Structural characterization of single and interacting soft interfaces displaying brushes of synthetic or biomolecular polymers The interaction between surfaces displaying end grafted hydrophilic polymer brushes plays important roles in biology and in many wet technological applications. The outer surfaces of Gram negative bacteria for example are composed of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) molecules exposing oligo and polysaccharides to the aqueous environment. This unique structurally complex biological interface is of great scientific interest as it mediates the interaction of bacteria with neighboring bacteria in colonies and biofilms. The interaction between polymer decorated surfaces is generally coupled to the distance dependent conformation of the polymer chains. Therefore structural insight into the interacting surfaces is a prerequisite to understand the interaction characteristics as well as the underlying physical mechanisms. This problem has been addressed by theory but accurate experimental data on polymer conformations under confinement are rare because obtaining perturbation free structural insight into buried soft interfaces is inherently…