SPR and OWS are powerful methods for analysing surface processes. By using an evanescent wave the analytical signal remains close to the surface, thus not being affected by the surrounding media. So, SPR is perfectly suitable for investigating adsorption processes and surface reactions. Moreover, thickness and/or refractive index of a dielectric layer can be determined. SPR itself or the combination of SPR and OWS can be used to analyse interactions between marker-free proteins with surfaces or to determine layer thickness of thin polymer films.

In the research group of Prof. Kuckling there is a SPR spectrometer (Res-Tec, RT2005) with Peltier temperature regulation.