Future

Abstract

New technological developments in molecular beam methods provide the basis for designing future HAS apparatus with greatly improved energy resolution and intensity. Some of these technological advances are reviewed and the gains to be expected are discussed. The greater intensity can be expected to lead to a great improvement in the inelastic scattering spatial resolution from the present resolution of the order of several square mm. In addition to the many areas of HAS research covered in the preceding chapters there are many more opportunities for HAS-based investigations, which although accessible with present technology, would greatly profit from the new technological developments. These new areas include the surfaces of liquids, organic films and surfaces coated with biomolecules as well as THz plasmonic systems. The present state of these research areas are briefly surveyed and possible HAS experiments are suggested. Finally the expected new challenges for the theory will be briefly outlined.