Our experimental work is dedicated to the exploration of surface-supported nanostructures, from single atoms to complex hybrid network structures. Our focus is on the study of the electronic properties and the magnetism in such systems and how these properties depend on the atomic arrangement or interactions with the substrate, molecular ligands, etc. Important aspects are the development of new nanostructure fabrication strategies and the development of instrumentation. Highlights of our work are:

- Fabrication of model nanostructures, from single atoms to atomic wires, clusters, alloys, multilayered systems, molecular networks, by self-assembly. Exploration of functional hybrid structures, such as ferromagnet-/superconductor multilayers, molecular networks, fullerene/metal compound clusters, surface alloys, magnetoresistive multilayers (GMR), etc.

- Investigation of the structural, magnetic and electric transport properties on the atomic scale under ultrahigh vacuum with complementary local and integral methods. These include: Low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), magnetic force microscopy (MFM), magneto-optical measurements and imaging techniques (MOKE), X-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements using synchrotron light (XMCD), transport measurements, etc.