The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Starting Grant to the TERATOMO proposal presented by Rainer Hillenbrand. The grant has a budget of nearly 1.5 M€ for a 5 year work program. TERATOMO is the acronym for Near-field Spectroscopic Nanotomography at Infrared and Terahertz frequencies. The core objective of the project is the development of a novel microscopy technique for three-dimensional imaging of nanostructures with infrared and terahertz light.

An Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) and a Dual-Beam Focused Ion Beam (FIB) nanofabrication tool have been installed at nanoGUNE’s Advanced Electron Microscopy Laboratory. The purchase of these already-functional tools and a still-to-come spherical-aberration corrected high-resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) is part of an ambitious cooperation agreement signed between nanoGUNE and FEI, a leading supplier of high-end electron microscopes. The joint cooperation also includes five collaborative research projects together with demonstration and educational activities.

Luis Hueso, leader of the nanodevies group at nanoGUNE, has collaborated in a research project on organic spintronics led by CNRS/Thales. The most recent results of this collaboration have been published in Nature Physics in June 2010 in the article Unravelling the role of the interface for spin injection into organic semiconductors.

Celebrated on May 26 and 27, the symposium covered some of the hot research topics under development in each of the research institutions and established stronger collaborative links among Technion, nanoGUNE and Barcelona Nano Cluster Bellaterra.

On 9 April 2010, a new start-up company (Graphenea) was launched as a joint venture of private investors and nanoGUNE. The new company, which is located at the nanoGUNE facilities, has been created with the mission of developing graphene-based process and product technology as well as conducting related research activities. Amaia Zurutuza, coming from Controlled Therapeutics Scotland (CTS) Ltd. in Glasgow, took on 9 April 2010 her new responsabilities as Scientific Director of Graphenea.

nanoGUNE contributes with its nanotechnology expertise to the CENIT project ‘Customatized Eye Care (CeyeC)’. Granted by the Spanish Government, nanoGUNE has been collaborating since January 2010 with biocompanies in the development of new diagnostic tools for the pathologies of the eye surface, as an example of nanothecnology interdisciplinarity.

The nanoGUNE building, designed by the architect Javier San José, has been remarked as one of the finalists in the COAVN Architecture Awards in the category of Community Buildings, awarded by the Official Association of Architects of the Basque Country.

The micrograph of a spider-like spin valve, obtained by staff scientist Felix Casanova from the Nanodevices Group, has been selected to illustrate the 2010 Calendar by Raith, supplier of state-of-the-art electron-beam lithography equipments.

For the purpose of building up a world-class Electron Microscopy facility, CIC nanoGUNE announces a recent agreement with FEI Company that includes the purchase of several high-end electron microscopes including TEM/STEM, Dual Beam FIB, and ESEM.

Dr. Andreas Berger, nanoGUNE´s research director, has been selected as an editorial board member of the Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, one of the world-wide leading journals on magnetism related research published by Elsevier. Starting from January 1st, 2010, he will serve a 3 year term in this capacity.