Dear Colleagues,

With the increasing importance of nanosciences in daily life and technology, there is a strong demand for new investigation tools that have the precision needed for studying and controlling the quantum physical and chemical properties of nanoscale objects. Since the early 1980s, a variety of scanning probe techniques have been established as leading experimental tools in their fields of research. This has enabled the determination and control of, for example, the geometric, electronic, magnetic, and chemical structure of single-crystal surfaces and adsorbates, artificial quantum dots, nanowires and -islands with atomic-scale spatial resolution, and, more recently, even of single atoms and molecules.  

The energy-resolution limit of the established scanning probe spectroscopy techniques—presently ≈0.1 meV—remains among the biggest challenges. Recent spectroscopic resonance experiments utilize either high-frequency AC voltages or THz-laser irradiation. The respective resonance energies range between about 40 neV and a few meV. These novel approaches have revolutionized the field of scanning probe spectroscopy by improving the energy resolution up to 10⁴ times and the sensitivity down to the detection-limit of single spins. Recent studies demonstrate, e.g., the electron and nuclear spin resonance (ESR, NMR), as well as electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) of single atoms and molecules, the excitation of mechanical vibrations in molecules, molecular chains and surface layers, or the detection of subsurface dopants in semiconductors.  

This Special Issue of Nanomaterials attempts to cover the most recent advances in the field of scanning probe spectroscopy operating at resonance frequencies of MHz to THz. Submissions of regular as well as review articles are appreciated.

Prof. Dr. Reinhold Koch
Prof. Dr. Stefan Müllegger
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Single-spin excitation and detection 
• Mechanical excitation of nanoscale objects (atoms, molecules, clusters, surfaces) 
• Noise spectroscopy and stochastic resonance 
• (Sub)surface material characterization 
• Advances of instrumentation