3725 (office) |
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Research interests
Within our group, Prof. A. Baratoff's interests center on the interpretation of dynamic and quasi-static atomic force measurements in ultrahigh vacuum. Mechanisms leading to atomic-scale variations of energy dissipation and of electrostatic interactions under near-contact conditions are investigated in depth.
More sensitive bimodal or higher frequency excitation techniques, and more rapid detection schemes have been demonstrated and analyzed.
Fundamental phenomena in both areas are investigated using phenomenological and atomistic models. Similar approaches have been applied to understand to the load dependence and anisotropy of friction, as well as its modification by AC actuation in atomic-size contacts
Most of this work is done in collaboration with PhD students, postdocs and former colleagues, particular attention being given to experimentalists interested in performing model computations and to theorists eager to interpret in-house measurements. In particular, simulations performed with codes developed in the Computational Physics group of Prof. Stefan Goedecker have revealed the importance of taking account configurational changes of the probe tip and also identified the fundamental quantities affecting for atomic-scale Kelvin probe and other kinds of electrostatic force measurements.
Publications
Latest Papers (show all)
| Flexible Superlubricity Unveiled in Sidewinding Motion of Individual Polymeric Chains J.G. Vilhena, R. Pawlak, P. D Astolfo, X. Liu, E. Gnecco, M. Kisiel, T. Glatzel, R. Perez, R. Haner, S. Decurtins, A. Baratoff, G. Prampolini, S.-X. Liu, E. Meyer Phys. Rev. Lett., 128, (2022), 216102, pdf. |
| Sequential Bending and Twisting around C-C Single Bonds by Mechanical Lifting of a Pre-Adsorbed Polymer R. Pawlak, J.G. Vilhena, P. D Astolfo, X. Liu, G. Prampolini, T. Meier, Th. Glatzel, J.A. Lemkul, R. Haner, S. Decurtins, A. Baratoff, R. Perez, S.-X. Liu, E. Meyer Nano Lett. , (20), (2020), 652-657, pdf. |
| Controlled switching of a single CuPc molecule on Cu(111) at low temperature S. Fremy-Koch, A. Sadeghi, R. Pawlak, S. Kawai, A. Baratoff, S. Goedecker, E. Meyer, and Th. Glatzel Phys. Rev. B, 100, (2019), 155427, pdf. |
| Conformations and cryo-force spectroscopy of spray-deposited single-strand DNA on gold R. Pawlak, J.G. Vilhena, A. Hinaut, T. Meier, Thilo Glatzel, A. Baratoff, E. Gnecco, R. Pérez, E. Meyer Nat. Comm., (10), (2019), 685, pdf. |
Latest Talks (show all)
| Force Spectroscopy of a Donor-Acceptor Molecule under Illumination Th. Glatzel , T. Meier, R. Pawlak, A. Baratoff, Y. Geng, X. Liu, S. Decurtins, S.-X. Liu, and E. Meyer The 29th International Conference on Photochemistry, 2019-07-16, Boulder, Colorado, (United States), Abstract (PDF). |
| Single-Molecule Experiments to Explore Friction And Adhesion (Invited) R. Pawlak , S. Kawai, A. Baratoff, W.G. Ouyang, T. Meier, E. Gnecco, T. Glatzel, A. Filippov, A. Baratoff, M. Urbakh, E. Meyer AVS conference, 2015-10-22, San José, (US). |
| Manipulation of single molecules by NC-AFM E. Meyer , S. Kawai, A. Baratoff, E. Gnecco, R. Pawlak, T. Meier, S. Freund, A. Hinaut, R. Jöhr, M. Kisiel, U. Gysin and Th. Glatzel 8th International Workshop on Nanoscale Pattern Formation at Surfaces, 2015-07-15, Krakow, (Poland), Abstract (PDF). |
| Controlled switching of a single CuPc molecule on Cu(111) at low temperature Th. Glatzel S. Fremy, A. Sadeghi, R. Pawlak, A. Baratoff, S. Goedecker, E. Meyer, and The International Conference on Understanding and Controlling Nano and Mesoscale Friction, 2015-06-26, Istanbul, (Turkey), Abstract (PDF). |