The INMA obtains 4.4 million euros in funding thanks to the excellence of two of its researchers
The European Research Council (ERC) has once again recognised the research excellence of the Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón (INMA), a joint centre of the Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and the University of Zaragoza, by awarding its researchers Mª José Martínez Pérez and Amalio Fernández-Pacheco a Starting Grant and a Consolidator, respectively, valued at 4.4 million euros. This funding will allow both researchers to develop their projects QFaST, which aims to study the quantum properties of magnetic excitations at the nanoscale and their possible integration in quantum technologies, and 3DNANOMAG, which investigates new magnetic systems at the nanoscale.
The presentation ceremony, which took place this morning of 24 November at the Delegation of the CSIC in Aragon, was attended by the Director General of Research and Innovation, Enrique Navarro; the Institutional Delegate of the CSIC in Aragon, María Jesús Lázaro; the Vice Chancellor for Science Policy, Rosa Bolea; the Director of INMA, Conrado Rillo; and INMA researchers recipients of these grants, Mª José Martínez-Pérez and Amalio Fernández-Pacheco Chicón.
The director of INMA, Conrado Rillo, said that this award “puts in value to Aragonese researchers and actions to attract and retain talent, both in the INMA and in our community”. In the same vein, the delegate of the CSIC in Aragon, María Jesús Lázaro, stressed that obtaining these grants “demonstrates the high quality work being carried out in both the INMA and the CSIC and the great value of its researchers.”
QFast project – María José Martínez Pérez
The QFast project, led by INMA researcher Mª José Martínez Pérez, has a budget of 1.8 million euros. The project seeks to develop a series of instruments based on superconducting microcircuits to observe and manipulate these magnetic textures. “This basic science project and its possible applications will try to complete the ‘toolbox’ of current quantum technologies”, says Martínez-Pérez. Possible applications include transduction between optical and microwave photons, the creation of ultrasensitive magnetic field sensors or the development of quantum memories and magnetic cavities. In fact, the systems to be developed would be useful for many different branches of science, such as quantum computing to read, characterise and communicate magnetic qubits. Moreover, the resulting technology could facilitate the understanding of other phenomena, such as detecting dark matter in the universe.
María José Martínez-Pérez studied Physics at the University of Zaragoza and completed her PhD thesis on the characterisation of molecular qubits at the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón (ICMA), which she defended in 2011. After three years as a postdoc at the NEST laboratory in Pisa (Italy), where she worked on the development of superconducting microcircuits to study heat transport, and another three years as a postdoc at the University of Tübingen (Germany), where she developed superconducting circuits to manufacture sensors, she returned to her research work in Zaragoza, at ICMA, thanks to the Aragonese Agency for Research and Development Foundation (ARAID). Martínez-Pérez also received a grant from the Humboldt Foundation and has won numerous awards, such as the Aragón Investiga in 2017 and the RSEF-BBVA young researchers’ award. She is currently a CSIC distinguished researcher in the reference research group QMAD (Quantum Materials And Devices), recognised by the Government of Aragon, and does research at the INMA.
3DNANOMAG project – Amalio Fernández-Pacheco Chicón
The 3DNANOMAG project, which has 2.6 million euros in funding and is led by Amalio Fernández-Pacheco, aims to investigate new magnetic systems at the nanoscale. These systems, traditionally two-dimensional, are the basis of technologies such as the internet or the cloud. 3DNANOMAG will enable progress towards the creation of three-dimensional devices, where information will be stored and processed throughout space, rather than being confined to a single plane.
“It is expected that these devices can be used in future computational technologies, consuming less energy, thus being more sustainable, and allowing multiple functions to be performed on a single chip,’ says Fernández-Pacheco, principal investigator of the project. In addition, the aim is to obtain new advanced techniques for the fabrication and characterisation of 3D nanometric systems, which can be applied in multiple nanotechnology disciplines.
Fernández-Pacheco holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Zaragoza and has worked at Imperial College London, the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge and the University of Glasgow, where he has been principal investigator for the last seven years. He has over 70 publications including articles and book chapters, and has received awards such as the Springer Doctoral Dissertation Distinction, the EPSRC Early Career Fellowship from the UK Research Council, the Winton Fellowship from the University of Cambridge and has been a Fellow of Sidney Sussex University College, Cambridge. His research focuses on the study of new phenomena in nanostructured magnetic materials for applications in computing, as well as advanced three-dimensional nanofabrication. He is currently working at INMA.
About INMA
El Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón (INMA) was born in July 2020 as a result of the merger of two research institutes, the ICMA, with more than 35 years of experience in materials research, and the INA, with almost 18 years of knowledge in Nanoscience and nanotechnology. The R&D&I activities are based on the multidisciplinary nature of INMA, which includes expertise in materials theory, synthesis of molecular and supramolecular materials, polymer chemistry, photonics, magnetism, superconductivity, quantum technologies, additive manufacturing, biotechnology, electronics and nanotechnology. With around 300 members, INMA is organised into six research areas, two of which are dedicated to ‘enabling research’ (synthesis, processing and scaling of functional materials, and unique experimental technologies) and four to ‘key research topics’ (materials for energy and the environment, materials for biomedicine, materials for information technologies and new phenomena at the nanoscale).
INMA’s international visibility is reflected in its growing leadership and participation in European projects (48 FP7 / H2020 projects and 7 active ERANET projects, leading 40% of them). Especially relevant is the performance of INMA in the H2020 “Excellence Pillar”, with two completed and four currently active projects of the European Research Council (ERC), eight active projects of Emerging Future Technologies (FET) -three led by INMA- and more than 20 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), including four active networks led by INMA. In addition, INMA researchers are collaborating with leading scientific groups worldwide, having access to unique infrastructural techniques.
More information:
3DNANOMAG project
QFaST project
Photograph of Mª José Martínez Pérez
