ERC Starting Grant awarded to Marcos Guimaraes

Marcos Guimaraes and four other University of Groningen researchers have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant. Next to Guimaraes also Marthe Walvoort, Julia Kamenz, Sandy Schmidt, and Robert Prey receive the grant. The European Research Council (ERC) awards these personal grants, each worth €1.5 million, to outstanding researchers with the aim of stimulating ground-breaking research in Europe.

Marcos Guimaraes (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

In his ERC project, Guimaraes will use atomically-thin two-dimensional materials to combine highly efficient magnetic devices with optical communication. The fast development of modern information technology requires smaller devices consuming less energy. Magnetism provides an excellent route for energy-efficient devices, such as hard-disk drives, but they are often slow. Moreover, magnetic information has to be converted into electric currents for it to be transmitted, leading to more power consumption.

Specifically, Guimaraes aims to integrate magnetic devices with a laser that can convert magnetic information into optical information, i.e. light polarization. This project will pave the way for new generations of information technologies, addressing fundamental aspects along the way.

More about ERC

ERC supports talented young researchers in setting up a research team and starting an independent research project. An ERC grant enables these researchers to start bold, groundbreaking research and thus open up new avenues in their field of study.