Advanced materials are responsible in a large part for the continuous transformation of our daily life technology. New graphene based materials with improved strength and fatigue resistance open possibilities for transport industry, organic molecular devices allow optical applications for communications, superconductors improve energy efficiency and storage, and interfaces provide radically new operational principles for information treatment and storage.
IFIMAC makes fundamental studies of the properties of materials with the aim to set the pace for future transformational changes in technology. For this, we carry an extensive research program in the synthesis, characterization and modeling of new materials. We develop state of the art instrumentation and techniques which we offer to other research groups through spin-offs or scientific collaborations.
Among them are computational techniques or atomic manipulation as well as surface characterization techniques. Further experimental possibilities are given by support, characterization and nanofabrication facilities provided by the UAM. For example, engineers of the UAM operate the largest liquid helium production and recovery facility of our country (with over 50 000 liters / year), and provide a development center dedicated to the construction of new instrumentation. IFIMAC allows researchers to measure and characterize materials from atomic scale to large sizes, from low to high frequencies, at temperatures down to 7 mK and magnetic fields up to 13 T. Quantum calculations of interfaces and dynamical properties of surfaces are used to interpret experiments and make new predictions. In the IFIMAC, practically every new idea in materials science can be realized using state of the art tools.
Regarding the material properties under study at IFIMAC, several groups are very active in the research on magnetism, superconductivity, spintronics and vortex physics. Other areas of expertise in our center are two-dimensional materials like graphene, in which we analyze in depth its mechanical properties and the role of defects and impurities. Within this area, we also investigate the exciting properties of topological insulators.
A very important topic is also the study of interfaces of organic semiconductors and the atomic, electronic and dynamical properties of semiconductors.
Some of our activities in the field of Advanced Materials are the study of quantum phase transitions, like superconductor-insulator or magnetic-non magnetic, and reversible phase transitions.
Key References
- Intrinsic electrical conductivity of nanostructured metal-organic polymer chains
Cristina Hermosa, Jose Vicente Álvarez, Mohammad-Reza Azani, Carlos J. Gómez-García, Michelle Fritz Jose M. Soler, Julio Gómez-Herrero, Cristina Gómez-Navarro and Félix Zamora
Nature Communications 4, 1709 (2013). [URL] - Low-Temperature Specific Heat of Graphite and CeSb2: Validation of a Quasi-adiabatic Continuous Method
T. Pérez-Castañeda, J. Azpeitia, J. Hanko, A. Fente, H. Suderow and M.A. Ramos
Journal of Low Temperature Physics 173, 4-20 (2013). [URL] - Energy Level Alignment in Organic−Organic Heterojunctions: The TTF/TCNQ Interface
Juan I. Beltrán, Fernando Flores, José I. Martínez and José Ortega
The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 117, 3888 (2013). [URL] - 2D materials: to graphene and beyond
Rubén Mas-Ballesté, Cristina Gómez-Navarro, Julio Gómez-Herrero and Félix Zamora
Nanoscale 3, 20-30 (2011). [URL] - Tunneling in double barrier junctions with ’hot spots’
D. Herranz, F.G. Aliev, C. Tiusan, M. Hehn, V.K. Dugaev and J. Barnas
Physical Review Letters 105, 047207 (2010). [URL] - The missing atom as a source of carbon magnetism
Miguel M. Ugeda, Iván Brihuega, Francisco Guinea and José M. Gómez-Rodríguez
Physical Review Letters 104, 096804 (2010). [URL] - Charge-transfer-induced structural rearrangements at both sides of organic/metal interfaces
Tzu-Chun Tseng, Christian Urban, Yang Wang, Roberto Otero, Steven L. Tait, Manuel Alcamí, David Écija, Marta Trelka, José María Gallego, Nian Lin, Mitsuharu Konuma, Ulrich Starke, Alexei Nefedov, Alexander Langner, Christof Wöll, María Ángeles Herranz, Fernando Martín, Nazario Martín, Klaus Kern and Rodolfo Miranda
Nature Chemistry 2, 374–379 (2010). [URL] - Carbon Nanotubes as Cooper Pair Beam Splitters
L.G. Herrmann, F. Portier, P. Roche, A. Levy Yeyati, T. Kontos and C. Strunk
Physical Review Letters 104, 026801 (2010). [URL] - Atomic Structure of Reduced Graphene Oxide
Cristina Gómez-Navarro, Jannik C. Meyer, Ravi S. Sundaram, Andrey Chuvilin, Simon Kurasch, Marko Burghard, Klaus Kern and Ute Kaiser
Nanoletters 10(4), 1144–1148 (2010). [URL] - Emergence of noncollinear anisotropies from interfacial magnetic frustration in exchange-bias systems
E. Jiménez, J. Camarero,2, J. Sort, J. Nogués, N. Mikuszeit, J.M. García-Martín, A. Hoffmann, B. Dieny and R. Miranda
Physical Review B 80, 014415 (2009). [URL] - Direct observation of melting in a 2-D superconducting vortex lattice
I. Guillamon, H. Suderow, A. Fernandez-Pacheco, J. Sese, R. Cordoba, J.M. De Teresa, M. R. Ibarra and S. Vieira
Nature Physics 651 (2009). [URL] - Fullerenes from aromatic precursors by surface-catalysed cyclodehydrogenation
Gonzalo Otero, Giulio Biddau, Carlos Sánchez-Sánchez, Renaud Caillard, María F. López, Celia Rogero, F. Javier Palomares, Noemí Cabello, Miguel A. Basanta, José Ortega, Javier Méndez, Antonio M. Echavarren, Rubén Pérez, Berta Gómez-Lor and José A. Martín-Gago
Nature 454, 865-868 (2008). [URL] - Structural Origin of the Sn 4d Core Level Line Shape in Sn/Ge(111)-(3×3)
A. Tejeda, R. Cortés, J. Lobo-Checa, C. Didiot, B. Kierren, D. Malterre, E.G. Michel and A. Mascaraque
Physical Review Letters 100, 026103 (2007). [URL] - Quantum properties of atomic-sized conductors
Nicolas Agrait, Alfredo Levy Yeyati and Jan M. van Ruitenbeek
Physics Reports 377 81–279 (2003). [URL]
