We would like to welcome Dr Hanna Orlikowska-Rzeźnik who has joined our group from Poznan University of Technology for a 3-month postdoc project on using phase-resolved SFG microscopy to study dehydrated lipid bilayers.

Our work using depth-resolved SFG-DFG spectroscopy within the Thämer group to study the structure of water at the interface to air has been published in Science Advances. In this work, we combine the advances of depth-resolved spectroscopy (SFG-DFG) with high-level MD simulations from the group of Roland Netz at FU Berlin to investigate the structure of interfacial water through its vibrational bending mode. After removing higher order contributions to the signals, we uncover a pronounced layer-dependent structure with alternating orientations – both in tilt and, importantly, also the twist angle. You can read more here.

Our work studying the electrical double layer structure at charged aqueous interfaces using depth-resolved SFG-DFG spectroscopy within the Thämer group has been published in JACS. In this work, we give full experimental details of how to perform depth-resolved SFG-DFG measurements and showcase its potential through the application to charged aqueous interfaces. By combining the SFG and DFG spectra, we separate the two layers at the interface – the boundary interfacial layer (BIL) directly in contact with the interface, and the diffuse layer (DL) below that contains field-reoriented water. Surprisingly, we find that they show almost indistinguishable spectra – suggesting a similar structure of the water network. You can read more here.

We would like to welcome Dr Rafał Białek who has just joined as a postdoc in our group. His project will be on the development and application of phase-resolved SFG microscopy under liquids for biological applications.

Our work using azimuthal-scanning phase-resolved SFG microscopy to elucidate the in-plane packing structure in molecular films has been published in Faraday Discussions. We look forward to presenting our latest work in April and discussing it with our peers at the ‘Vibrations at Interfaces’ meeting. You can read more here.