Extraordinary award for his results on quantum magnetism. In April 2013, Saül joined the nanodevices group at CIC nanoGUNE to work with Prof. Hueso with the purpose to transition towards spintronics and nanodevices, areas in which he is now a reference. From September 2017 to May 2021, Saül also hold a senior postdoctoral position in the groups of Prof. Gambardella and Prof. Fiebig at ETH Zürich.
With interest in spintronics, magnetotransport, and optoelectronics phenomena, his recent research focused on exploring magnetoresistive effects and magnetic dynamic phenomena in metal/oxide heterostructure devices. Among his discoveries, he has demonstrated that interfacial interactions and spin currents can be used for probing and manipulating the magnetic moments of electrically insulating materials, opening a new research field with profound fundamental and technological impacts. His contributions to polaritonics and optoelectronics in low dimensional materials and heterostructures are also multiple.
Saül joined IFIMAC in June 2021 as Junior Group Leader and found the Spintronics and Nanodevices group. In his lab, he aims at exploring non-conventional materials and new device concepts for spintronic applications.
Grupos de InvestigaciónSpintronics and Nanodevices
Proyectos
- Jan. 2022 – Dec. 2026. Duration: 5 years. Title: Magnetotransport and optical phenomena in heterostructure devices and two-dimensional materials. Funding body: Ayudas Ramón y Cajal, MICINN. Placement: Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, UAM. PI: Saül Vélez. Funding: 225.000 + 42.000 € (salary + research funds). Ranked 1st in Materials science.
- Jan. 2022 – Dec. 2026. Duration: 5 years. Title: Ferrimagnetic oxides spintronics. Funding body: Atracción de Talento de la Comunidad de Madrid (senior fellow). Placement: Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. PI: Saül Vélez. Funding: 337.500 €.
- June 2021 – May 2025. Title: New materials platforms for spintronic applications. Funding body: Maria de Maeztu Excellence Research Unit IFIMAC. Placement: Condensed Matter Physics Center IFIMAC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. PI: Saül Vélez. Funding: 150.000 €.
- Jan. 2020 – March 2021. Title: ETH Zürich Career Seed Grant 2019. Electrical manipulation and imaging of domains in antiferromagnets. Funding body: ETH Zürich. Body where the project will take place: ETH Zürich. Principal Investigator: Saül Vélez. Funding: 30.000 CHF (~30.000 €).
Lineas de investigación
- Spintronics
- Magnetism
- Magnetotransport
- Nanodevices
- Magnetic oxides
- Nanofabrication
- Magneto-optics
- 2D materials
- Optoelectronics
- Polaritonics
Asignaturas impartidas
Mathematical Methods III
50 articles, h-index=27, 2940 citations (Nov. 2021)
*corresponding author, †supervision role
- M. Müller, Y.-L. Huang, S. Vélez, R. Ramesh, M. Fiebig, and M. Trassin, Training the Polarization in Integrated La0.15Bi0.85FeO3-Based Devices, Advanced Materials (2021).
- F. J. Alfaro-Mozaz, S. G. Rodrigo, S. Vélez, I. Dolado, A. Govyadinov, P. Alonso-González, F. Casanova, L. E. Hueso, L. Martín-Moreno, R. Hillenbrand, and A. Y. Nikitin, Hyperspectral nanoimaging of van der Waals polaritonic crystals, Nano Letters 21, 7109 (2021).
- R. Schlitz, S. Vélez*,†, A. Kamra, C.-H. Lambert, M. Lammel, S. T. B. Goennenwein, and P. Gambardella. Control of non-local magnon spin transport via magnon drift. Physical Review Letters 126, 257201 (2021). Viewpoint in Physics and Editor’s suggestion.
- J. M. Gomez-Perez, S. Vélez*,†, L. E. Hueso, and F. Casanova, Differences in the magnon diffusion length for electrically and thermally driven magnon currents, Phys. Rev. B 101, 184420 (2020).
- I. Dolado, F. J. Alfaro-Mozaz, P. Li, E. Nikulina, F. Casanova, L. E. Hueso, S. Liu, J. H. Edgar, S. Vélez†, A. Y. Nikitin, and R. Hillenbrand, Nanoscale guiding of infrared light with hyperbolic volume and surface polaritons in van der Waals material ribbons, Adv. Mat. 32, 1906530 (2020).
- S. Vélez*, J. Schaab, M. S. Wörnle, M. Müller, E. Gradauskaite, P. Welter, C. Gutgsell, C. Nistor, C. L. Degen, M. Trassin, M. Fiebig, and P. Gambardella, High-speed domain wall racetracks in a magnetic insulator, Nature Comm. 10, 4750 (2019).
- S. Vélez*, V. N. Golovach, J. M. Gomez-Perez, A. Chuvilin, C. T. Bui, F. Rivadulla, L.E. Hueso, F. S. Bergeret, and F. Casanova, Spin Hall magnetoresistance in a low-dimensional Heisenberg ferromagnet, Phys. Rev. B (Rapid Comm.) 100, 180401 (2019).
- J. M. Gomez-Perez, S. Vélez†, L. McKenzie-Sell, M. Amado, J. Herrero-Martín, J. López-López, S. Blanco-Canosa, L. E. Hueso, A. Chuvilin, J. W. A. Robinson, F. Casanova, Synthetic antiferro-magnetic coupling between ultra-thin insulating garnets, Phys. Rev. Appl. 10, 044046 (2018).
