Professors Stephan Roche and Sergio O. Valenzuela are the featured speakers at today’s 49th ICREA Colloquium, entitled "Materials for Revolutionary Applications in Everything".
Dr Roche will discuss the state-of-the-art in graphene research, and Dr Valenzuela, will cover the fledgling area of topological insulators. The Colloquium, held in Barcelona, begins at 6 pm.
Imagine a machine that can explore physical phenomena similar to that carried out by scientists at CERN, but small enough to stand on top of your table. Imagine a material where ideas from quantum field theory can lead to patentable innovations. Imagine having a material that unveils a “window to the universe” and at the same time makes it possible to revolutionise Information and Communications Technologies with zero power dissipation and massive energy savings. Are these elusive dreams or coming realities?
ICREA Reasearch Professors and ICN Group Leaders Dr Stephan Roche and Dr Sergio O. Valenzuela will address this question, as the speakers for the 49th ICREA Colloquium, held today, 19 June, in Barcelona. They will give a brief overview of the potential of two classes of fascinating materials, graphene and topological insulators, which share fundamental physical properties and are currently at the heart of scientific excitement, promising disruptive and revolutionary applications in all sectors from communications to energy, health and environment.
Dr Roche will present the current stage of worldwide graphene research, with a focus on cutting-edge research achieved in Catalonia (nanoscale sensors, spintronics, etc.). He will discuss the tantalising impact of future graphene-based technologies and their importance for Catalan and Spanish industry.Dr Valenzuela will cover the nascent field of topological insulators, pinpointing the grand challenges of the scientific community and the expectation of ground-breaking discoveries (magnetic monopoles, Majorana Fermions, axions, etc.), including ambitious dreams of all spin-based information technologies. Event: 49th ICREA ColloquiumDate: 19 June 2012Time: 6 p.m.Venue: Auditorium of the FICSR building, Passeig Lluis Companys 23, 6th floor, Barcelona.