Kavli Delft thesis prize for Katja Nowack (QN)
26 September 2011 by M&C TNW/QN
At the annual Kavli day 22 September 2011, Katja Nowack received The Kavli Delft thesis prize for her thesis ‘Electrical Manipulation and detection of single electron spins in quantum dots’. She obtained the prize for the best PhD thesis written by a graduate student at our Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft in the previous two years. This prize, which consists of an award and an amount of € 3000 can be freely spent by the laureate.
Successfull
Katja joined the group of Lieven Vandersypen in 2005 and defended her thesis cum laude in December 2009. She came from a background in theoretical physics, but decided to move to experimental physics. And she did so absolutely successfully. She was involved in nearly all important spin-qubit experiments in the group of Lieven of the last few years resulting in a number of publications in high impact journals.
Science
Here thesis was a pleasure to read. Upon reading it is easy recognize her scientific maturity and her ability to put her work in perspective. The scientific work described is impressive. Her most decisive contribution, chapter 6 of her thesis, led to a first-author article in Science (2007), which had great impact in the community. Katja showed for the first time, that it was possible to control the spin of a single electron spin by means of electrical excitation.
Citations
Other highlights of her thesis are measurement of the coherence time of a single electron spin in a quantum dot, and the control of the nuclear spin bath by acting back on it via the electron spin. The work has been highly cited: she picked up an impressive amount of 800 citations already, and a H index of 8 – which are impressive numbers at this stage of her career.
Publication prize
Next year the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft will award The Kavli Delft publication prize: a prize for the best publication that resulted from our Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft that appeared in print in the previous two years. The two prizes will alternate in timing: This year the Kavli Institute will award the Kavli Delft thesis prize, next year the publication prize. These prizes are a good way to honor our young scientists and to draw attention to their great research.
