Casimir Annual Report 2011 by Casimir Research School

Casimir Research School Delft â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Leiden

Report 2011

Casimir Research School Delft-Leiden Report 2011 Contents Delft-Leiden Casimir Researchschool: Casimir in short

1. Scope of Casimir

1.1. 1.2. 1.3. 1.4.

It’s core business Description of the research themes Educational activities Organization

2. Students and Staff

3. Education

4. Research

5. Outlook to 2012

2.1. 2.2. 2.3. 2.4. 2.5. 3.1. 3.2. 3.3. 4.1. 4.2.

PhD students Recruitment and job market New PhD cohort 2011 Staff developments Mrs. Casimir-Jonker Overview of Casimir courses 2011 Les Houches Casimir Symposium ‘Science Communicated!”

Timeline of Research Highlights 2011 NeCEN opening

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Casimir 2011 in short The year 2011 has been a year of transition. From its early beginning in 2004 Casimir has been guided by the vision and energy of Teun Klapwijk, and later Jan Zaanen joined him as co-director. In 2011 we joined in their footsteps, with great admiration for what Teun and Jan have built up and with a sense of responsibility for making this great School grow further. Historically, 2011 was a very important year for Casimir, as it was the centennial of the discovery of superconductivity by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes in Leiden. Our colleague Peter Kes traced the precise date of the discovery to 8 april 1911. Therefore, this was the date chosen for the grand celebration. Two commemoration plaquettes were dedicated at the site of the discovery: one by Moshe Kam director of the IEEE, which officially declared the site as one of the exclusive groups of IEEE Milestone sites around the world. A second plaquette by Henk van Houten, director of Philips Research, testifies of the importance of the discovery for applications in general, and for Philips Research in particular. The day was filled with many festive events, and was followed later in the year by the large international Superconductivity Centennial Conference held in The Hague from 18 to 23 September. Superconductivity continues to play a major role in some of the most fascinating research within the Casimir programs. New connections are being explored, in the groups of Jan Zaanen and Koenraad Schalm, between the theories of quantum gravity and unconventional, high temperature superconductivity. Superconducting detectors have been developed in the group of Teun Klapwijk, which form the heart of the Herschel Space Telescope that was launched in 2009 and is used for exploring the distant parts of the universe in the far infrared parts of the spectrum. The tradition set by Hans Mooij is continued in the group of Leo DiCarlo, where superconductivity is being explored for building qubits, and performing the first steps towards quantum computation. The most recent excitement comes from the prospects of constructing a long-predicted quantum state known as a Majorana Fermion by combining superconductors and materials known as topological insulators, work that is performed in close collaboration between the groups of Carlo Beenakkker and Leo Kouwenhoven. In the year 2011 a total of 49 new PhD students joined Casimir, which is record high influx. With an outflow of 27 this implies that the total population of PhD students is strongly increasing, a trend that is already visible for several years. In January of 2011 at the annual meeting of FOM (the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter; the physics branch of the national funding agency) at Veldhoven, FOM director Wim van Saarloos launched the concept of the p-profile. With the â&#x20AC;&#x153;pâ&#x20AC;? for PhD the profile gives a graphic representation of the distribution of the time-to-thesis for all theses completed within a community. The community can be a single research group, a sub-field, a department or a research school. For Casimir the p-profile is given in section 2 below. It shows that the median of the distribution lies at 4 years and 2 months. With a formal duration of the PhD programs in the Netherlands of four years this is a fair result, which definitely stands out as a succesfull example in the Dutch community, but shows still room for improvement.

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An effective PhD program rests on many elements. It is one of the central policies of Casimir to put PhD students in the lead of their projects; another is to attract the best minds to our program. These two elements come together in the newly implemented Casimir pre-PhD program in the Master phase of the studies, for which the final assignment is the writing of a research proposal. With this proposal the students compete for a fully funded four-year PhD position. The first of these positions was granted in 2011 to Tim Baart, who has taken up his project in the group of Prof. Lieven Vandersypen. The Casimir Science day was held on 26 May under the title Science Communicated! It was organized by Leo Kouwenhoven, and the focus was on the young faculty members that have recently joined Casimir. The vitality of Casimir was reflected by the high quality of the new researchers, the broad spectrum of fascinating subjects they discussed. From all this we conclude that Casimir is growing stronger and is ready to meet the challenges of 2012 and beyond. We are ready to give it our strongest support! Prof.dr. Jan M. van Ruitenbeek Prof.dr. Nynke H. Dekker april 2012

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1. Scope of Casimir 1.1. It’s core business Casimir Research School (‘Casimir’ for short) is a joint graduate school (MSc + PhD) in interdisciplinary physics, jointly operated between Leiden University and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. The research and training program is executed by groups at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience in Delft and at the Leiden Institute of Physics (LION). The school was established in 2004 and accredited by the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) in 2005. In 2009 Casimir was the highest-ranked recipient in the first round of the Graduate Program fund through which the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) stimulates innovations in research training. The Casimir Research School performs research in the area of interdisciplinary physics, covering six domains, all across the sectors of theoretical, experimental and applied research as well as industrial research, as illustrated in table 1. Casimir research themes 1. Molecular biophysics 2. Physics of nanostructures 3. Quantum matter and functional materials 4. Quantum information and quantum optics 5. Universe physics 6. Dynamic complex systems

Associated disciplines Biological, Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Electrical Engineering; Chemistry; Biology Chemistry; Material Sciences Informatics; Material Sciences Astronomy; Mechanical Engineering Chemistry; Biology; Mechanical Engineering; Materials Sciences

Theory

Experiment

Applied

+++++ ++++

++++

+++++

++++ +++

++++ ++

++++

+++

Industrial

+ + + +

Table 1. Overview of research themes in interdisciplinary physics covered by Casimir. The number of research groups active in each sector and in each theme is indicated by a corresponding number of +’s. Some of the industrial partners in research are given in the right column.

The Casimir Research School aims at integrating the full scope of research activities, from basic research in theoretical and experimental physics, through applied physics and industrial research. We have the ambition of achieving breakthroughs in our understanding of nature, in pushing the frontiers of experimental techniques, in opening new application perspectives, and in breaking down barriers for improved products and processes in industry. The cross-fertilization of the approaches and people working in the different ‘flavors’ of research is seen as being essential for achieving breakthroughs. The Casimir Research School facilitates optimal interaction between the three approaches, often mixing them on the research-group level. In terms of our current scientific publications, the school’s scientific output mixes highprofile fundamental results (in journals such as Physical Review Letters), results of a widely attractive nature (Nature, Science) and patents. Research collaborations are forged equally with leading universities worldwide, as well as with institutes of technology and industrial partners.

