About me

Full Professor of Condensed Matter Physics at the Universitat de Barcelona since 2020, where I also graduated in Physics in 1991, and received a PhD in Statistical and Condensed Matter Physics in 1995. Postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusets Institute of Technology in Cambridge, USA, and at the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. Appointed visiting or invited professor at the Università La Sapienza in Rome (Italy), the Université d´Orsay in Paris (France), the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara (USA), the Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto University, Finland), the ISI Foundation in Turin (Italy), Indiana University, Bloomington (USA), and Northeastern University, Boston (USA). Previous positions: Associate Professor (2006-2020), Ramón y Cajal research associate (2001-2006) and Lecturer  (2000-2001) at the University of Barcelona. Awarded the Distinció of the Generalitat de Catalunya for “young scientist” in 2004, and the I3 Program of the Spanish MICINN in 2008. 

Education

  • PhD in Physics. University of Barcelona, Spain (2016)
  • Master’s degree in Astrophysics, Particle Physics and Cosmology. University of Barcelona, Spain (2010)
  • Bachelor’s degree in Physics. University of Barcelona, Spain (2009)

Experience

  • Lecturer, 01/12/2022 – Present. Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Barcelona, Spain
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, 01/04/2022 – 30/11/2022. Laboratoire Charles Fabry, Institut d’Optique, Palaiseau, France (advisor: Philippe Ben-Abdallah)
  • Marie-Curie Researcher (Individual Fellowship) 01/04/2020 – 31/03/2022. Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Barcelona, Spain (advisor: J. Miguel Rubi)
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, 23/10/2019 – 31/03/2020. Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Barcelona, Spain (advisor: J. Miguel Rubi)
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, 25/10/2017 – 22/10/2019. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sherbrooke, Canada (advisors: Philippe Ben-Abdallah and Luc G. Fréchette)
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, 01/07/2016 – 30/06/2017. Laboratoire Charles Fabry, Institut d’Optique, Palaiseau, France (advisor: Philippe Ben-Abdallah)
  • FPI Predoctoral Researcher, 01/12/2012 – 30/06/2016. Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Barcelona, Spain (advisor: Agustí Pérez-Madrid)
  • Teaching Assistant, 01/04/2011 – 14/09/2012. Department of Astronomy and Meteorology, University of Barcelona, Spain

Short Stays

  • Visiting PhD student, 08/09/2014 – 12/12/2014. Laboratoire Charles Fabry, Institut d’Optique, Palaiseau, France (advisor: Philippe Ben-Abdallah)
  • Visiting PhD student, 09/02/2014 – 23/02/2014. University of Florence, Italy (advisor: Stefano Ruffo)

Awards and fellowships

  • Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, European Commission (2020)
  • Extraordinary Doctoral Thesis Award, University of Barcelona (2017)
  • FPI Predoctoral Fellowship, Spanish Government (2012)

Selected publications

  • Graphene-based autonomous pyroelectric system for near-field energy conversion

I. Latella and P. Ben-Abdallah, Sci. Rep. 11, 19489 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-98656-8; https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.05564

  • Monte Carlo simulations in the unconstrained ensemble

I. Latella, A. Campa, L. Casetti, P. Di Cintio, J. M. Rubi and S. Ruffo, Phys. Rev. E 103, L061303 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.103.L061303; https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.06103

  • Radiative heat shuttling

I. Latella, R. Messina, J. M. Rubi and P. Ben-Abdallah, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 023903 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.023903; https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.02467

  • Radiative heat transfer and non-equilibrium Casimir-Lifshitz force in many-body Systems with planar geometry

I. Latella, P. Ben-Abdallah, S.-A. Biehs, M. Antezza and R. Messina, Phys. Rev. B 95, 205404 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.95.205404; https://arxiv.org/abs/1701.06966

  • Giant thermal magnetoresistance in plasmonic structures

I. Latella and P. Ben-Abdallah, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 173902 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.173902; https://arxiv.org/abs/1612.00479

  • Thermodynamics of nonadditive systems

I. Latella, A. Pérez-Madrid, A. Campa, L. Casetti, and S. Ruffo, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 230601 (2015); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.230601; https://arxiv.org/abs/1505.03767

  • Local thermodynamics and the generalized Gibbs-Duhem equation in systems with long-range interactions

I. Latella and A. Pérez-Madrid, Phys. Rev. E 88, 042135 (2013); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.88.042135; https://arxiv.org/abs/1302.4903

Teaching

  • Statistical Physics (theory). Bachelor’s degree in Physics of the University of Barcelona (course 2019-2020)
  • Multivariate Calculus (problems). Bachelor’s degree in Physics of the University of Barcelona (course 2015-2016)
  • Mathematical Methods for Physics I (problems). Bachelor’s degree in Physics of the University of Barcelona (course 2015-2016)
  • Fundamentals of Mechanics, Waves, Fluids and Thermodynamics (problems). Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering of the University of Barcelona (course 2015-2016)
  • Fundamentals of Laboratory (practices). Bachelor’s degree in Physics of the University of Barcelona (course 2011-2012)
  • Informatics (practices). Bachelor’s degree in Physics of the University of Barcelona (course 2011-2012)
  • Theoretical Mechanics (problems). Bachelor’s degree in Physics of the University of Barcelona (course 2011-2012)
  • Differential Equations and Vector Calculus (problems). Bachelor’s degree in Physics of the University of Barcelona (course 2010-2011)
  • Differential Equations and Vector Calculus (problems). Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Eng. and Telecommunications of the University of Barcelona (course 2010-2011)