Francisco del Monte is a Tenured Scientist at the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM-CSIC), Spain. He received an organic chemistry BSc degree in 1991 from the University Autonoma of Madrid (UAM), a MSc degree in polymer science from CSIC in 1992, and a PhD in chemistry (sol-gel materials) in 1996 also from the UAM. He then spent two years as a post-doc at UCLA working on hybrid sol-gel materials.
He has co-authored over 50 scientific papers (list of publications). His scientific career has been involved with the preparation of hybrid materials for optical applications (see below a list of selected publications). His current scientific interest is the use of biomimetic chemistry for the preparation of hierarchically organized materials. Since 2004, he leads the group of Bioinspired Materials at the ICMM-CSIC.
Selected Publications in Sol-Gel Materials with Optical Properties
- Optical Gain by Simple Photoisomerisation Process
F. Gallego, F. del Monte, K. Meerholz.
Nature Mater. 2008, 7, 490-497
- Diffusion study in tailored gratings recorded in photopolymer glass
with high refractive index species
O. Martinez, M. L. Calvo, J. A. Rodrigo, P. Cheben, F. del Monte.
Appl. Phys. Lett. 2007, 91, 141115
- Experimental Detection of Optical Pendellösung Effect
M. L. Calvo, P. Cheben, O. Martinez, F. del Monte, J. A. Rodrigo.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 2006, 084801.
- A Volume Holographic Sol-Gel Material with Large Enhancement of Dynamic Range by Incorporation of High Refractive Index Species.
F. del Monte*, O. Martinez, J. A. Rodrigo, M. L. Calvo, P. Cheben.
Adv. Mater. 2006,18, 2014
- Highly Transparent γ-Fe2O3/Vycor-glass Exhibiting Faraday Rotation
M. Zayat, F. del Monte*, M. P. Morales, C. J. Serna, H. Guerrero, G. Rosa, D. Levy.
Adv. Mater. 2003, 15, 1809-12.
- A Photorefractive Organically Modified Silica Glass with High Optical Gain
P. Cheben*, F. del Monte*, J. D. Worsfold, D. J. Carlsson, C. Grover, J. D. Mackenzie.
Nature 2000, 408(6808), 64-67.