Inès Montaño
Associate Professor
Applied Physics and Materials Science
Contact information
Phone: (928) 523-4304
Email: ines.montano@nau.edu
Office: Bldg 19, Room 222
About
By training I am a theoretical condensed matter physicist. I love anything related to quantum mechanics and the more abstract the better! However, I also love to be able to verify my simulations with experimental results which is why I always aim to work in strong collaboration with experimentalists.
Originally from Germany, I came to the United States for a postdoc at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The postdoc turned into a staff position and I ended up working at SNL for a total of 13 years before I joined NAU in 2017 as Associate Professor. During my time at SNL, I worked on a variety of topics ranging from novel nanoscale devices such as quantum cascade lasers, to engineered materials such as hyperbolic metamaterials, all the way to topics related to quantum computing such as qubits with phosphorus donors in silicon.
Here at NAU, I am leading the research group “Quantum Photonics and Emerging Phenomena (Q-PEP)”.
In short, we are interested in anything related to quantum phenomena! This includes the modeling and simulation of novel optoelectronic nanoscale devices, light-matter interactions in a range of quantum systems, many-body problems in condensed matter physics, and quantum information physics.
Learn more about Dr. Montano’s research:
- experts.nau
- Google Scholar
- Center of Quantum Networks: SparCQS Program – Sparking Curiosity in Quantum Science.
- 2023 SCI Talks – “Ready for Quantum 2.0? How spooky and weird are driving the next technological revolution.”
Professional Experience
Associate Professor of Physics, Department of Applied Physics and Material Science, Northern Arizona University (NAU) Flagstaff, Arizona (2019-current)
Associate Professor of Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northern Arizona University (NAU) Flagstaff, Arizona (2017-2019)
Senior Member of Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico (2011-2017)
Foreign National Senior Member of Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico (2009-2011)
Awards and Honors
- Co-Principal Investigator, Engineering Workforce Development Co- NSF Engineering Research Center for Quantum Networks (CQN) (NSF)
- Co-Principle Investigator NNCI: Nanotechnology Collaborative Infrastructure Southwest (NCI- SW) (NSF)
- Named as the faculty member having the most significant impact on the success of GoldAxe recipient Adrian Luna, who graduated with a triple bachelor in Physics, Astronomy and Secondary Education Physics, recipient of the CEIAS Distinguished Senior Award and thePresident’s Prize (2019)
- Named as the faculty member having the most significant impact on the success of Gold Axe recipient Emilee Bovre, who graduated with a bachelor in Physics (2018)
- Graduate Fellowship ”Berliner Programm zur F ̈orderung von Frauen in Forschung und Lehre”(2002-2004)
Representative Publications
Research Gate / Google Scholar
Campione, et al, Experimental Evidence of the Lorentz-Like Effective Medium Resonance in Semiconductor Hyperbolic Metamaterials Using Strong Coupling to Plasmonic Metasurfaces, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, DOI:10.1109/TAP.2019.2930154
Montano, et al, Semiconductor Hyperbolic Metamaterials at the Quantum Limit, Scientific Reports DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-35099-8
Gamble, et al, Valley splitting of single-electron Si MOS quantum dots, DOI:10.17863/CAM.9014
Gamble, et al, Multivalley effective mass theory simulation of donors in silicon, Physical Review B 91:235318, DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.91.235318
Wierer, et al, Selective layer disordering in intersubband Al 0.028 Ga 0.972 N/AlN superlattices with silicon nitride capping layer, Applied Physics Express 8(6):061004 DOI:10.7567/APEX.8.061004
Wierer, et al., Layer disordering and doping compensation of an intersubband AlGaN/AlN superlattice by silicon implantation, Applied Physics Letters 105(13):131107-131107-4, DOI:10.1063/1.4896783
