Hans Hilgenkamp

Biography Hans Hilgenkamp

Hans Hilgenkamp is a professor in the fields of Applied Physics and Nanotechnology, and Scientific Director of the MESA+ Research Institute of the University of Twente. He is coordinator of the NWA program 'NL-ECO: Netherlands Initiative for Energy-Efficient Computing'.

Hilgenkamp's research focus is on materials with unconventional electronic and/or magnetic properties. Examples are superconductors or resistive switching materials. His research is foremost experimental, making use of thin films and nanostructures. A specialty in his lab is Scanning SQUID Microscopy, that allows highly sensitive imaging of magnetic fields in a variety of materials.

Throughout his career, fundamental studies on the nature and causes for unusual electromagnetic properties have gone hand in hand with developments towards their applications. A prominent example is his research on grain boundaries and related interfaces in high-temperature superconductors. With his colleagues, he realized a method for enhancement of the current carrying capacity of the grain boundaries, of relevance for applications, and has studied the fundamental symmetry properties of the superconducting state, of importance for the understanding of the remarkable quantum phenomenon of superconductivity as well as for electronic devices. His current research interests include new materials and device concepts for energy-efficient electronics, partly inspired by the energy efficiency of the brain. 

Background

After completing his MSc. (1991) and PhD (1995) at the University of Twente, Hans Hilgenkamp worked as a Postdoc at the IBM Zurich Research Lab, Switzerland, and at the University of Augsburg in Germany before returning in 2000 to Twente. Via Assistent and Associate Professorships he became a Full Professor in 2005. In 2007 he was awarded the University of Twente Central Education Prize (Best-teacher award). In 2014 - 2018 he was Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, after which he became co-director of the UT-BRAINS Center.

He was a visiting professor at the CSIRO-Lindfield Lab in Sydney, the National University of Singapore and at Leiden University. Among other recognitions he was awarded a KNAW Research fellowship (1997) and the NWO VIDI (2002) and VICI (2008) grants. He was an inaugural member of the KNAW Young Academy and is co-founder of the Global Young Academy. In 2018 he was elected into the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW). He is a board member of the Dutch Physics Council and vice chair of the Netherlands' Physical Society (NNV). Hans Hilgenkamp is a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors of Science and Fellow of the American Physical Society.

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