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While theory, experiment, and applied research can be found largely in house, most of our industrial research takes place through ties with private sector partners. These ties are maintained in several ways. Researchers with an appointment at selected private sector partners have part-time professorship appointments at our universities (indicated in Table 1). Such part-time professors will be teaching one or more courses and (co-)supervise PhD research projects at the universities, or at the site of the private sector partner. This is a very effective means of bringing students, PhD students, and staff in close contact with developments in industry and creating awareness of the needs and constraints within the industry. Industrial partners are also involved through co-funding of research and by jointly operated research programs, by sponsoring of targeted research areas and contract research, and as spin-out companies of research projects. Research at the Casimir Research School has a focus on research-themes in physics that interact strongly with developments and skills in other disciplines (interdisciplinary physics). This focus is motivated from the fact that many of the exciting new developments in research take place at the boundaries between disciplines. Moreover, for students the skills acquired in communicating with other disciplines are very valuable for any future career. Thus, most of the individual research projects executed by Casimir researchers are interdisciplinary projects, executed in close collaboration with biologists, chemists, material scientists, etc. In Table 1 we list the dominant associated disciplines for each Casimir theme. Research and training are inseparable activities at the school. This means that staff members teach all courses in the MSc and PhD programs and that all education is research-oriented, incorporating the latest research insights. Each PhD student performs an independent research project as full member of one or more research groups, with Casimir providing additional cross-links between groups and to outside stakeholders such as potential employers or industrial research groups. Casimir has been a driving force in further strengthening of the ties between research and education programs in Leiden and Delft. This has resulted in the formulation of joint proposals for Leiden and Delft in the recent national investment programs known as the “Sectorplan”, and the NWO program “Gravity”. Similar signs of strength in combining complementary programs have led to intensified collaboration between the universities of Leiden, Delft and Rotterdam, as recently publicly announced. The Casimir Research School is building a European network of research schools together with the Université Joseph Fourier in Grenoble, France, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Ludwig Maximillian Universität München. With these four partners Casimir co-organizes the yearly summerschool in Les Houches. 1.2. Description of the research themes A complete overview of all research activities in Casimir is beyond the scope of this brief overview. In order to provide a picture of the activities in the six research themes some of the highlights of current research directions are given here. Research Theme 1 – Molecular Biophysics Cells are comprised of a multitude of molecular components that must work together to perform an impressive array of complex tasks. How these components function together to comprise a living system is a question of fundamental interest. Studying the workings of a living cell can greatly benefit from a physics-based, quantitative approach, e.g. optical microscopy, nanotechnology at the scale of the cell’s molecular components, etc. Such an approach must be integrated within the context of broad expertise: a new Department of Bionanoscience, led by Prof. Cees Dekker, has 6

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recently been established at Delft and is already growing into a strongly multidisciplinary team of scientists with varying backgrounds ranging from cell biology, molecular biology and biochemistry, synthetic biology, theoretical biology to biophysics, high-resolution microscopy, nanomedicine, nanoprobes and bionanoapplications. The research generally aims at understanding the molecular processes in a cell. Examples of important research goals are understanding the mechanism of replication and repair of DNA by in-vitro single-molecule techniques, understanding how multi-protein complexes function as a whole, or studies of the mechanism by which bacteria acquire resistance against antibiotics. In the last two decades, biophysical research has led to important breakthroughs by making it possible to study biomolecules and biopolymers at the single-molecule level. This has provided a lot of fundamental insight and understanding of the physical properties of these molecular objects. However, these studies are mostly based on idealized in-vitro experiments, and it is expected that the processes in real living cells will be qualitatively and quantitatively different. The challenge in the field in the coming years will be to take the research to next level and study these processes in the more realistic environment of living cells. To make this possible, physicists, together with chemists and biologists, will need to develop noninvasive tools. One example of an approach under study involves gold nanoparticles. As demonstrated recently by the group of Orrit, it is possible to image the light scattering of single gold nanoparticles. The particles are non-toxic and do not suffer from photo-bleaching. Through collaboration between the groups of Orrit, van Noort and Schmidt (Leiden) these particles will be used as labels for probing singlemolecule dynamics in a living cell. In addition they will be used for quantifying the local mechanical properties in the cell, by applying forces through optical tweezers. Research Theme 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Physics of Nanostructures Its many exceptional properties have attracted several groups to start research on physics and applications of graphene. These include the groups of Aarts, Beenakker, and Frenken in Leiden, and Vandersypen, Zandbergen, and Dekker in Delft. Regarding its electronic properties, device applications could profit from an exceptionally high mobility allowing ballistic electron device architectures. In practice the mobility is still limited by the presence of impurities. Important progress has been made in increasing the mobility by various techniques. One of the goals will be to directly demonstrate Klein tunneling, for which the transmission probability of a tunnel barrier is expected to depend on the angle of incidence. In parallel, work on quantum dots defined in graphene is related to the effort on quantum computation. A single electron spin trapped in a graphene quantum dot is expected to have a long life time because of small spin-orbit scattering and the small number of nuclear spins. Graphene will also be used for contacting of individual organic molecules. More generally, by various techniques it has become possible to apply electrical leads to individual organic molecules, and to probe their electronic transport properties. Organic molecules form stable entities at the nanoscale, while the quantum transport properties can be controlled through design of the compound, which opens perspectives for a range of applications. Some of the most important techniques used in these studies have originated from Casimir research groups, notably the mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ) technique, while improved techniques were developed for electromigration break junctions and 2D molecule/nanoparticle networks. Research in the groups of van Ruitenbeek and van der Molen (Leiden) and van der Zant (Delft) will focus on interference effects of multiple current paths in the molecules, which lead to sharp resonances. Such 7

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phenomena may be relevant for efficient thermoelectric energy conversion. Another line of research will search for non-conservative forces due to the current, which would allow electrically driven motion at the nanoscale. Scanning-probe microscopy has become a most versatile and broadly applicable type of instrument in nanoscience. One type of such scanning probes, magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM), measures local magnetic forces in combination with magnetic force due to a single electron spin can be detected. Still, the limit to sensitivity has not yet been reached. The goal is to be able to measure the force of a single nuclear spin. Once this is possible, the method can be used for mapping the 3D distribution of nuclear spins in a molecule. Analogous to Magnetic Resonance Imaging now in routine use in hospitals for 3D imaging of patients, the MRFM would open the way to 3D imaging of single proteins at the nanoscale. Knowing protein structure is of central importance to understanding its function. Oosterkamp and his group in Leiden have taken important steps towards reaching the required sensitivity. Improvements include lowering the temperature into the milliKelvin regime, increasing the field gradients by the use of magnetic nanoparticles, nanofabrication of the force sensor, and employing detection techniques using SQUIDs rather than laser interferometry. Research Theme 3 – Quantum Matter and Functional Materials The development of more efficient catalysts for industrial chemical reactions is one of the most economically relevant research goals. Yet, progress has been slow because we do not have the tools for analyzing exactly what happens at the atomic scale on a catalyst’s surface. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have been widely used for studying chemical reactions at surfaces. However, most studies are done under very idealized conditions (low pressures,flat surfaces, etc) with limited relevance for real catalysts. The group of Frenken (Leiden) has recently developed new STM and AFM instruments that permit working under “industrial” conditions,while the actual chemical processes are taking place. This has led to many joint projects with industrial partners in catalysis, such as Albemarle, Haldor Topsøe, and Shell. The STM instrument itself is now being offered commercially through a spin-off company, Leiden Probe Microscopy. The research has already produced new insight into the active processes involved in some of the most widely used catalysts.The resolution in the images has not yet reached the atomic scale but current research should bring this goal within reach, which will allow monitoring individual reactions and associating the reactions with specific sites. At the same time, in collaboration with industry, many commercial catalysts will be studied for improved understanding of their function, and avenues towards improved materials will be explored. Research Theme 4 – Quantum Information and quantum optics Quantum computation has captured the imagination of many, but has long seemed beyond reach. More recent developments, with seminal contributions from the groups of Mooij, Kouwenhoven and Vandersypen (Delft) have shown that quantum systems can be used for information storage and manipulation, and many of the main obstacles towards realizing an actual, scalable, design have been removed. Still several important steps remain to be taken, and each problem to be solved requires profound understanding of physics and a lot of creativity. The approach to quantum computation in Casimir is through solid-state nanofabrication of qubits, as this is one of the most promising avenues for scaling up to many qubits, whether in the form of superconducting circuits (DiCarlo), spins in diamond (Hanson), or spins in semiconductor quantum dots (Vandersypen and Kouwenhoven). The central 8

