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Abstract: We will present first results of ESO-VLT AO-assisted integral-field spectroscopy of a sample of X-ray bright AGN with redshifts of 0.04< z <1. We constructed this sample by cross-correlating the SDSS and ROSAT surveys and utilizing typical AO constraints. This sample allows for a detailed study of the NIR properties of the nuclear and host environments with high spectral resolution on the 100pc scale. These objects can then be compared directly to the local (z <0.01) galaxy populations (observed without AO) at the same linear scale. As a current example, we will present observations of the z =0.034 Seyfert 1.8 galaxy Mrk 609 with the new AO-assisted integral-field spectrometer SINFONI at the VLT. The successful observations show, that in the future – while having observed more objects – we will be able to determine the presence, frequency and importance of nuclear bars and/or circum-nuclear star forming rings in these objects and address the question of how these X-ray luminous AGN and their hosts are linked to optically/UV-bright QSOs, low-z QSOs/radio galaxies, or ULIRGs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We present initial results from a follow-up of the 9C survey, complete to 25 mJy at 15 GHz, designed to assemble and investigate a sample of young radio sources. We have made radio continuum maps of 111 sources at frequencies spanning 1.4–43 GHz, and classified them according to their radio size and spectral index between 1.4 and 4.8 GHz. We find that selection at 15 GHz is twice as efficient at picking Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum (GPS) sources as selection at ∼5 GHz. Optical follow-up has now begun; imaging of GPS and compact steep spectrum sources suggests that a significant fraction of the host galaxies have close companions or disturbed morphologies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]