Applications of synchrotron radiation in physics, chemistry, materials science, and biology has now matured from an exotic experimental field into a well-established area of science. The spectroscopy of molecules and molecular adsorbates on surfaces is one area of science, where, in the past, synchrotron-radiation-related studies had made an impact on understanding the ground-state properties as well as the dynamics. With the new high-brightness synchrotron-radiation sources ahead, this will certainly continue to be a field of very active research. This quasi-monograph reviews the current state of the field for both, the active research scientist, and the new graduate student wishing to become acquainted with this field of research.

Surface Science is understood as a relatively young scientific discipline, concerned with the physical and chemical properties of phenomena on clean and covered solid surfaces, studied under a variety of conditions. The adsorption of atoms and molecules on solid surfaces is, for example, such a condition, connected with more or less drastic changes of all surface properties. An adsorption event is frequently observed in nature and found to be of technical importance in many industrial processes. For this reason, Surface Science is interdisciplinary by its very nature, and as such an important intermediary between fundamental and applied research.