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challenge is to maintain quantum coherence for such “large” qubits. Very recently, with seminal contributions from Beenakker’s group (Leiden), it has been suggested that information may be stored indefinitely in the form of Majorana Fermions. These could be realised in a solid state device by coupling a so-called topological insulator with a superconductor. The groups of Kouwenhoven and Beenakker are among the principal candidates for reaching this goal, and the the first results have recently been published. Equally important is the emission and detection of single photons, as well as the future quantum repeater, all important elements of a future quantum internet, work that is the focus of the Zwiller group. Quantum states are becoming more tangible also because it starts to be possible to observe quantization of mechanical vibration states of macroscopic objects. The groups of Bouwmeester and Oosterkamp (Leiden) and van der Zant and Steele (Delft) are exploring this territory. A very profound connection with the foundations of quantum mechanics has been made by Penrose. He has argued that an oscillating mass described by quantum mechanics should influence its own motion through the deformation of space-time, as a consequence of general relativity. This means that quantum mechanics as we know it should break down for an oscillator of sufficient mass, oscillating at sufficiently large amplitude. Such oscillators are being developed in Bouwmeester’s team, where the goal is to bring a mechanical oscillator in quantum superposition with a single photon in an optical cavity. The experiment requires a combination of advanced optical techniques, cryogenic techniques down into the micro-Kelvin regime and below, and micro- and nano- instrumentation. Theme 5 – Universe physics String theory is one of the dominant approaches for reconciling quantum mechanics and general relativity. It describes the physics at the very largest scale of black holes and cosmology and at the smallest scale of elementary particles. More recently much attention has been drawn to a property known as the AdS/CFT correspondence, by which models in string theory can be mapped onto models in conformal field theory. The interest lies in the fact that conformal field theories are applicable more widely, notably in many-particle systems in condensed matter physics. Through a recent collaboration between the groups of Zaanen and Schalm (Leiden) it was demonstrated that it is possible to use such models for calculating the excitation spectrum of a correlated electron system as a function of external parameters, all the way through a quantum phase transition. In parallel, proposals appeared for describing unconventional “holographic” superconductivity. For many unconventional superconductors, including the cuprate high-Tc superconductors, the actual mechanism for pairing is still unknown, with the mechanism above being one of the prominent candidates. Zaanen’s group has now proposed an experimental avenue for elucidating the actual pairing mechanism by measurement of the pair susceptibility. This may finally resolve one of the most important problems in condensed matter physics. Together with the experimental groups of van Ruitenbeek, Hilgenkamp, and Aarts (Leiden) the program for the coming year will be to test these predictions. More generally, the AdS/CFT correspondence will be applied for finding condensed matter systems that may be described through models in string theory and for finding models in condensed matter systems that may provide experimental tests of predictions in string theory.

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Research Theme 6 – Dynamic Complex Systems Many physical, biological and socio-economic systems display a high degree of differentiation in their structure and organization. The relations existing among the many underlying units of such systems give rise to a challenging degree of complexity, which is typically reflected in highly nonlinear responses to perturbations, fractal spatial and temporal patterns, nontrivial correlations, intricate networks of interactions, irreducible multi-scale behavior, and spontaneous emergence of collective properties. The groups of Vitelli and v.Hecke (Leiden) investigate a broad range of phenomena in soft materials, with an emphasis on the physics of frustrated and amorphous materials such as granular media, foams, glasses and fibrous networks. The focus is to understand, by means of a combination of theory, experiments and simulations, how soft materials organize, and how this organization impacts their mechanical properties, such as vibrational modes, elasticity, shock waves, flow and failure. A current focus is to understand the dominant role of nonlinearities in soft materials that are brought close to certain critical points, associated with failure, unjamming and marginality. Garlaschelli’s group (Leiden) performs research in Complex Networks theory and Econophysics. The main goal of this research is the development of an informationtheoretic approach to the structure and dynamics of large networks, with an emphasis on socio-economic systems where dealing with the multiple-scale nature of interactions is particularly critical. Previous research in the group has shown that it is possible to use the properties of canonical ensembles in statistical mechanics in order to distinguish nontrivial topological patterns from randomness in real complex networks, and also to stochastically reconstruct the structure of networks from partial information. Future goals include extensions of the theory to financial time series and more complicated scenarios. This work is performed in interaction with and co-funded by the company Duyfken Knowledge BV.

1.3.

Educational activities

Support of MSc students

For students with an interest in a research career beyond the MSc phase, Casimir has established a special pre-PhD track within the existing MSc programmes Physics (in Leiden) and Applied Physics (in Delft). The track is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) through a competitive programme for Graduate schools. This Master’s track focuses on educating students, especially for PhD positions at the two institutions or elsewhere and is designed to respond to the increasing mobility of students after completing their BSc. The track leads to a particular set of courses and research experiences in more than one department. A selection takes place for entrance into this track. For a limited number of students within this track, a PhD position is guaranteed. This so-called prize-PhD position is cofunded by NWO, TU Delft and Leiden University independent of specific research funding. Students apply to these positions by writing a research proposal themselves. Other students within the Casimir pre-PhD track will have excellent PhD job prospects. More information can be found on the Casimir website. In 2011 the first prize-PhD was awarded to Tim Baart. Baart conducted his research in Leiden, Harvard and Delft. He is now a PhD student at TU Delft.

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The Hendrik Casimir prize winners 2011

The Casimir Research School yearly awards prizes for the best MSc students. This year’s award winners are Rianne van den Berg (Delft) and Evert van Nieuwenburg (Leiden). They received the 2011 Hendrik Casimir prize, in the form of a certificate and a sum of €750,- . The prize is based on the revenues from a donation by the late Josina Casimir-Jonker, widow of the famous Hendrik Casimir. The selection was made by a committee formed by dr. Jos Thijssen (director of Master Education Delft), prof. Jan Aarts (Director of Education Leiden) and dr. Sander Otte (coordinator of the Casmir pre-PhD Master program). The prize winners, Rianne van den Berg and Evert van Nieuwenburg, are both excellent MSc students that have been selected because of their exceptional results, in experimental physics as well as in theoretical physics.

Training of PhD students The Casimir Research School organizes workshops and offers special graduate and advanced graduate courses. Casimir PhD students are required to acquire 15 ECTS credits in thematic graduate education during their PhD. This number is chosen as to allow PhD students to attend at least two graduate courses and several workshops, concentrated mostly in the first years of their PhD project duration. An overview of the program is given in section 3 below. Casimir uses the following formats for its educational activities:     

Graduate courses throughout the year Personal development courses One-week Casimir schools The bi-annual Casimir Science days A bi-annual Spring School for PhD students and post-docs only

Each PhD student has its own educational plan, detailing the workshops and courses to be attended. The PhD supervisors coach the students in drawing up and updating this plan, and monitor progress in an informal and formal way. Fully in the spirit of Hendrik Casimir, the research school aims to provide PhD students with more than just training for a specific subfield of physics. Personal development courses are part of the educational programme, too. These courses are offered by the participating universities and the funding agencies FOM and NWO. A full list of courses can be found on the Casimir website. They cover topics such as presentation skills, scientific integrity, time management and business orientation.

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1.4.

