Physics and Engineering of Nanodevices

Group leader: Sergio O. Valenzuela

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Overview

Main research lines

  • Development of novel nanodevice structures and nanofabrication methods to investigate the physical properties of materials at the nanoscale and their technological relevance
  • Investigation of topological properties and low energy propagation of information in quantum anomalous edge states
  • Spin and thermal transport in two-dimensional systems, including topological insulators, graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides
  • Control of the magnetic state of ferromagnetic systems by means of the spin-orbit interaction and, particularly, the spin Hall and spin galvanic effects
  • Coupling in hybrid magnon-phonon-photon systems

Group leader

Valenzuela, Sergio Osvaldo

ICREA Research Professor and Group Leader

Sergio Valenzuela obtained his PhD in Physics in 2001 at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina) and held research positions at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Since July 2008 he has been an ICREA Research Professor and leader of the ICN2 Physics and Engineering of Nanodevices Group. His research is focused on the unique properties of materials with nanoscale dimensions, motivated by both their intrinsic scientific interest and their potential for advanced electronic applications. His work encompasses spintronics, quantum computation with superconducting circuits and quantum metrology. Together with his collaborators, he has pioneered the use of non-local devices to study the spin Hall effect and of thermopiles to isolate the magnon drag in ferromagnetic materials, and he has implemented novel qubit control and spectroscopy methods.

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Prof. Valenzuela was awarded the 2001 Giambiagi prize and the 2009 IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Magnetism for his contributions to the field of spintronics, as well as an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2012. He has authored over 70 articles (Nature, Science, Reviews of Modern Physics, Nature Materials, Nature Physics, Nature Nanotechnology, Physical Review Letters, among others), four patents, and five books or book chapters.