"It fascinates me to discover how subtle interactions at the nanoscale between electrons, their quantum mechanical spins and photons can be of such tremendous importance for future photonic technology."

Bert Koopmans is a Full Professor and Group leader of the group Physics of Nanostructures (FNA) at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). His areas of expertise include nanotechnology, nano-electronics and spintronics. Koopmans’ earlier work has been in (non-linear) optics of fullerenes and semiconductor quantum structures. His present research activities are in spintronics, nanomagnetism and ultrafast spin- & magnetization-dynamics. Key research achievements have been made in femtosecond magnetization processes, controlling domain wall motion in nanodevices and organic spintronics – in many cases combining advanced nanoscale experiments with the development of novel theoretical frameworks.

Within IPI, Bert has initiated research on integrated magneto-photonics. Among other applications such as optical isolators and reconfigurable photonics, he envisions spintronic-photonic memories where data is transferred between a photonic waveguide and a magnetic ‘racetrack’ without intermediate electronic steps. These approaches are considered to contribute to future energy-efficient and versatile information technology.

Bert Koopmans obtained his PhD from the University of Groningen. After a period as postdoc at the Radboud University Nijmegen, he spent three years as a Humboldt Fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Physics in Stuttgart. In 1997 he joined the Department of Applied Physics at TU/e, where he became a Full Professor and leader of the group Physics of Nanostructures (FNA). Since 2014, Bert has been on the management team of the Research Centre for Integrated NanoPhotonics.

 In 2004 Bert was awarded an NWO Vici grant. He has been coordinator of the center for NanoMaterials (cNM) and program director of the Program on Advanced NanoElectronic Devices within NanoNextNL, a Dutch national consortium for nanotechnology research. At present, he is a member of the board of NanoLabNL, a Dutch national facility providing an open-access infrastructure for R&D in nanotechnology, as well as the advisory board of NanoLab@TU/e.