The Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM) image of multi-domain states in interacting ferromagnetic nano-islands, which was obtained by Ph.D. student Jose Mª Porro from the nano-magnetism group under the direction of Paolo Vavassori, the group’s co-leader, has been selected amongst many entries to illustrate the 2011 calendar of ScienTec, one of the most important European suppliers of ultrahigh-resolution scanning probe microscopes.

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Starting Grant to the SPINTROS proposal presented by Luis Hueso. The grant has a budget of 1.3 M€ for a 5 year work program. SPINTROS is the acronym for SPIN TRansport in Organic Semiconductors. The core objective of this project is to understand and control spin transport in organic semiconductors.

NanoGUNE will host entrepreneur initiatives through the creation of an incubator of nanotechnology-based new companies. This nanoincubator has been launched in the framework of an agreement signed by nanoGUNE and Bic Gipuzkoa Berrilan, an instituton devoted to innovation and the creation of new companies in Gipuzkoa.

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 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.