Organization

In 2011, the Casimir organization consisted of the following persons: Scientific director Prof.dr.ir. T.M. Klapwijk (until 1 April 2011) Prof.dr. J. van Ruitenbeek (as from 1 April 2011) Co-director Prof.dr. J. Zaanen (until summer 2011) Prof.dr. N.H. Dekker (as from summer 2011) Casimir Board Dr. C. Danelon (from 1 January 2012) Prof.dr. E.R. Eliel (from 1 April 2011) Prof.dr. J. Zaanen Prof.dr.ir. H.S.J. van der Zant Prof.dr. J.W.M. Frenken (until 1 April 2011)

Casimir Education Committee Dr. C. Danelon Dr.ir. R. Hanson (voorzitter) Dr. T. Oosterkamp Prof. H. Schiessel

Casimir PhD platform Jetty van Ginkel (Bionanoscience, Delft) Hedde van Hoorn (Biophysics, Leiden) Vincent van Mourik (Quantum Transport, Delft) Jelmer Renema (Quantum Optics Group, Leiden) Jan van Ostaay (Theoretical Physics Group, Leiden) Mickael Perrin (Mol. Electronics & Devices) Joris Berkhout (Leiden) until 1 April 2011 Floris Braakman (Delft) until 1 April 2011 Marijn van Loenhout (Delft) until 1 April 2011 Jennifer Mathies (Leiden) until 1 October 2011 Jos Seldenthuis (Delft) until 1 October 2011 Casimir scientific advisory  Prof. B. Noordam, Professor of Physics, University of Amsterdam and ASM Lithography (together with P. Gosling he is the author of “Mastering your PhD; Survival Success in the Doctoral years and beyond”, Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, 2006)  Prof. J.P. Kotthaus, Professor of Physics and former Director of the Center for Nanoscience, München, Germany  Prof. M.R. Beasley, Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering and former Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, USA  Prof. Zheng-Yu Weng, Professor of Theoretical Physics, Tsing-Hua University, Beijing, China  Prof. P.B. Littlewood, Professor of Physics and Director of the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK (from 1 February 2009)  Prof. Jonathan Howard, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology & Genetics and Professor of Biophysics, Dresden University of Technology

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2. Students and staff 2.1. PhD students At the end of 2011, 204 PhD students were enlisted in the Casimir Research School. A total of 23 PhD students finished their project in 2011 and published their results in the form of a thesis. Staff*

Postdocs

PhD students

Theses

Leiden: Delft:

44 42

37 45

99 105

Total:

204

16 7 23

PhD Dropout 1 3

* Number of Casimir staff members (not FTE) including part-time appointments and retired staff members still active in our research community

Year

Theses completed

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

23 28 22 17 25 31 24

Average time to thesis approval (years) 4.54 4.26 4.49 4.02 4.20 4.15

100

Thesis completed (%)

80 60 50 %

40 20 4 year 2 months

time to thesis (year)

Casimir p-profile, showing the cumulative numbers of theses completed as a function of the timeto-thesis (the time between start of a PhD studies and the completion acceptance of the manuscript) for all completed PhDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s within Casimir for starting dates since 2001. The median of the distribution (with 50% of all theses completed) falls at 4 years and 2 months.

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Time-to-Thesis Casimir PhD’s 2011 7 6 5 4 time to thesis

3 2 1 0 0

Graphical representation of the total time-to-thesis (in years) for students receiving their degree in 2011.

2.2. Recruitment and Job market Recruitment of PhD students The following steps have been taken: 1. Various PhD positions have been filled with young students who entered Leiden or Delft as MSc students from elsewhere and were selected as candidates for a PhD position within Casimir. The conclusion is that it is very important to continue to provide scholarships for gifted students from elsewhere to enroll for the MSc study. 2. The Faculty of Sciences has introduced the Leiden/Huygens fellowships for Astronomy, Physics and Mathematics to attract gifted PhD candidates. In total five excellent candidates were offered a fellowship and have excepted, out of which two are at the physics department. 3. The Casimir-office has used the methodology of uploading applications to a database to enable individual group leaders to bring suitable candidates to the attention of colleagues. 4. Casimir also participates in the program set up jointly by KNAW and NWO with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to identify excellent Chinese candidate PhD students with interest in PhD studies through Casimir at Leiden/Delft. This program is in an early phase but may certainly contribute to the increased awareness of the PhD research opportunities in physics at Delft and Leiden. In September2011 the first PhD candidate started in Leiden through the program Talent and Training. 5. Casimir has applied for the Marie Curie Initial Training Networks. If granted, the program will give us the opportunity to recruit 13/14 PhD’s starting in 2013/2014.

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Career perspectives Overall the career perspectives for our alumni are very good. We have collected information on the first and second jobs of our former PhDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. The pie chart diagram below provides an overview of this information sorted over the main categories of positions. For the large majority of students a new position has been secured well before, or within a few months after completing the PhD training. Figure 1. Pie chart showing the initial career steps for alumni of the Casimir Research School after completion of their PhD degree.

2.3. New PhD cohort 2011 Statistics Recruitment PhD Students Cohort 2011 Started in 2011 Nationality MSc Qualified Quantity Male Female Netherlands outside Delft/Leiden Outside Netherland Dutch Europe (Non-Dutch) World (Non-Europe) Delft 29 21 7 8 11 9 Leiden 21 18 3 6 28 7 10 4 Total 49 39 10 34 15 21 13

2.4. Staff developments Many new young research staff members have joined Casimir in 2011, and they introduce themselves below. Elio Abbondanzieri (Bionanoscience, Delft) Although I have an Italian name I am an American scientist, born in in the city of Rochester. I joined the department of Bionanoscience about a year ago. The research in my lab focuses on how proteins interact with nucleic acids and assemble into the large, complex structures necessary for life. My initial path in science was not focused on biology at all. As a physics major at Rice University (1995-1999), I avoided taking a single biology course. In selecting a research project I was drawn to exciting developments in atomic physics, particularly the discovery of Bose-Einstein condensation. Working with Peter Nordlander and Randy Hulet, I modeled the collapse of an unstable Bose-Einstein condensate comprised of atoms that interact with a negative scattering length. It was a fascinating system, which allowed me apply the equations I had learned in quantum mechanics to a macroscopic object. 15

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When I moved to Stanford University (1999-2005), I thought it would be fun to continue my studies of Bose gases in the lab of Stephen Chu. However, the same year I arrived at Stanford, a professor from Princeton named Steve Block moved his lab there. When I saw Steve give a presentation on kinesin, a tiny molecular motor that he could observe taking 8 nanometer steps using optical tweezers, I was immediately drawn to biophysics. Before that point, I had tended to view biology a bit like Rutherford – a form of stamp collecting. Steve’s research opened my eyes to the rich nanoscopic world hidden inside of cells. During my PhD, I worked hard to catch up in my knowledge of biological systems and began a research project on RNA polymerase, the molecular engine that transcribes the code of DNA. I focused on improving the signal to noise of our optical tweezers until we could observe this motor advancing in single base increments on DNA. This distance of 3.4 Ångstoms set a new record for the technique and allowed us to observe features that had previously been hidden. One of these was a direct observation of backtracking by RNA polymerase to correct mistakes it had made. Using this proofreading mechanism, bacterial cells can transcribe DNA with about one error per million bases. A human typing at a keyboard makes around a thousand times as many mistakes! After I finished my PhD, I moved to Harvard University to work as a postdoc (2006-2010) in the laboratory of Xiaowei Zhuang. Here I looked for a new system to study, and was drawn to HIV reverse transcriptase. This enzyme had long been identified as a drug target to fight the spread of AIDS. This is because it preforms several diverse steps needed for the successful infection of a cell with the virus. I wanted to understand how one enzyme manages to perform such a range of activities. Using single molecule FRET, a technique that allows for distance measurements to be made with fluorescence, I followed the interaction of individual reverse transcriptase molecules with nucleic acids. This uncovered an astoundingly dynamic range of motion. We saw the enzyme flip and shuttle along DNA and RNA strands so that it could perform the correct reactions at the correct time. My research really drove home how complex the interaction between a protein and nucleic acid can be. When we say a protein binds nucleic acids, this term can cover an enormous number of separate nano-states that can rapidly exchange with each other. We observed that drugs that were known to inhibit reverse transcriptase actually pushed the enzyme into unproductive nanostates that other techniques could not visualize. In my own lab, I am pushing in several directions. One focus is a continuation of my work with reverse transcriptase. We would like to know the physical mechanism that allows the enzyme flip or shuttle on nucleic acids, and we would like to study how different classes of drugs inhibit the enzyme. I have also been drawn to larger, more complex systems. In many cases, enzymes do not act individually in the cell but must self-assemble spontaneously into larger structures. This process is poorly understood, and I feel single molecule techniques offer the most promising path forward to determining how we can recreate these complex structures outside the cell. We also want to use new tools to visualize complex formation inside of cells at resolutions that were believed to be impossible to achieve with light microscopy a decade ago. With these tools, we can study the assembly of large protein and nucleic acid complexes both from the “bottom up” and the “top down”.

