Dr. Adriana I. Figueroa completed her PhD in Physics in 2012 at the Insituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón- CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza, under the supervision of Prof. Juan Bartolomé and Prof. Luis Miguel García Vinuesa. During her PhD, she studied systems of magnetic nanoparticles using synchrotron radiation techniques and RF transverse magnetic susceptibility. In 2013, she was appointed as a postdoctoral research associate at the Magnetic Spectroscopy Group led by Prof. Gerrit van der Laan in Diamond Light Source, Didcot, UK. There, her focus was on spin phenomena in topological insulators as well as on advanced synchrotron x-ray absorption spectroscopy techniques (XAS, XMCD) to study the structural and magnetic properties of magnetically-doped topological insulators, magnetic heterostructures, nanoparticles and complex oxides. In 2017, she was awarded a Juan de la Cierva fellowship to join the Physics and Engineering of Nanodevices group of Prof. Sergio O. Valenzuela in the Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2), Barcelona. In 2019 she was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie individual fellowship. At ICN2, she grows topological insulators thin films by molecular beam epitaxy and complements synchrotron XAS methods with structural (e.g. TEM, XRD) and chemical (e.g. XPS) characterization to explore the electronic, spintronic and magnetic properties of heterostructures incorporating topological insulators and 2D materials.
Josep Fontcuberta
Dr. Josep Fontcuberta got his degree (1977) and the PhD on Physics (1982) at the Universitat de Barcelona (UB). After stages at the Laboratory of Crystallography (CNRS) in Grenoble and at the Inorganic Chemistry Lab. of Oxford University, working in the J. C. Joubert and J. B. Goodenough’s groups, respectively, he returned back to UB, teaching Crystallography and Crystallochemistry, Nuclear Physics and Solid State Physics and becoming Professor on Condensed Matter Physics. On 1990, he moved to the ICMAB to contribute building a new Laboratory and research group on Magnetism and Superconductivity. Since 2000 he is full Research Professor coordinating the research activity with the Laboratory of Multifunctional Oxides and Complex Structures.
Ferran Martín
Dr. Ferran Martín received his BSc. and PhD in Physics from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in 1988 and 1992, respectively. He is full Professor of Electronics since 2007. He is currently the head of the Microwave Engineering, Metamaterials and Antennas Group (GEMMa) at UAB, and Director of the Centre d’Investigació en Metamaterials per a la Innovació en Tecnologies Electrònica i de Comunicacions (CIMITEC), a research Center ascribed to UAB and focused on Technology transfer to Industry on the basis of Metamaterials and related concepts. One of his main research areas is the design of chipless radiofrequency identification (chipless-RFID) systems and sensors with unprecedented data capacity.
Núria Crivillers
Dr. Núria Crivillers studied Chemistry at the Autonomus University of Barcelona and she did her PhD at the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC). She moved to Strasbourg (France) to work as postdoctoral fellow with a IEF Marie Curie Fellowship in the Nanochemistry group at Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires. In 2011, she moved back to Barcelona with a Juan de la Cierva contract and later as Ramón y Cajal. In 2013 she won the Prize of Young Researcher of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ). Since March 2017 she has a tenured track research position at ICMAB-CSIC.
Sònia Estradé
Dr. Sònia Estradé harbours a degree in Physics and PhD in Nanosciences from the University of Barcelona. She is an associate Professor in the Department of Electronics and Biomedical Engineering at the UB since 2019, at the LENS-MIND-IN2UB. Specialist in nanoscale characterization, and in particular in EELS spectroscopy. She is part of the e-Lindo Teaching Innovation Group. She is president of the UB Physics Equality Commission and also the president of the Association of Women Researchers and Technologists of Catalonia. In 2020, she received the M. Encarna Sanahuja Yll Mention for excellence in the inclusion of a gender perspective in university teaching practice.
Pol Forn
Dr. Pol Forn-Díaz leads the Quantum Computing Technology group at the Institute for High Energy Physics in Barcelona since 2019. The group focuses on using superconducting qubits applied to quantum annealing, quantum optics in the ultrastrong coupling regime, and their interaction with high energy physics. Dr. Forn-Díaz obtained his PhD from TU Delft, under the supervision of Prof. Hans Mooij, one of the inventors of the superconducting flux qubit. After a postdoc in cold atoms at Caltech in the Kimble lab, he went on to a second postdoc at IQC Waterloo co-supervised by Prof. C. M. Wilson and Prof. A. Lupascu working on microwave quantum optics and superconducting qubits. In 2017, Dr. Forn-Díaz returned to Barcelona to set up a new quantum computing program together with experts in quantum algorithms such as Prof. J. I. Latorre (University of Barcelona) and Dr. A. Garcia-Saez (Barcelona Supercomputing Center). The three of them co-founded the startup Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, which develops coherent quantum annealers for realistic short-term applications. Dr. Forn-Díaz is the coordinator of the FET-Open consortium AVaQus to develop coherent quantum annealers, and the Quantera consortium SiUCs to develop quantum technologies in the ultrastrong coupling regime.