- W. Ma, P. Alonso-González, S. Li, A. Y. Nikitin, J. Yuan, J. Martín-Sánchez, J. Taboada-Gutiérrez, I. Amenabar, P. Li, S. Vélez, C. Tollan, Z. Dai, Y. Zhang, S. Sriram, K. Kalantar-Zadeh, S.-T. Lee, R. Hillenbrand, and Q. Bao, In-Plane Anisotropic Polaritons with Ultralow-Losses in a Natural van der Waals Semiconductor Crystal, Nature 562, 557 (2018). Highly cited (top 1% in the field; WoS).
- P. Li, I. Dolado, F. J. Alfaro-Mozaz, F. Casanova, L. E. Hueso, S. Liu, J. H. Edgar, A. Y. Nikitin, S. Vélez†, and R. Hillenbrand, Infrared hyperbolic metasurface based on nanostructured van der Waals materials, Science 359, 892 (2018). Highly cited (top 1% in the field; WoS).
- M. Autore, P. Li, I. Dolado, R. Esteban, A. Atxabal, F. Casanova, L. E. Hueso, P. Alonso-González, J. Aizpurua, A. Y. Nikitin, S. Vélez†, and R. Hillenbrand, Boron nitride nanoresonators for phonon-enhanced molecular vibrational spectroscopy at the strong coupling limit, Light: Science & Appl. 7, 17172 (2018). Highly cited (top 1% in the field; WoS).
- X. Sun, S. Vélez†, A. Atxabal, A. Bedoya-Pinto, S. Parui, X. Zhu, R. Llopis, F. Casanova, and L. E. Hueso, A molecular spin-photovoltaic device, Science 357, 677 (2017).
- P. Li, I. Dolado, F. J. Alfaro-Mozaz, A. Y. Nikitin, F. Casanova, L. E. Hueso, S. Vélez†, and R. Hillenbrand, Optical Nanoimaging of Hyperbolic Surface Phonon Polaritons at the Edges of van der Waals Materials, Nano Letters 17, 228 (2017).
- S. Vélez*, A. Bedoya-Pinto, M. Isasa, W. Yan, L.E. Hueso, and F. Casanova, Competing effects in Pt/YIG interfaces: spin Hall magnetoresistance, magnon excitations and magnetic frustration, Phys. Rev. B 94, 174405 (2016).
- M. Isasa, S. Vélez†, A. Bedoya-Pinto, E. Sagasta, N. Dix, F. Sánchez, L. E. Hueso, J. Fontcuberta and F. Casanova, Spin Hall magnetoresistance as a probe for surface magnetization in Pt/CoFe2O4 bilayers, Phys. Rev. Appl. 6, 034007 (2016).
- S. Vélez*, V. N. Golovach, M. Isasa, A. Bedoya-Pinto, E. Sagasta, M. Abadia, C. Rogero, L.E. Hueso, F. S. Bergeret, and F. Casanova, Hanle Magnetoresistance in Thin Metal Films with Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 016603 (2016). Editors’ Suggestion.
- A. Y. Nikitin, P. Alonso-Gonzalez, S. Vélez, S. Mastel, A. Centeno, A. Pesquera, F. Koppens, A. Zurutuza, F. Casanova, L. E. Hueso, and R. Hillenbrand, Real-space mapping of sheet and edge modes in graphene sheet nanoresonators, Nature Photonics 10, 239 (2016). Front cover.
- S. Vélez, D. Ciudad, J. Island, M. Buscema, O. Txoperena, S. Parui, G. A. Steele, F. Casanova, H. S. J. van der Zant, A. Castellanos-Gomez, and L. E. Hueso, Gate-Tunable Diode and Photovoltaic Effect in an Organic-2D Layered Material p-n Junction, Nanoscale 7, 15442 (2015).
- P. Alonso-Gonzalez, A. Y. Nikitin, F. Golmar, A. Centeno, A. Pesquera, S. Vélez, J. Chen, G. Navickaite, F. Koppens, A. Zurutuza, F. Casanova, L. E. Hueso, and R. Hillenbrand, Controlling graphene plasmons with resonant metal antennas and spatial conductivity patterns, Science 344, 1369 (2014). Highly cited (top 1% in the field; WoS).
- S. Vélez, P. Subedi, F. Macià, S. Li, M. P. Sarachick, J. Tejada, S. Mukherjee, G. Christou, and A. D. Kent, Partial spin reversal in magnetic deflagration, Phys. Rev. B 89, 144408 (2014).
- P. Subedi, S. Vélez, F. Macià, S. Li, M. P. Sarachik, J. Tejada, S. Mukherjee, G. Christou, and A. D. Kent, Onset of a Propagating Self-Sustained Spin Reversal Front in a Magnetic System, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 207203 (2013). Viewpoint in Physics and highlighted as Editors’ Suggestion.
- S. Vélez*, J. M. Hernandez, A. García-Santiago, J. Tejada, V. K. Pecharsky, K. A. Gschneidner, Jr., D. L. Schlagel, T. A. Lograsso, and P.V. Santos, Anisotropic magnetic deflagration in single crystals of Gd5Ge4, Phys. Rev. B 85, 054432 (2012).
- E. M. Chudnovsky, S. Vélez, A. García-Santiago, J. M. Hernandez, and J. Tejada, Quantum tunneling of the normal-metal and superconducting regions of a type-I Pb superconductor, Phys. Rev. B 83, 064507 (2011).
- S. Vélez, J. M. Hernandez, A. Fernandez, F. Macià, C. Magen, P. Algarabel, J. Tejada, and E. M. Chudnovsky, Magnetic Deflagration in Gd5Ge4, Phys. Rev. B 81, 064437 (2010).
