A joint team of researchers at CIC nanoGUNE (San Sebastian, Spain) and the Max-Planck-Institutes of Biochemistry and Plasma Physics (Munich, Germany) report the non-invasive and nanoscale resolved infrared mapping of strain fields in semiconductors.

On 18 November 2009, a special mention by the jury of the ninth Manuel Laborde Werlinden prize went to the Graphenea initiative presented by Jose M. Pitarke (Director of nanoGUNE and Professor of Condensed Matter Physics at the University of the Basque Country) for his business initiative on graphene, a two-dimensional nanoscale material exhibiting extraordinary electrical and mechanical properties.

The ATOM BY ATOM conference opened to the public via its plenary section for the purpose of disseminating, in a clear and accessible manner, nanoscience and nanotechnology.

The TNT high-level scientific meeting series aims to present a broad range of current research in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology as well as related policies (European Commission, etc.) or other kind of initiatives (nanoGUNE, FinNano, GDR-I, etc.).

Albert Fert (Unité Mixte de Physique NRS/Thales) Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the giant magnetoresistance effect, visited CIC nanoGUNE’s facilities and discussed about present and future collaborations.

On January 30 2009, the official opening of nanoGUNE was celebrated. The ceremony began at 11:00, followed by this series of speeches:

The progress article Spin routes in organic semiconductors written by Luis E. Hueso, leader of the CIC5 nanodevices group in nanoGUNE, together with V. Alek Dediu, Ilaria Bergenti & Carlo Taliani from the Institute for Nanostrucured Materials-CNR (Bologna, Italy), was published in Nature Materials on August 2009.

A joint team of the Nanooptics Laboratory at nanoGUNE and the Nanophotonics Group at the Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry (Germany), in collaboration with the DIPC – CSIC UPV/EHU and Infineon Technologies AG (Munich), has recently achieved nanoscale resolved imaging in the terahertz (THz) frequency range (wavelengths between 30 and 1000 μm) by the use of near-field microscopy.

The third edition of the Kursaal Prizes for the Promotion of Conferences awarded nine institutions. The award-ceremony, that was celebrated at Kursaal on April 28, was chaired by the Major of the Provicial Council of Gipuzkoa.

On December 3, the nanoBasque Strategy was presented to the public in a ceremony chaired by the President of the Basque Government, Juan José Ibarretxe, and the Major of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, Markel Olano.