Aitor Mugarza graduated and obtained his PhD in Physics both at the University of Basque Country. After his doctoral studies, he was awarded a Marie Curie fellowship to work as a postdoctoral scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA, and at the Materials Science Institute of Barcelona (ICMAB). He later joined the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology-ICN2 (formerly ICN) starting as a Ramon y Cajal Fellow in 2007, and as Tenure Track Group Leader of the Atomic Manipulation and Spectroscopy Group at ICN2 since 2013. He is author of 78 articles, and of 64 invited talks at international conferences, universities and schools. His research activity is based on the investigation of quantum properties of matter on the nanoscale, and developing strategies to manipulate them with atomic precision.
Research interests
The research interests of Aitor Mugarza focus on the atomic-scale engineering of the quantum properties of novel nanomaterials. At the nanoscale, the properties of materials are dominated by quantum effects and interfacial phenomena, which impose strong limitations on the control and reproducibility of device performances, but also open up avenues for engineering new physical properties. The aim of Aitor Mugarza and his group is to understand and control quantum phenomena with atomic precision by chemical and structural manipulation, nanostructuring and interfacing materials that are identified as strategic in the roadmap for new technologies (hybrid metal-organic heterostructures, graphene-based 2D materials, topological insulators...).
Selected publications
- Muñiz Cano B, Ferreiros Y, Pantaleón PA, Dai J, Tallarida M, Figueroa AI, Marinova V, García-Díez K, Mugarza A, et al. 2023,'Experimental Demonstration of a Magnetically Induced Warping Transition in a Topological Insulator Mediated by Rare-Earth Surface Dopants', Nano Letters, 23, 6249-6258.
- Tenorio, Maria; Moreno, Cesar; Vilas-Varela, Manuel; Castro-Esteban, Jesus; Febrer, Pol; Pruneda, Miguel; Pena, Diego; Mugarza, Aitor 2023, 'Introducing Design Strategies to Preserve N-Heterocycles Throughout the On-Surface Synthesis of Graphene Nanostructures', Small Methods, .
- Bartolomé E, Ferrari L, Sedona F, Arauzo A, Rubín J, Luzón J, Herrero-Albillos J, Panighel M, Mugarza A, Rancan M, Sambi M, Armelao L, Bartolomé J & Bartolomé F 2023, 'Surface Deposition Induced Reduction of the Ground State Spin in Cr10 Wheel', Advanced Materials Interfaces, 10, 20, 2300146.
- Moreno C, Diaz de Cerio X, Vilas-Varela M, Tenorio M, Sarasola A, Brandbyge M, Peña D, Garcia-Lekue A & Mugarza A 2023, 'Molecular Bridge Engineering for Tuning Quantum Electronic Transport and Anisotropy in Nanoporous Graphene', Journal of the American Chemical Society, 145, 16, 8988–8995.
Selected research activities
Invited contributions:
- “Manipulating Topological States by Proximity and Templating Strategies”, International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies, June 26-30, Singapore (2023).
- “Bringing atomic precision to the synthesis of graphene-based lateral heterostructures “, European Graphene Forum, Oct 25-27 Albufeira, Portugal (2023).
Management:
- Coordinator of the Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) Platform at ALBA
Committees:
- Spanish Delegate at the Nanometer Structure Division of the International Union for Vacuum Science, Technique, and Applications - IUVSTA
- Access Committee of the Integrated Infrastructure for Electron Microscopy of Materials -ELECMI
- Scientific Committee of the Spanish Vacuum Society - ASEVA