EMPA, Matrials science and technology: research and development of EMPA are aimed at the economical and ecological improvements in the use of materials as well as creation of new test methods and test equipments. EMPA is an incubator of high tech. SMEs such as TOFWERK. EMPA has gained a large experience in coupling a GD source to a TOF instrument through a national project highlighting the importance of the approach. EMPA is coordinator of GLADNET.

At RISSP the research is focused on three major topics: development of metal-ion lasers, discharge modeling and diagnostic methods to investigate low-temperature plasmas. Development of metal-ion lasers. The excitation mechanism of these lasers is usually based on charge transfer processes between noble gas ions and metal atoms. These reactions will be studies in the context of low pressure glow discharges. An important part of the work performed at RISSP will the determination of basic plasma parameters, a necessary base information for any understanding and modelling of the on going processes.

The Fourier Transform (FT) Spectroscopy Laboratory in the Physics Department at Imperial College has an established international reputation in the field of high resolution atomic and molecular spectroscopy. The technique combines high resolution with the capability of wide free spectral range, ideal for a wide variety of applications; we hold the world short wavelength record for an FT instrument with a wavelength range of 135nm -900 nm, with a resolving power of 2 x 10⁶ at 140nm, so that usually true line profiles can be observed.. The group has been primarily focused on the measurement and analysis of atomic and molecular spectra for astrophysics and atomic physics applications.

The laboratory at London Metropolitan University has expertise in: Atomic and molecular spectroscopy in the ultra-violet, visible and near infra-red regions, with particular reference to discharges in gases at low pressure, frequently for analytical applications. Three types of low pressure sources - hollow cathode discharges, microwave excited discharges and Grimm-type sources - have been studied to interpret the fundamental discharges processes occurring. Recently studies have been concentrated on asymmetric charge transfer (ACT) excitation by ions of the noble gases.

The research group PLASMANT (i.e., Plasma, Laser Ablation and Surface Modelling - Antwerp) has more than 10 years of experience in numerical simulations of glow discharges and related plasmas The purpose of this work is to gain more insight in the plasma physics and chemistry, and to make predictions, in order to improve the performance of these gas discharges in the various applications The computer simulations are mostly based on fluid models, particle-in-cell - Monte Carlo simulations, or combinations which are commonly called hybrid codes.

The Chemistry department has several lines of work around glow discharges and has a large expertise in the development of analytical tools for the analysis of solids. GDs are coupled to optical emission and time of flight mass spectrometry: In the laboratory GD-ToFMS analyser for the analysis of coatings as been developed (Patent number: P200101609) along with analytical methods for the analysis of advanced materials of technological and industrial interest. Both DC and RF sources in pulsed and cw mode are used. The group has taken part in several national and European projects of for the development of new glow discharges sources for mass and optical emission spectrometry.

At the CRI-SPSU the area of research includes: pulsed GD investigation as atomiser for Zeeman atomic absorption spectrometry including the design of mobile systems for determination of elements in air and water samples in situ; The pulsed GD in thin-walled metallic hollow cathode (TMHC) in combination with TOFMS for liquid samples analysis. Last system use for analysis as conductive as dielectric samples, besides depth profiling available in this case. Small group works in the area of fast determination of elements concentration in ambient air and exhaled air with aid of electrostatic precipitation in Zeeman AAS.

The main interest in our research are elementary processes in various parts of discharge and the interaction of heavy particles with cathode surface in order to study physical and chemical processes at the surface. For this purpose Stark polarization and Doppler spectroscopy are used. In addition, the application and improvements of optical emission spectroscopy (OES) techniques for gas discharge diagnostics are carried out with the emphasis to determination of spatial distribution of discharge parameters.

AQura GmbH is a service unit 100 % owned by Degussa AG active mostly for Degussa research and development groups. Focus of AQura provides analytical services, analytical research support, method development and validation. A large part of its activity lies in the fields of analyses, molecular spectroscopy, surface and interface analyses, physical data, materials safety data, environmental, computational chemistry. AQura and its precursor organisations are active in the above mentioned fields for more than 50 years.

LECO Corporation is a leading producer of scientific instrumentation for chemical analysis of metals, other inorganic and organic substances, for structural analysis of materials and sample preparation. LECO Corporation is based in St.Joseph, Michigan, USA. LECO Instrumente Plzen, spol. s r.o., Czech Republic, is a subsidiary of LECO responsible for operations in the Central and Eastern Europe. LECO has a long tradition in glow discharge optical emission spectrometry. In its Applications and Training Centre, Prague, LECO organizes customer training and develops analytical methodology for a wide range of applications.

Thyssen Krupp Steel is a major integrated steel producer. Within the centre of excellence, new types of steels and coatings were developed. The department is equipped with state-of-the-art technique for the characterisation of hot rolled steels like photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), secondary ion mass spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy.

Shiva Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1990 as the first and only company specialised in Glow Discharge Mass Spectrometry (GDMS) for the analysis of high purity metals, targets, specialty alloys, super-alloys, semiconductors, inorganic materials etc. Shiva Technologies has laboratories in Europe, USA and India.

The search interests of the Hieftje group at Indiana university include the investigation of basic mechanisms in atomic emission, absorption, fluorescence and mass spectrometric analysis, and the development of instrumentation and techniques for atomic methods of analysis. Among other subjects they are working on the use of time-resolved luminescence processes for analysis, the application of information theory to analytical chemistry, analytical mass spectrometry and the use of stochastic processes to extract basic and kinetic chemical information. Indiana University did not join GLADNET after some lenghty discussions about legal requirements. Gary Hieftje did, however, still participate to the training of the GLADNET ESR's and ER's.