Sergi Abadal
Dr. Sergi Abadal Cavalle received the PhD in Computer Architecture (honors) from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain, in July 2016. Previously, he had obtained the M.Sc. (honors) and the B.Sc. in Telecommunication Engineering at UPC in 2011 and 2010, respectively. He has held several visiting positions in Georgia Tech in 2009, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2015/2016/2019, and the Foundation of Research and Technology – Hellas in 2018. Currently, he is Coordinator of the FET-OPEN WIPLASH project and Area Editor of the Nano Communication Networks (Elsevier) Journal. Abadal has also served as guest editor in other IEEE and MDPI journals and as general or program chair in multiple conferences, and published over 90 articles in top-tier journals and conferences. Abadal was the recipient of the Young Investigator Award of the Nano Communication Networks Journal and Editor of the Year from the same journal in 2019, UPC Outstanding Thesis award in 2016, the INTEL Doctoral Fellowship in 2013, and Accenture Award for M.Sc. students in 2012. His current research interests are in the areas of chip-scale wireless communications and conventional and quantum computing architectures.
Jordi Sort
Dr. Jordi Sort Viñas leads the ‘Group of Smart Nanoengineered Materials, Nanomechanics and Nanomagnetism’ as an ICREA Research Professor at UAB. After finishing his PhD in 2002 in the field of “magnetic interfacial effects” (Extraordinary Award), Prof. Sort performed two postdoctoral stays, at SPINTEC (Grenoble) and at Argonne National Laboratory. His research is focused on the nanomechanical and nanomagnetic properties of innovative and advanced materials, including lithographed structures, thin films and bulk specimens.He received awards from the Catalan and Spanish Physical Societies as well as the Federation of European Materials Societies.
Among his most relevant recent achievements one can mention: the use of nanoindentation and selective ion irradiation to create magnetic structures embedded in non-magnetic matrices; observation of magneto-electric and magneto-ionic effects in nanoporous alloys; the ductilization of metallic glasses by development of nanostructured morphologies; the growth of new types of coatings with enhanced mechanical, magnetic, corrosion-resistance and catalytic properties; the development of advanced biodegradable materials; the characterization of mesoporous materials and onion-type nanoparticles with interlayer magnetic interactions. Further information at: http://jsort-icrea.uab.cat/index.htm
Meet the speakers!
Adriana Figueroa
Dr. Adriana I. Figueroa completed her PhD in Physics in 2012 at the Insituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón- CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza, under the supervision of Prof. Juan Bartolomé and Prof. Luis Miguel García Vinuesa. During her PhD, she studied systems of magnetic nanoparticles using synchrotron radiation techniques and RF transverse magnetic susceptibility. In 2013, she was appointed as a postdoctoral research associate at the Magnetic Spectroscopy Group led by Prof. Gerrit van der Laan in Diamond Light Source, Didcot, UK. There, her focus was on spin phenomena in topological insulators as well as on advanced synchrotron x-ray absorption spectroscopy techniques (XAS, XMCD) to study the structural and magnetic properties of magnetically-doped topological insulators, magnetic heterostructures, nanoparticles and complex oxides. In 2017, she was awarded a Juan de la Cierva fellowship to join the Physics and Engineering of Nanodevices group of Prof. Sergio O. Valenzuela in the Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2), Barcelona. In 2019 she was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie individual fellowship. At ICN2, she grows topological insulators thin films by molecular beam epitaxy and complements synchrotron XAS methods with structural (e.g. TEM, XRD) and chemical (e.g. XPS) characterization to explore the electronic, spintronic and magnetic properties of heterostructures incorporating topological insulators and 2D materials.
Josep Fontcuberta
Dr. Josep Fontcuberta got his degree (1977) and the PhD on Physics (1982) at the Universitat de Barcelona (UB). After stages at the Laboratory of Crystallography (CNRS) in Grenoble and at the Inorganic Chemistry Lab. of Oxford University, working in the J. C. Joubert and J. B. Goodenough’s groups, respectively, he returned back to UB, teaching Crystallography and Crystallochemistry, Nuclear Physics and Solid State Physics and becoming Professor on Condensed Matter Physics. On 1990, he moved to the ICMAB to contribute building a new Laboratory and research group on Magnetism and Superconductivity. Since 2000 he is full Research Professor coordinating the research activity with the Laboratory of Multifunctional Oxides and Complex Structures.
Ferran Martín
Dr. Ferran Martín received his BSc. and PhD in Physics from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in 1988 and 1992, respectively. He is full Professor of Electronics since 2007. He is currently the head of the Microwave Engineering, Metamaterials and Antennas Group (GEMMa) at UAB, and Director of the Centre d’Investigació en Metamaterials per a la Innovació en Tecnologies Electrònica i de Comunicacions (CIMITEC), a research Center ascribed to UAB and focused on Technology transfer to Industry on the basis of Metamaterials and related concepts. One of his main research areas is the design of chipless radiofrequency identification (chipless-RFID) systems and sensors with unprecedented data capacity.
