Prague: the SSLS surface science station moved from JRC Karlsruhe to the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences is running — XPS, UPS and first thin films
On 1 October 2026 the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (FZU) reported that the core experimental capabilities of the Surface Science Laboratory Station (SSLS) are operational one year after it arrived from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Karlsruhe. It is the first time the JRC has transferred a major scientific instrument to an institute in an EU Member State.
- The SSLS is a modular ultra-high-vacuum (UHV) station for spectroscopic surface studies, built to work with actinides including uranium and thorium — according to FZU, this capability is unique worldwide for an instrument of such complexity. Applications include nuclear fuel safety, corrosion, catalysis, hydrogen technologies and quantum materials.
- The instrument arrived at FZU on 3 October 2025 in three shipping containers; its backbone is an approximately 8-metre linear transport system moving samples between chambers (the JRC described the whole equipment as 7 metres long). It was officially inaugurated in Prague on 12 February 2026. It was acquired in a Commission tender by a consortium led by FZU with the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University, the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry and the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering of the Czech Technical University.
- In May 2026 X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was tested and optimised, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) was integrated, as was Ar⁺ sputtering for surface cleaning; the first thin films were prepared. In September a second thin-film deposition chamber was brought into operation and the first photoelectron spectra of samples prepared on site were measured — from preparation to measurement without leaving the vacuum.
- A plasma chamber for plasma–surface interaction experiments is also ready. The station remains available to researchers from across Europe through the JRC Open Access programme, and in Prague it is to run within an emerging joint laboratory platform.
Source: FZU — From JRC Karlsruhe to FZU: Establishing the Surface Science Laboratory (1.10.2026)