The Ludwig-Genzel-Prize 2014 has been awarded to the Ikerbasque Research Professor at nanoGUNE and the UPV/EHU Rainer Hillenbrand for “the design and development of infrared near-field spectroscopy and the application of this novel spectroscopic method in different areas of natural sciences”.

Sir John Pendry, member of the scientific committee of the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) and chairman of the international advisory committee of nanoGUNE, has been awarded the prestigious Kavli Prize, considered as the Nobel Prize for Technology.

Researchers from nanoGUNE, in collaboration with ICFO and Graphenea, introduce a platform technology based on optical antennas for trapping and controlling light with the one-atom-thick material graphene. The experiments show that the dramatically squeezed graphene-guided light can be focused and bent, following the fundamental principles of conventional optics. The work, published yesterday in Science, opens new opportunities for smaller and faster photonic devices and circuits.

Thales de Oliveira, Pre-doctoral Researcher at the Self-Assembly Group at nanoGUNE, received his PhD at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) after the defense of his thesis project on Friday 23 May 2014. His research work, entitled “Polythiophene-based nanoscale lateral devices”, has been developed under the supervision of Dr. Alexander Bittner and Dr. Luis E. Hueso, Ikerbasque Research Professors and Leaders of the Self-Assembly and Nanodevices Groups, respectively.

Raul Zazpe, Pre-doctoral Researcher at the Nanodevices Group at nanoGUNE, received his PhD at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) after the defense of his thesis project on Wednesday 30 April 2014. His research work, entitled “Resistive switching in Hafnium oxide”, has been developed under the supervision of the Nanodevices Group Leader and Ikerbasque Research Professor Dr. Luis Hueso.

NanoGUNE has set up its External-Services department, a comprehensive proposal combining cutting-edge equipment and qualified personnel to serve academia and companies.

Researchers from the Nanomagnetism Group at nanoGUNE have developed a novel device for on-chip selective trap and two-dimensional remote manipulation of single and multiple fluid-borne magnetic particles using field controlled magnetic domain walls in circular nanostructures. The combination of differently shaped nanorings and field sequences allows for the remote manipulation of magnetic particles with high precision along any arbitrary pathway on a chip surface.

The fact that the properties of materials vary on the nanoscale opens up endless applications that are beginning to be part of our daily lives. These are concepts that may escape our understanding but which have been handled at nanoGUNE on a daily basis for the last five years. Scientific work which the students, teachers, engineers, doctors, architects, economists, retirees, housewives, etc. who came to nanoGUNE on its 5th year anniversary had the chance to get to know first-hand with the help of the center’s researchers.

Researchers from the nanoscience research center CIC nanoGUNE, the Freie Universität Berlin and Neaspec company employ nano-FTIR spectroscopy for label-free chemical and structural imaging of proteins with nanoscale spatial resolution and with sensitivity to single protein complexes of less than one attogram (10-18 gram). The work has been published recently in Nature Communications. (I. Amenabar et al., Nature Communications, 2013, DOI:10.1038/ncomms3890)

Repsol and the Centre for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI in its Spanish initials), have signed an agreement with Graphenea, nanoGUNE’s first start-up company, through which both will invest jointly a million euros in the share capital of the technological company. CDTI is a body dependent on the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government.