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Alexey Boyarsky (Theoretical Physics, Leiden) I am Ukrainian and I obtained my PhD in Moscow ( Institute for Nuclear researches). I worked in Utrecht University, Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, CERN, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology( EPFL/ETHZ ). I worked on various subjects in theoretical physics, including black holes and their quantum mechanical description; Quantum Hall effect: effective field theory description of the QHE edge and transport properties, its relation to microscopic description in terms of interacting electrons, analysis of experiments; string theory and its applications to various physics problems. During the last several years my main interest is searching for a complete model of particle physics, that could explain a number of observed phenomena that the Standard Model of particle physics fails to explain. These includes: - dark matter; - particle-antiparticle asymmetry of the Universe; - massive neutrinos (neutrino flavor oscillations). We test new theories using not only accelerator and laboratory experiments, but also using various astrophysical and cosmological observations. Therefore, I do some research in astronomy and astrophysics, and work with observational data. To use these data to test particle physics a theory of the early Universe, filled with a hot and dense relativistic plasma, has to be developed. The ground state of such a plasma, apart from various interacting particles, may contain also large scale semiclassical fields, making this plasma inhomogeneous, non-equilibrium, turbulent. The methods developed in condensed matter theory become very important for such a system. I have stated teaching a course on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Particle physics and the early Universeâ&#x20AC;?. Martin Depken (Bionanoscience, Delft) Swedish by birth, and an engineer by training, I soon realized I wanted to do science and moved to University of Oxford to pursue a Dphil in theoretical physics. There I worked on exactly solvable models of 1D interacting particle systems, studying both glassy relaxation and steady-state phase transitions. After completing my doctorate and spending some enjoyable time studying granular flows in Leiden, I became aware of the growing number of actively driven, machine-like, biomolecular systems, that were becoming amenable to quantitative modeling though the continued advance of single molecule and other experimental techniques. These days, after having spent time doing postdocs in both Germany (MPI-PKS Dresden) and the Netherlands (VU Amsterdam), I have become particularly interested in the molecular machines that process the information contained in genomes: vital machines that use chemical energy to copy, read out, and repair the genetic code with astonishing fidelity. Apart from being complex themselves, these machines do not act in isolation; they interact with each other and a highly interconnected and dynamic environment. Building physical models of how these machines function and are tuned to 17

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changing conditions is challenging, and requires close collaboration with experimental colleagues. I am therefore very happy to be setting up a theory group at the Bionanoscience Department at TU Delft, with world class and highly relevant experiments being performed both locally and nationally in the Netherlands. Diego Garlaschelli (Econophysics and Network Theory, Leiden) I am a theoretical physicist, and joined the Lorentz Institute for Theoretical Physics (Leiden) in February 2011 as an Assistant Professor. My main research interests are Statistical Physics and its interdisciplinary applications to real-world complex systems, from biology to social and economic systems. The two fields of research where I am most active at the moment are Network Theory and Econophysics. My interest towards complex systems within and outside physics originated in 2000 when I was about to choose the research project for my Masters degree in Rome. Having completed several university courses focusing on Particle Physics and Cosmology, I have always been attracted by the origin and beauty of the Universe. But I have also always been attracted by the process of biological evolution, and by the origin and beauty of Life. I realized that the common element that was charming me is the process of self-organization, through which non-equlibrium physical and biological systems continuously adapt to and coevolve with their environment, in a way which makes the system much more complex than the sum of its parts. I therefore decided to carry out my project in the the group of Prof. Guido Caldarelli and Luciano Pietronero, where fractals and complex systems in physics, biology and social science were intensively studied. And shortly after I started my project about self-organization in a model of evolutionary ecology in 2001, a new unifying concept came from the scientific community: ...networks! Networks of intricately interacting elements appear almost everywhere in science, and their nontrivial topological properties have unexpected impacts on the dynamical processes they sustain, to the point that many known results for processes taking place on regular structures (lattices, chains, etc.) are no longer valid on more complicated networks. In the most interesting cases, there is also a continuous feedback between dynamics and topology, so that networks change adaptively. Networks quickly became my main interest throughout my PhD in Siena (Italy, 20022005) and my post-doc research (Canberra, Siena, Oxford, Pisa). I studied several theoretical and empirical aspects of biological and socioeconomic networks. This created the basis for my current activity in Leiden, which uses the connection between information theory and statistical physics in order to understand whether the nonlocal (i.e. due to indirect interactions) structure of real networks can be traced back to local topological properties. When this occurs, analytical expressions can be derived in order to predict the structure of large networks from simpler quantities, and fluctuation-dissipation-like relations can be used in order to characterize the quasi-equilibrium network dynamics. My preferred application is to socioeconomic and financial networks, which are also one of the main focuses of Econophysics, since they help to understand how many independent choices of individuals and organizations combine together in a higher-order structure exhibiting collective and emergent properties. Worldwide economic and financial crises actually propagate through such networks, which makes this research also relevant for a

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physical understanding of critical financial phenomena. And self-organization plays a major role there! Chirlmin Joo (Bionanoscience, Delft) Life at 10:30 am 5:45 am 6:15 am 6:45 am 7:15 am 9:00 am 10:00 am 10:15 am 10:30 am1

Walked out of home. Went to college. Started studying physics. Took a brief break for military training. Back to study. Mastered undergraduate physics. Started a PhD. Joined a biophysics group. Completed a PhD thesis. Jumped into biology. Visited the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience in Delft. Moved to Delft. Hired the first crew. Still in the morning.

“You are a butterfly,” he said. Dr. Johnathan Milton, my lifetime mentor, was pointing that I was too quickly switching from one topic to another when talking with him. Puzzled, I argued back. But I soon realized that he was right (as he had always been!) I had a habit of jumping between seemingly unrelated matters. My last five hours are marked with drastic changes in academic subjects and geographic locations. After entering an undergraduate program at 5:45am in Seoul, South Korea, I was constantly bouncing back and forth between physics and astronomy. When I encountered with ethology and molecular biology at 7am, I learned that the universe was too complex (or too interesting) to be explained only by physics. This changed my future. At 7:15am I flew over the Pacific Ocean to pursue a PhD in biophysics and joined Taekjip Ha’s group in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. The Ha group was by then small (only 10 people) but grew exponentially afterward (to more than 30 when I left). That flourishing environment gave me an opportunity for tasting various new single molecule techniques. At 9am, I headed for the Narry Kim group in Seoul to taste the essence of biology. In the new place, I learned how to speak new languages and think in a biologically relevant manner. After appreciating biology and biophysics, I decided to grow my own flower and make nectar of my own flavor. As far away as in Korea, I could smell the enthusiasm of the new Department of Bionanoscience in the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience. My visit to Delft at 10am convinced me that this place was where I could integrate my knowledge in biology and biophysics. With the historically strong nanoscience and the rapidly growing biophysics at the Kavli Institute in Delft, I felt confident to develop novel biophysical tools.

