Joachim Stöhr

Who is Joachim Stöhr?

Joachim Stöhr received his Ph.D. in Physics from the Technical University of Munich. After postdoctoral work at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory he worked as a staff scientist at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and at EXXON Corporate Research Laboratory. He then spent nearly fifteen years at the IBM Almaden Research Center, where he conducted x-ray research in the areas of surface science and magnetic materials and managed various research departments. In January 2000, he joined the faculty of Stanford University as Professor and was appointed Deputy Director of SSRL. In 2005 he became the fourth Director of SSRL and an Associate Director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

Prof. Stöhr’s research has focused on the development of novel investigative techniques based on soft x-ray synchrotron radiation for exploring the structure, electronic and magnetic properties of surfaces and thin films. He played a major role in developing the surface extended x-ray absorption fine structure technique as a tool for exploring surface structures, especially atoms bonded to surfaces. He also developed the near edge x-ray absorption fine structure technique for the study of simple and complex molecules bonded to surfaces and for the study of thin polymer films. The technique is described in his book “NEXAFS Spectroscopy”. NEXAFS is widely used today, often in combination with x-ray microscopes, for the study of organic systems like polymers and biological cells.