INSTITUTO DE CIENCIA DE MATERIALES DE MADRID - CSIC
C/ Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 3, E-28049 Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain
Office: 346 — Tel.: (+34) 91 334 9080
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Hi! My name is Elsa Prada and I'm a condensed matter theorist working on systems where quantum phenomena play an important role, such as low dimensional materials and nanostructures.
Since July 2020 I belong to the Materials Science Institute of Madrid (which is part of the Spanish Research Council) as a tenured scientist. Within the department of Theory and Simulation of Materials, our group is called Theory of Quantum Materials and Solid State Quantum Technologies.

Research interests:

Throughout my career, my research has dealt with the following topics:
  • Topology in electronic systems
    • Topological insulators
    • Topological superconductors
    • Majorana zero modes in nanostructures
  • Graphene and other 2D crystals
    • Monolayers, multilayers, twisted bilayers, superlattices
    • Disorder
    • Magnetotransport, quantum Hall effect
    • Spintronics, pseudospintronics, valleytronics
    • Quantum pumping, out of equilibrium phenomena
    • Elastic deformations, folded nanoribbons, straintronics
    • Excitons, optoelectronics
  • Electron and spin transport in mesoscopic systems
    • Hybrid nanostructures with superconductors, Josephson effect
    • Spintronics, spin-orbit interaction, spin relaxation
    • Current fluctuations and Full Counting Statistics
  • Entanglement in condensed matter physics
    • Generation: non-local spin-entangled electron pairs from superconductors, other entanglers...
    • Evolution: in the presence of decoherence and spin-orbit interaction
    • Detection: by means of Bell inequalities, shot noise, concurrence

Brief Vita:

  • From July 2020: Tenured scientist at the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM) -CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
  • Nov. 2012 - June 2020: Ramón y Cajal fellow: Tenure track position at the Autónoma University of Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain. Department: Condensed Matter Physics.
    • Medical leave: From September 2014 to February 2016.
  • Nov. 2009 - Oct. 2012: Postdoctoral fellow at ICMM-CSIC, Madrid, Spain, in the group led by Prof. Luis Brey.
  • Sept. 2008 - Oct. 2009: Postdoctoral fellow at Lancaster University, UK, in the group led by Prof. Henning Schomerus.
    • Maternity leave: From December 2007 to August 2008.
  • 2006 - 2007: Postdoctoral fellow at Karlsruhe University in the group led by Prof. Gerd Schön.
  • 2005 - 2006: Marie Curie Early State Researcher Felowship at Karlsruhe University, Germany. In April 2006 I obtained my PhD by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Here is a photo of the event with my advisor and the members of the board.
    • Maternity leave: From September 2004 to February 2005.
  • 2000 - 2004: PhD Student at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Spain, under the supervision of Prof. Fernando Sols.
  • 2000: Training position at Telefónica de España Corporation, Madrid.
  • 1994 - 1999: Undergraduate studies in Physics by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Spain.