To calculate your current biological time, assume that your clock started running from a midnight when you were born and it will reach the next midnight when you reach an expected lifespan (e.g. 80 years). Many of you will find that you went to a college early in the morning and obtained a PhD around at 9am. Now your clock may be indicating some time in the morning or early afternoon and there must be long hours waiting for you in the afternoon and/or in the evening. 1

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At 10:15am, I moved to Delft with 10 boxes of my belongings. Being an expert in the butterfly business, it took me only three seconds to start the new position and only a few minutes to hire my first members. The nectar that I am going to make with my crew will have a unique taste with the main ingredients of single molecule fluorescence and mammalian cell biology. Single molecule biology has celebrated its successful first decade. But, because of its short history, it cannot yet help scientists explore novel biological systems. My group has recently developed a single molecule technique to use a soup of cell extracts and has applied it in studying human protein complexes. This new technique will enable scientists to investigate many other novel protein systems at the molecular level. We are developing another new technique to address one of the challenges in biology. In human cells there are >20,000 protein species. To analyze a protein population, researchers read protein sequences. Current sequencing techniques have such limitations that they cannot cover a full spectrum of cellular proteins. By reading protein sequences at the single molecule level, my group aim to change the paradigm of proteomics. Just like bringing up seemingly unrelated topics all at the same time, I have been jumping between apparently different scientific disciplines—physics, biology and biophysics. I believe this is how we can be creative—relating the unrelated. But we sometime need to stop jumping and delve into important subjects. Whenever I become too excited with a new idea, I look at my biological clock—which is passing 10:30am at the moment of this writing—and look ahead at the long afternoon waiting. After all, we come up with great ideas when we are alert but relaxed. Anne S. Meyer (Bionanoscience, Delft) I am an American assistant professor who joined the Department of Bionanoscience at TU Delft in January of 2011. My research focuses on understanding and manipulating the mechanisms used by living beings to defend themselves against damaging environmental agents. Following completion of my Bachelor’s degree in Biology at Yale University, my Ph.D. research in the field of Biological Sciences at Stanford University first sparked my interest into the many different and unexpected ways that cells can respond to stress. High temperatures can cause proteins to unfold, losing the distinctive three-dimensional conformations that allow them to function appropriately. I discovered that barrel-shaped chaperonin enzymes can rescue these unfolded proteins by forming a lid to enclose them within a central cavity, forming a nanocage that provides a specialized environment favoring the folded state of client proteins. This initial foray into the field of biochemistry fueled my enthusiasm to learn more about the intricate molecular mechanisms that underlie the functions of proteins. My curiosity has been captured of late by Dps, a fascinating stress-response enzyme found in bacteria that I studied during my post-doctoral fellowship at MIT in the Department of Biology. Under conditions hazardous to cellular survival, Dps coats the bacterial chromosome and condenses it into a compact linear array called a “biocrystal.” Bacteria that have undergone the process of biocrystallization are thousands of times more likely to survive in damaging environments and to avoid harmful DNA mutations and breakage. Not only is this response highly dramatic, involving an entire reorganization of the genome, it is also extremely rapid and completely reversible.

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Reaching a complete understanding of the regulation and mechanisms underlying this little-understood phenomenon, which merges aspects of science ranging from microbiology to condensed-matter physics, will require expertise in many diverse areas of research. The broad scope and vibrant collaborative spirit of the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience therefore strike me as uniquely suited to host my research. Ultimately I believe that a better understanding of bacterial strategies for survival will lead to opportunities to fight opportunistic pathogens and preserve our own symbiotic microbiome. 2.5. Mrs. Josina Maria Casimir-Jonker deceased on 21 July 2011 Mrs. Josina Casimir studied Physics in Leiden and she did research at the Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratorium in Leiden during some years. Just like her husband prof.dr. Hendrik B.G. Casimir (deceased in 2000) she had a warm heart for Dutch Education and Research. We are very grateful to Mrs. Casimir for her active support of talented students and will remember her very positive attitude. Mrs. Casimir has reached the age of 100 years.

Mevr. Casimir-Jonker, Casimir Science Day 2009

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3. Education 3.1. Overview of Casimir courses 2011

Casimir PhD Course “Electronics for Physicists” (winter and fall 2011) Subject area: The course is a must-have for PhD students and post-docs interested in experimental physics Number of participants: 27 and 25 participants, respectively, passed the final exam and received the Casimir certificate Lecturers: Dr V. Zwiller, R. Schouten Description: We study electronics with a strong focus on practical applications. After reviewing the basics of passive and active components and their practical limitations, we focus on circuit simulation, systematic troubleshooting and opamp circuits. Signals, noise and interference problems (and solutions!) are also an important topic. We finish with an overview of microwaves and various measurement techniques, and a day on advanced use of electronic measurement equipment. Several case studies from the physics lab are used throughout the course to make the theory come alive.

Casimir PhD Course “Biology for Physicists”

Subject area: The aim of the course is to introduce the participants to the basics of cell and molecular biology. Books: Alberts B., et al., Essential cell biology, 3rd ed., Garland Science, 2009; Alberts, B. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 5th ed., Reference Edition, 2007. Number of participants: 10 participants passed the final exam and received the Casimir certificate. Lecturers: Aviva Joseph, David Grünwald, and Christophe Danelon (TU Delft). Description: Key subjects include the genetic information, protein structure and function, lipids and cell membranes, signaling pathways, the cell cycle, and the immune system. More advanced topics specific to the individual needs or interests will be addressed as well during discussions.

Casimir Course “Hot Topics in Quantum NanoScience” (started in 2011)

Subject area: Exemplary topics are topological insulators, mesoscopic quantum gravity, string theory for condensed matter, measurement-based quantum computing, quantum-limited sensors, Majorana Fermions, fast-light with single photons, etc. Preparation: The tutorial, as a ~1 hour lecture, is open to everybody. A 2nd hour will be reserved as a discussion hour between the registered class of PhD students and postdocs with the lecturer. The course teachers will act as moderators. Besides the public lecture, private discussion and research paper, a session is concluded by writing a 1-page essay within one week on the subject and preferentially in the context of the participant’s own research. Number of participants: 20 Hosts: Gary Steele, Leo DiCarlo, Leo Kouwenhoven and Tjerk Oosterkamp Lecturers: Leo DiCarlo, Ali Yazdani, Paul McEuen, Andrew Cleland, Leonid Glazman Description: Speakers from all over the world will be asked to present pedagogical introductions to their field with an emphasis on basic concepts. Besides such an introductory lecture open for everybody, the participants of this course will have an additional discussion with the speaker discussing a recent paper and the holy grails of the field.

