The NanoPhysics Lab (NPL) initiated its activities in 2001, and has steadily grown in terms of equipment and personnel ever since. In the context of experimental surface science, we study structural, electronic, magnetic and chemical properties of in-situ and ex-situ grown nanostructures. NPL aims at exploring relevant but yet-widely-unknown phenomena taking place at the surface of solid materials, such as the atomic-level control of on-surface chemical reactions and catalysis, the bottom-up fabrication of 1D or 2D functional materials, and also the growth of novel layered materials with potential application in state-of-the-art technology devices.

The NPL holds some of the most modern and complete set of surface-sensitive techniques and instrumentation, combined in a variety of multi-technique ultra-high-vacuum setups, and distributed in five different laboratory rooms. The group gathers permanent and non-permanent members of all renowned research institutions in San Sebastian, such as the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) and the Ikerbasque Foundation.