ERC Advanced Grant for Theo Rasing and Mikhail Katsnelson
FOM board member and workgroup leader professor Theo Rasing and FOM workgroup leader professor Mikhail Katsnelson (both at Radboud University Nijmegen) have each received an ERC Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). They will both receive a grant of 2,5 million euros for their research proposals 'Magnetisation at its fastest' (Rasing) and 'New physics theory for nanoscale and hypervelocity' (Katsnelson).
Magnetisation at its fastest
Experiments with the very rapid switching of magnets using light pulses have already demonstrated that existing ideas about how magnetisation works are not satisfactory at ultrashort timescales. Theo Rasing will use new femtosecond X-ray sources in Stanford and the picosecond terahertz free-electron lasers in Nijmegen to discover how magnetic order arises from chaos and how you can bring a magnetic system from one phase to another. These experiments are important for a fundamental understanding of magnetism and could possibly lead to faster and more energy efficient data storage. FOM board member and workgroup leader Rasing is an experimental physicist and professor of physics at Radboud University Nijmegen. In 2008 he received the NWO Spinoza Prize, the highest Dutch award for scientific research.
New physics theory for nanoscale and hyperspeed
Graphene and nano-objects such as quantum dots and magnetic molecules are bringing to light new phenomena that theoretical physics cannot explain at present. Also increasingly faster measurements of tenths of femtoseconds - a femtosecond is one millionth of one billionth of a second - are revealing new physics phenomena. Mikhail Katsnelson, who was awarded the Spinoza Prize this year, wants to plug the gaps in the theory. He also wants to examine spin dynamics (exactly how particles spin), the non-equilibrium states of molecular magnets on graphene and metal surfaces, and the electronic properties of graphene. Katsnelson is professor of theoretical physics at the Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM) of Radboud University Nijmegen. His publications on graphene alone have already been cited more than 12.000 times.
ERC Advanced Grant
The ERC Advanced Grant is awarded to outstanding individual researchers for advanced, groundbreaking projects that open up new avenue in their field of research or other domains. The European Research Council receives thousands of applications each year of which only a few hundred are awarded funding.
Further information
For further information please see the website of Radboud University Nijmegen.