The department consists of equal number of theoreticians and experimentalists working at the interface between physics and chemistry. The experimental research is focused, in general, on the understanding of the interaction of matter with radiation or charged particles. The effect of the chemical environment on this interaction is investigated by methods like various magnetic resonance spectroscopies, laser spectroscopy, electron tunnelling, and electron transmission. Photochemistry on semiconductor surfaces is studied using imaging techniques with atomic resolution, molecules are investigated as possible candidate for electronic devices and near field optical approaches are applied for optical studies on the nanometer scale. A new field in our department is single molecule spectroscopy and imaging which promises to overcome the problem of heterogeneity of the "molecule-environment" interaction and thus provide deeper insight on molecular dynamics. The effect of strong laser fields on matter, the manipulation of chemical reactions by lasers and its prospects with respect to cooling of molecules is studied both theoretically and experimentally. In addition to the above, we have theoretical groups studying growth and complexity in nature, the scaling and geometry of turbulence, non linear dynamics and processes in condensed matter.