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Casimir PhD Course “Theoretical Biophysics”

Subject area: This course provides a theorist’s perspective on biophysics. Number of participants: 17 Lecturers: Prof. Helmut Schiessel Description: This course provides a theorist’s perspective on biophysics. There is an explosion of data from extremely sophisticated experiments (e.g. single molecules experiments) that, in order to be interpreted, require a theoretical understanding on the basis of statistical mechanics. Instead of trying to provide a broad overview over the molecular biology of the whole cell, I shall focus on the molecules that are involved in the so-called central dogma: information flows from DNA via RNA to proteins. The common structure of these molecules is that they are polymers. More specifically I discuss: polymer physics, DNA (from basepairs to larger scales), RNA and protein folding, DNA-protein complexes, protein-target search, kinetic proofreading for transcription, chromatin. 3.2. Les Houches Summerschool Frontiers of Condensed Matter, France This summerschool aims at offering PhD students a training programme in the area of Condensed Matter Physics. It is organized jointly by the Ecole Doctorale de Physique de Grenoble (France), the Casimir Research School Delft-Leiden (Netherlands), the Ecole Doctorale de Physique et d’Astrophysique (PHAST), Lyon (France) and the Arnold Sommerfeld Center for theoretical physics, Munich (Germany) with participation of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany) and Cambridge University (UK). The location for this training session is the city of Les Houches in the French Alps. The session can host up to 70 participants and is organized yearly. Each training session consists of six courses of 4.5 to 9 hours each on current topics, presented by leading researchers from the organizing institutions, often complemented by more specialized research seminars. During the summer school there is much time for informal discussions between participants and lecturers. A poster session is organized preceded by a short oral presentation enabling the participants to present their research interests to each other. The topics of the courses at the 2011 Les Houches summer school were: 1. Quantum information processing with superconducting circuits, L. Di Carlo (Delft) 2. Quantum optics with solid-state artificial atoms, J.M. Gérard (Grenoble) 3. Mesoscopic transport and superconductivity, T.M. Klapwijk (Delft), J. Meyer (Grenoble) 4. Dissipation and decoherence, G. Schön (Karlsruhe) 5. Coulomb blockade and Kondo effect in quantum dots, J. von Delft (Munich) 6. Trends in condensed matter, various speakers Report by Julia Cramer The summerschool in Les Houches on ‘Frontiers of Condensed Matter Physics’ was my first serious ‘science activity’ besides my studies. It was great to have the opportunity to attend this summerschool as a master student. As I did not yet know exactly in which direction I would like to specialize, all the lectures were very useful. Furthermore, it was great to meet so many people with the same interest in physics. Everyone explained his or her research topic in a two minute presentation and during poster presentation. 23

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Les Houches was the perfect place to hang out with these people, talk about their research and universities. It was an informal way to find out whether I would like to do a PhD and to which topic I feel the most attracted. Not only I got to know more about research in the field, but also about the different working enviroments in different countries and universities. The combination of lectures and exploring the mountains was great! 3.3. Casimir Symposium ‘Science Communicated!’ 26 May 2011

The recorded talks of the speakers were recorded by collegerama and can be found on the homepage of our website. http://casimir.researchschool.nl/ Program ‘Science Communicated!’, Faculty of Architecture Delft

Tjerk Oosterkamp & Leo Kouwenhoven are moderators during the symposium. Christophe Danelon (Bionano, Delft) “Assembly of minimal cells” Diego Garlaschelli (Lion, Leiden) “Complex Networks: an information-theoretic approach” Leo DiCarlo (Quantum Nanoscience, Delft) “Quantum limited measurement in superconducting circuits” Elio Abbondanzieri (Bionano, Delft) “Molecular Gymnastics: The Dynamic Binding orientations of HIV Reverse Transcriptase” Vincenzo Vitelli (Lion, Leiden) “The fate of the sonic vacuum” Liberato Manna (Quantum Nanoscience, Delft) “Colloidal nanocrystals: synthesis and assembly”

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4. Research News

JAN

4.1. Timeline of highlights 2011  

FEB

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Marijn Hollestelle received his PhD on the life and work of the remarkable Physicist Paul Ehrenfest, professor of theoretical physics and a "catalyst of science." One hundred years ago, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered superconductivity. Research Dr. Nika Akopian (QN/QT) casts light on efficient memory for quantum computer Hans Mooij wins Fritz London Memorial Prize Peter Kes is the first recipient of the Abrikosov Prize in Vortex Physics. Dirk Bouwmeester is investigating strange double life in Quantum Mechanics Gerrit Bauer is elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society Tjerk Oosterkamp receives Bachiene Medal TU Delft identifies huge potential of nanocrystals in fuel cells Symposium on 100 years of superconductivity

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Jan van Ruitenbeek starts as new scientific director of the Casimir Research School Eric Eliel starts as new director LION

APR

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MAY

MAR

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Zorana Zeravcic has won the C.J. Kok prijs "Vibrations in materials with granularity" for best thesis in 2010. Peter Kes sheds new light on the discovery of Superconductivity

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PhD defense of Huang She: Is room temperature superconductivity possible? Nynke Dekker joins FOM Executive Board New course starts on Econophysics with Diego Garlaschelli Casimir Day Science Communicated! takes place with new staff members speaking from Delft and Leiden

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Anton Akhmerov brings the quantum computer closer to reality Leo Kouwenhoven is developing qubits for a quantum computer Researchers at the Bionano department and the University of Basel: Mimicking nature at the nanoscale: selective transport across a biomimetic nanopore Wolfgang Loeffler and colleagues from the Quantum Optics group were able to demonstrate Quantum-entangled images sent through optical fibers PhD defense of Felix Hol: Evolution on a chip. “I want to understand how different populations can coexist in nature”

JUN

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JUL

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Richard van Rijn has studied the surface structure of a Pd model catalyst under realistic operation conditions Mesaros et al (Zaanen group) in Science: the latest step towards understanding 'exotic electron behaviour' leading to high-temperature superconductivity.

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AUG SEP OCT

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Ronald Hanson receives QIPC Young Investigator Award NWO grant awarded to Astronomers and Theoretical Physicists

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VENI subsidy awarded to Vlad Pribiag (QN/QT) ALMA opens its eyes Nynke Dekker (BN) receives LNVH anniversary prize LION alumni symposium 2011 Grand Opening NeCEN NWO-Veni grant for Dr. Violeta Navarro Paredes of the Interface Physics group. Rianne van den Berg (Delft) and Evert van Nieuwenburg (Leiden) receive the Hendrik Casimir prize 2011

NOV

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DEC

Delft success on two-quantum bit detection in Science Leiden/Huygens prize Fellowships available for Ph.D. students with ambitious research plans for 2012. Watching DNA do the twist: a new type of magnetic tweezers to measure changes in the twist of single DNA molecules (Nature Communications).

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Tim Baart wins the Shell Graduation Prize for Physics Prestigious Dutch Physics Award for Frank Koppens Robert-Jan Slager wins the Shell Graduation Prize for Physics

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Tim Baart first to finish Casimir Pre-PhD master’s track Rubicon grant for Ferry Prins (QN/MED)

4.2. NeCEN Leiden has the world's most advanced microscopes NeCEN, a new high quality centre for electron microscopy, opened its doors in Leiden on October 27th 2011. NeCEN has two of the most advanced cryo-transmission electron microscopes worldwide. The microscopes are open to all research institutes and companies. Ten academic partners, local and national governments and companies collaborated to establish the centre, including Casimir biophysics groups. They expect that NeCEN will lead to giant steps forward in science and R&D. From professor to politician NeCEN is the result of a unique collaboration between science, industry and politics. That is why all three aspects have been addressed at the opening on October 27th. Holger Stark, from the University of Göttingen explained the ins and outs of electron microscopy during a guest lecture. After this, participants explored the relation of NeCEN to science, industry and governments. Chairs of these workshops were Bram Koster (LUMC), Peter Peters (NKI-AVL), Dominique Hubert (FEI company) and Jeanette Ridder-Numan (Ministry OCW). Liesbeth Spies, deputy of economic affairs and innovation of Province Zuid-Holland has officially opened NeCEN.

