Email: matthieu [dot] verstraete [at] uliege [dot] be
Tel: +32 4 366 90 17
For the past 18 years I have been investigating the electronic structure of materials, from nanostructures (nanotubes, nanowires) to surfaces and bulk solids. I enjoy the mixture of theory and application which comes with the simulation of “realistic” systems, where the microscopic experimental geometry is used, or even better determined. Using as sole input the position and chemical species of individual atoms in a structure, almost all of its properties can be deduced; from mechanical strength to optical properties, Raman or Infra-Red spectrum, or the relative stability of different crystalline phases.
This brings two types of understanding: most straightforwardly, the properties observed experimentally can be explained, or correlated with other quantities (which surface structure explains the Scanning Tunneling Microscopy image found in experiments?). In special cases, however, one can go further and provide predictions of unknown materials properties (what is the optical spectrum of an unexplored alloy of AlAsGaN?), or even which types of systems which will have desired behaviors (which molecular assembly of aromatic rings will give me a certain electronic band gap and thermal stability?).
ISI researcher ID:
Full list of publications (ULg ORBI)
PhD in pdf (UCLouvain e library)
Brief CV
2017-present : Professor at the University of Liege, Belgium.
2016 : Fellow, American Physical Society
2012-present : Member, ABINIT Scientific Advisory Board
2012-present : Chair, Steering Committee of the ETSF
2011 Jan-Jul : Visiting professor, Universita di Cagliari, Italy
2009-2016 : Chargé de Cours (Associate Professor) at the University of Liege, Belgium.
2008-2009 : Chargé de Recherches with the Belgian Fonds National pour la Recherche Scientifique, UCLouvain Louvain-la-Neuve
2008-2009 : Post-Doctoral Researcher with Prof. Angel Rubio at the University of the Basque Country, in San Sebastián Spain.
2005-2008 : EU Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Fellowship with Prof. Rex Godby at the University of York, United Kingdom.
2000-2005 : PhD in Materials Science Engineering under the supervision of Prof.s Xavier Gonze and Jean-Christophe Charlier at the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
1995-2000 : Bachelors in Physics Engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. Undergraduate thesis under the supervision of Prof.s Alfredo Pasquarello and Alfonso Baldereschi.