A new technique of preparing alkali halides electron transparent substrates has been developed. The substrate crystals are formed inside the holes of a carbon support film, so that each crystal has two free faces for deposition and study. The mechanism of formation of transparent crystals and the important factors involved have been discussed.

Sublimation of alkali halides (NaCl and LiCl) onto a pre-assembled hydrogen-bonded layer of TCNQ on Au(111) resulted in the formation of 2D ionic layers via a direct charge-transfer reaction without involvement of the substrate. The presented approach allows for the fabrication of different ionic layers, decoupled from the substrate and offering new, potentially interesting properties.

The experimental results on two-photon spectroscopy in impurities and defects in solids are reviewed. The main results are the measurement of absorption cross sections and in some cases the assignement of the symmetry of the transitions. Nonlinear effects can be of importance also in the process of colour centre formation in alkali halides crystals.

A transition-metal-free method has been developed for the boryl substitution of functionalized aryl-, heteroaryland alkenyl halides with a silylborane in the presence of an alkali-metal alkoxide. The basemediated boryl substitution of organohalides with a silylborane was recently reported to provide the corresponding borylated products in good to high yields, and exhibit good functional group c...

A transition-metal-free method has been developed for the boryl substitution of functionalized aryl-, heteroaryl- and alkenyl halides with a silylborane in the presence of an alkali-metal alkoxide. The base-mediated boryl substitution of organohalides with a silylborane was recently reported to provide the corresponding borylated products in good to high yields, and exhibit good functional grou...