| Posted: January 30, 2008 |
Prestigious European grants for top TU Delft researchers Scarano and Vandersypen |
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(Nanowerk News) Dr Fulvio Scarano and Prof. Lieven Vandersypen of TU Delft are each to receive an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Their proposals, together with those of about 300 other researchers, were selected from over 9,000 applications. The ERC Starting Grant is a subsidy which is awarded for a period of five years to scientists who lead an independent team or programme and who have the potential to develop into world-class researchers.
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Dr Fulvio Scarano, attached to TU Delft’s Faculty of Aerospace Engineering since 2000, is to receive a Euro 1.5 million subsidy for his research into Aeroacoustics via Tomographic Particle Image Velocimetry. Together with his team, Scarano will spend the next five years working on a new 3-D measuring technique based on laser tomography in order to visualise the sound generated by air flows.
This method enables not only the quantification of complex flows in their three-dimensional structure, but also the measurement of properties such as the instantaneous pressure of speed measurements. The objective is to describe and quantify in full the flows around aircraft engines, the undercarriage and wings and the sound produced. This research will contribute to reducing noise pollution and optimising resistance. It will ultimately lead to designing ‘greener’ aircraft.
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TU Delft quantum physicist Lieven Vandersypen has also been awarded an ERC Starting Grant worth Euro 1.3 million. He will focus on demonstrating and understanding the quantum mechanics entanglement of electron spins which are enclosed in so-called quantum dots (artificial atoms). In addition to a deeper understanding of fundamental physics, this research could lead to significantly improved calculation techniques in the long term.
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Prof. Lieven Vandersypen is a leading scientist in his field and has already published seven articles in scientific journals Nature and Science. Vandersypen, who has worked for the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft since 2001, is a pioneer in the construction of quantum computers based on spins. While working on his PhD at Stanford University, he worked on the first and most complex quantum calculation ever made. In his capacity as post-doctoral and associate professor at TU Delft, he has worked on breakthroughs such as the read-out and control of individual electron spins in semi-conductor quantum dots.
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The European Research Council was recently founded by the European Union with the aim of supporting the best researchers in Europe via competitive financing of innovation and excellence in research.
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