Núria Crivillers
Dr. Núria Crivillers studied Chemistry at the Autonomus University of Barcelona and she did her PhD at the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC). She moved to Strasbourg (France) to work as postdoctoral fellow with a IEF Marie Curie Fellowship in the Nanochemistry group at Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires. In 2011, she moved back to Barcelona with a Juan de la Cierva contract and later as Ramón y Cajal. In 2013 she won the Prize of Young Researcher of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ). Since March 2017 she has a tenured track research position at ICMAB-CSIC.
Sònia Estradé
Dr. Sònia Estradé harbours a degree in Physics and PhD in Nanosciences from the University of Barcelona. She is an associate Professor in the Department of Electronics and Biomedical Engineering at the UB since 2019, at the LENS-MIND-IN2UB. Specialist in nanoscale characterization, and in particular in EELS spectroscopy. She is part of the e-Lindo Teaching Innovation Group. She is president of the UB Physics Equality Commission and also the president of the Association of Women Researchers and Technologists of Catalonia. In 2020, she received the M. Encarna Sanahuja Yll Mention for excellence in the inclusion of a gender perspective in university teaching practice.
Pol Forn
Dr. Pol Forn-Díaz leads the Quantum Computing Technology group at the Institute for High Energy Physics in Barcelona since 2019. The group focuses on using superconducting qubits applied to quantum annealing, quantum optics in the ultrastrong coupling regime, and their interaction with high energy physics. Dr. Forn-Díaz obtained his PhD from TU Delft, under the supervision of Prof. Hans Mooij, one of the inventors of the superconducting flux qubit. After a postdoc in cold atoms at Caltech in the Kimble lab, he went on to a second postdoc at IQC Waterloo co-supervised by Prof. C. M. Wilson and Prof. A. Lupascu working on microwave quantum optics and superconducting qubits. In 2017, Dr. Forn-Díaz returned to Barcelona to set up a new quantum computing program together with experts in quantum algorithms such as Prof. J. I. Latorre (University of Barcelona) and Dr. A. Garcia-Saez (Barcelona Supercomputing Center). The three of them co-founded the startup Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, which develops coherent quantum annealers for realistic short-term applications. Dr. Forn-Díaz is the coordinator of the FET-Open consortium AVaQus to develop coherent quantum annealers, and the Quantera consortium SiUCs to develop quantum technologies in the ultrastrong coupling regime.
Sergi Abadal
Dr. Sergi Abadal Cavalle received the PhD in Computer Architecture (honors) from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain, in July 2016. Previously, he had obtained the M.Sc. (honors) and the B.Sc. in Telecommunication Engineering at UPC in 2011 and 2010, respectively. He has held several visiting positions in Georgia Tech in 2009, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2015/2016/2019, and the Foundation of Research and Technology – Hellas in 2018. Currently, he is Coordinator of the FET-OPEN WIPLASH project and Area Editor of the Nano Communication Networks (Elsevier) Journal. Abadal has also served as guest editor in other IEEE and MDPI journals and as general or program chair in multiple conferences, and published over 90 articles in top-tier journals and conferences. Abadal was the recipient of the Young Investigator Award of the Nano Communication Networks Journal and Editor of the Year from the same journal in 2019, UPC Outstanding Thesis award in 2016, the INTEL Doctoral Fellowship in 2013, and Accenture Award for M.Sc. students in 2012. His current research interests are in the areas of chip-scale wireless communications and conventional and quantum computing architectures.
Jordi Sort
Dr. Jordi Sort Viñas leads the ‘Group of Smart Nanoengineered Materials, Nanomechanics and Nanomagnetism’ as an ICREA Research Professor at UAB. After finishing his PhD in 2002 in the field of “magnetic interfacial effects” (Extraordinary Award), Prof. Sort performed two postdoctoral stays, at SPINTEC (Grenoble) and at Argonne National Laboratory. His research is focused on the nanomechanical and nanomagnetic properties of innovative and advanced materials, including lithographed structures, thin films and bulk specimens.He received awards from the Catalan and Spanish Physical Societies as well as the Federation of European Materials Societies.
Among his most relevant recent achievements one can mention: the use of nanoindentation and selective ion irradiation to create magnetic structures embedded in non-magnetic matrices; observation of magneto-electric and magneto-ionic effects in nanoporous alloys; the ductilization of metallic glasses by development of nanostructured morphologies; the growth of new types of coatings with enhanced mechanical, magnetic, corrosion-resistance and catalytic properties; the development of advanced biodegradable materials; the characterization of mesoporous materials and onion-type nanoparticles with interlayer magnetic interactions. Further information at: http://jsort-icrea.uab.cat/index.htm