Research News

Doctoral thesis on non-linear optical effects in nanomaterials for a better understanding of light-matter interaction at the nanometric scale

Laura Rodríguez defended her thesis co-supervised by Crina Cojocaru and Jose Trull on June 19 at the North Campus. Entitled "Nonlinear optics at nanoscale: frequency conversion at interfaces", the thesis presents an experimental and theoretical analysis on the generation of second and third harmonics in nanolayers and nanostructures made of strategic materials for the world of nanophotonics

New strategies for the control of spacecraft propelled by solar radiation

The student Xun Duan supervised by professors Josep Masdemont, Gerard Gomez and Xiaokui Yue defends his PhD thesis on the study of the movement of a spaceship equipped with a solar sail around artificially created libration points and orbits.

Study of the movement and collective behavior of fish, robots and bees

Julia Múgica Gallart defended her thesis co-directed by Romualdo Pastor-Satorras and M. Carmen Miguel López on June 7, 2023 at the North Campus. Entitled "Collective Motion and Collective Decision-Making in Animal Groups: From Schooling Fish to Swarming Robots" the thesis focuses on empirically and theoretically investigating collective movement in shoals of fish, and collective decision-making in a swarm of robots emulating the selection of a new nesting site for bees.

Sergi Mas-Pujol defends his thesis on the management of imbalances between demand and air capacity using deep learning techniques

Sergi Mas-Pujol defended his thesis co-supervised by Dra. Esther Salamí and Dr. Enric Pastor on May 12, 2023 at the Baix Llobregat Campus. Entitled "Deep Learning techniques for Demand-Capacity Balancing", the thesis studies the use of artificial intelligence techniques to improve the detection of air regulations and how to smooth traffic in periods of high demand, proposing different models that have takes into account the needs of the main parties involved (network management entity and airlines) and a reinforcement learning model based on the use of images.

Seyedeh Leila Panahi defenses her thesis on new Fe base High entropy metallic glass alloys.

Seyedeh Leila Panahi defended her thesis co-supervised by Pere Bruna and Eloi Pineda on May 8 at the campus Castelldefels. Entitled “Study of relaxation phenomena and local structure evolution in metallic glasses by means of Mossbauer and mechanical spectroscopy”

Heat can freeze fluids in the quantum world

An international collaboration between researchers from Denmark, Spain and Austria, which includes the postdoctoral researcher at UPC, Juan Sánchez Baena, as first author, shows that heating does not always melt a solid material. Their discovery reveals how increasing the temperature of an ultracold quantum fluid can trigger its phase transition to a solid state.

Characterization of orbit and clock errors of Galileo satellites, and determination of their failure probabilities by the ARAIM civil aviation augmentation system

Maria Teresa Alonso defended her thesis co-supervised by Jaume Sanz Subirana and Adrià Rovira Gracía on May 31 at the North Campus in Barcelona. Titled Galileo Broadcast Ephemeris and Clock Errors, and Observed Fault Probabilities for ARAIM. The thesis presents the characterization of the orbit and clock errors of the satellites of the European positioning system Galileo, and determines, observationally, their probabilities of failure.