Final report of the project microscopic structure of liquid surfaces as contribution for the understanding of liquid interfaces (Mo 288/15)

At fluid interfaces the concentration of constituents varies perpendicular to the interfaces over distances which are in the range of the size of molecules. The spectroscopies using particles (electrons and ions) open the possibility to study these concentration profiles with a depth resolution of several Angstrom without the need to rely on model assumptions. It is a characteristic feature of the particle spectroscopies that the very same properties which make possible the mentioned depth resolution prohibit the use of these techniques at inner phase boundaries. Only extra efforts allow access to inner interfaces. The following contribution describes investigations at selected surfaces.