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Open Access Although NeCEN is housed by the Cell Observatory in Leiden, all scientists at companies and research institutes can get access. Ten companies have already written a letter of intent to support the centre during the startup phase, including HAL Allergy, Genencor and Danone. Besides these letters of intent, 15 more companies have recognized the added value of NeCEN. It is truly unique that two microscopes of this type are located together and can be used by every academic or commercial scientist. Zooming in on life The two NeCEN microscopes allow scientists to zoom in on cells, molecules and atoms. Incredibly small details can be seen; single atoms have already been distinguished in a virus with the same technology. The NeCEN microscopes are expected to show even more detail. Visualizing these details is the first step towards understanding how diseases work and hence its potential cures. Examples are tuberculosis, malaria and cancer. 4.3. Casimir thesis 2011 The PhD theses published in 2011 by Casimir PhD students are listed below. Casimir offers the possibility to act as publisher and provide thesis authors with an ISBN number without charge. The theses that made use of this special arrangement have an additional mentioning of the “Casimir PhD Series” in the list. Pors, J.B.: Entangling Light in High Dimensions Promotores: Prof.dr. J.P. Woerdman, co-promotor: Dr. E.R. Eliel. February 3, 2011 Casimir PhD series 2011-1 Perinetti, U: Optical Properties of Semiconductor Promotor: Prof.dr.ir. LP Kouwenhoven, Dr. V Zwiller. Febuary 17, 2011

Casimir PhD series 2011-2

Hardeman, S.R.: Non-decoupling of Heavy Scalars in Cosmology Promotor: prof.dr. A. Achúcarro. Posthumously granted († 7 July 2011) March 1, 2011.

Casimir PhD series 2011-3

Benningshof, O.: Superfluid Helium-3 in Cylindrical Restricted Geometries Promotor: Prof.dr. G. Frossati, Dr. R. Jochemsen March 30, 2011.

Casimir PhD series 2011-4

Huisman, E.M.: “Simulations of Biopolymer Networks Under Shear”. Promotor: Prof.dr. G.T. Barkema, Dr. C. Storm. April 14, 2011.

Casimir PhD series 2011-5

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She, J-H.: “Fermions, Criticality and Superconductivity”. Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Zaanen May 3, 2011.

Casimir PhD series 2011-6

Wakker,M.: “Quantum pumping and adiabatic transport in nanostructures” Promotor: Prof.dr. G.E.W. Bauer, Dr. M. Blaauboer May 24, 2011

Casimir PhD series 2011-7

Herbschleb, C.T.: “ReactorSTM: Imaging Catalysts under Realistic Conditions”. Promotor: Prof.dr. J.W.M. Frenken. May 10, 2011.

Casimir PhD series 2011-8

Medvedyeva, M.: “On Localization Promotor Prof.dr. C.W.J. Beenakker May 3, 2011

Dirac

Fermions

Disorder”.

Casimir PhD series 2011-9

Babic, L.: “Frequency Conversion in Two-Dimensional Photonic Structures”. Promotores: Prof.dr. J.P. Woerdman, Dr. M.J.A. de Dood. May 17, 2011.

Casimir PhD series 2011-10

Akhmerov, A.R.: “Dirac and Majorana Edge States in Graphene and Topological Superconductors”. Promotor: Prof.dr. C.W.J. Beenakker. May 31, 2011.

Casimir PhD series 2011-11

Chien, F.T.: “Chromatin Dynamics Resolved with Force-Spectroscopy”. Promotores: Prof.dr. T. Schmidt, Dr.ir. S.J.T. van Noort. June 28, 2011.

Casimir PhD series 2011-12

Yucelen, E.: Characterization of low dimensional structures by advanced

transmission electron microscopy.

Promotor: Prof.dr. HW Zandbergen. June 9, 2011

Casimir PhD series 2011-13

Berkhout, J.: “Fundamental methods to Measure the orbital Angular momentum

of Light“.

Promotor: Prof.dr. M.W. Beijersbergen. September 20, 2011.

Casimir PhD series 2011-14

Di Lorenzo Pires, H.: “Spatial Coherence and Entanglement of Light”. Promotor: Prof.dr. J.P. WoerdmanDr. M.P. van Exter. September 13, 2011.

Casimir PhD series 2011-15

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Nichol, K.M.: “Fluidization and Fluctuations in Granular Systems”. Promotor: Prof.dr. M. van Hecke. October 4, 2011.

Casimir PhD Series 2011-16

Prins, F.: Molecular functionality in nanoelectronic devices Promotor: Dr.ir. HSJ van der Zant. September 16, 2011

Casimir PhD series 2011-17

Seldenthuis, J.S.: Electrical and mechanical effects in single-molecule junctions. Promotores: Dr.ir. HSJ van der Zant & Dr. JM Thijssen. November 11, 2011

Casimir PhD series 2011-18

Dorenbos, S.N.: Superconducting single photon detectors. Promotores: Prof.dr.ir. LP Kouwenhoven & Dr. V Zwiller. October 03, 2011

Casimir PhD Series 2011-19

Fokkema, V.: Real-time Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Studies of Thin Film Deposition and ion Erosion. Promotor: Prof.dr. J.W.M. Frenken, Dr. M.J. Rost. November 10, 2011.

Casimir PhD Series 2011-20

Bretzel, S.: Magneto-mechanical dynamics at the nanoscale Promotor: Prof.dr. G.E.W. Bauer December 20, 2011

Casimir PhD series 2011-21

Kowalczyk, S.W.: Solid-state nanopores for scanning single molecules and

mimicking biology.

Promotor: Prof.dr. C Dekker. November 20, 2011

Casimir PhD series 2011-22

Anwar, M.S.: “Spin Triplet Supercurrents in Thin Films of Ferromagnetic CrO2”. Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Aarts October 19, 2011.

Casimir PhD series 2011-23

Beekman, A.J.: Vortex Duality in Higher Dimensions. Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Zaanen. December 1, 2011.

Casimir PhD series 2011-24

Report 2011

5. Outlook to 2012 The start of the year 2012 has been dedicated to the writing of large proposals which, when granted, will strongly boost Casimirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activities. In a European context a desire to promote effective graduate training programs a new initiative was launched under the Marie Curie umbrella of the 7th framework program of the European Commission. This initative, called the Innovative Doctorates Program, invites applications from research schools that will set the examples of European doctorate training. The targets closely match the ambitions of Casimir, having a close interaction between top-level training and top-level research, and a program offering interdisciplinary and intersectorial training. On a national level a long awaited new call was placed for research schools or consortia of top-level scientists to apply for support for ambitious ten-year programs. The format of the new call emphasizes the role of individual top scientists and a focused research program. This has led us to select Nanoscience for this application, a theme that overlaps a large part of Casimir, although by no means all. The NWO call goes under the name â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gravityâ&#x20AC;? (Zwaartekracht, in Dutch) and the evaluation of the proposals will be completed in fall of 2012. If granted, it will permit to develop our ambitions in training and research in the coming decade, and forge closer ties between the LION and Kavli research groups. Talent is the the single most important ingredient in a successful school. We will initiate a new recruitment and selection program for MSc and PhD students during the coming year. Many excellent students already find their way to our programs, but we should be able to improve this further by informing prospective students more effectively of the high level training and research that Casimir offers. As briefly described in section 1.2 our scientific research program offers many possibilities for exciting new developments in the years to come. The first breakthrough has, in fact, already been reported with the discovery of the Majorana Fermions by Leo Kouwenhoven and his team. This will most certainly be the start of a vigorous new sub-field of research with many more surprises to come. Leiden, 2012 Prof. dr. Jan M. van Ruitenbeek, Scientific Director

Report 2011