Deliverable 5.4: SECOND ADVISORY REPORT OF THE IAC Project no. 316165 Project acronym: CCQCN Project full title: Crete Center for Quantum Complexity and Nanotechnology REGPOT-2012-2013-1 SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME Deliverable 5.4 Second Advisory Report of the IAC Due date of deliverable: M30 Dissemination level: PU Second Advisory Report of the IAC Crete Center for Quantum Complexity and Nanotechnology Executive Summary Deliverable 5.4 comprises the Second Advisory Report of the International Advisory Committee (IAC) of the Crete Center for Quantum Complexity and Nanotechnology (CCQCN), an EC-supported FP7-REGPOT-2012-2013-1 project (project number: 316165), which is located at the Physics Department of the University of Crete and started its operation on September 1, 2013. The International Advisory Committee comprises three senior scientists (namely, Professors Zaanen, Buchner, and Saxena) and is a complementary body that assists the Management Committee of CCQCN in the research directions, hirings, twinning and workshops. More precisely, the scope of the IAC is to monitor the progress made during the implementation of the CCQCN project, and advice toward the most beneficial implementation of the project and on all aspects of the Center activities. The IAC assesses the evolution, achievements, success and/or possible problems of the project. The 2nd Advisory Report of the IAC takes into account the evolution, achievements, success and/or possible problems of CCQCN as revealed in the M13-M30 (M30=February 2016) period of the lifetime of the project. IAC members have visited the CCQCN on September 2013 (Prof. Zaanen and Prof. Saxena, attended the CCQCN Kick-off Meeting), September 2014 (Prof. Zaanen attended the Quantum Field Theory, String Theory, and Condensed Matter Physics Workshop), and October 2014 (Prof. Saxena visited CCQCN). The visits gave the opportunity to the IAC members to be briefed by the Coordinator (Prof. Tsironis) and the group members on research and management issues specific to the project. Prof. Zaanen, Prof. Saxena and Prof. Tsironis had a working meeting at the ICSM2016 Conference (5th International Conference on Superconductivity and Magnetism, which took place on April 24-30 2016, in Fethiye Turkey) during which they were briefed by the CCQCN Coordinator, Prof. Tsironis, and had fruitful discussions. The IAC produces its 2nd advisory report (with Prof. Saxena coordinating the preparation of the report, being in contact with the Coordinator and with the other IAC members) in the form of deliverable D5.4, providing advice for the future CCQCN evolution. Based on the documentation provided by the CCQCN Coordinator and CCQCN members, in- situ visits and personal communication, the IAC has found that the evolution, achievements and success of CCQCN is utterly satisfactory and conforming to the planned Description of Work (DoW) and to Europe’s Research Potential objectives; these achievements are documented in the rest of this Report. CCQCN is generating significant research potential in the promising fields of quantum science & technology and nanotechnology. It should be mentioned that during the M1-M30 period, CCQCN researchers have produced 127 research papers (working papers, papers submitted to refereed journals, published papers), which are presented in Appendix I; more than 200 total outgoing research visits took place (in twinning institutions, major international research groups, international conferences and events) from CCQCN members and researchers, as well as more than 100 incoming research visits to CCQCN, strengthening the research potential of CCQCN. Research is rigorously conducted in all main research directions, namely: Research Direction 1: Magnetics and Magnetic Nanodevices Research Direction 2: Strongly Correlated Condensed Matter Systems Research Direction 3: Complex Materials and Metamaterials. Regarding the hired research personnel, an overall of 27 Experienced Researchers (ERs) have been hired, along with 6 Senior Experienced Researchers (SERs) and 12 short-term research contracts. 2 administrative assistants have also been hired as well as one technician (computer specialist). Affiliate institutions and additional members have been added (Prof. Tzortzakis, Dr. Provata, Dr. Aubry, Prof. Pavlidis, Prof. Zoras, Prof. Spanoudakis, Prof. Karakasis et al.; the entire list of CCQCN members, affiliate members, and researchers is presented in Appendix II at the end of this document), and a number of short-term appointments for research support personnel and administrative support personnel (to assist with the dissemination/outreach activity of the Center) have been completed. Workshops are held as planned, the website is in operation (http://qcn.physics.uoc.gr), and outreach events and post-doc days (Appendix III presents the program of the 19th November 2015 event) take place systematically. Outreach activities have intensified as the project has entered its last year (2016). It is important to strengthen the outreach activity (toward this end, hirings of support personnel by short-term contracts will help sustain this high level of activity without putting a burden on the administrative and the research personnel of the Center). The Center collaborates with the Regional authorities (Regional Innovation Council of Crete, Region of Crete, Chambers of Commerce and Industry) for contributions relevant to the region’s Smart Specialization Strategy. The external evaluation committee has been formed. CCQCN has asked for an amendment to the Description of Work (DoW), which has been granted by the relevant Authority (B5 Spreading of Excellence & Widening Participation, DG Research and Innovation), thus extending the research work for 3 more months (M37-M39). This time extension of the research work will greatly benefit the outcome and the research excellence of the Center. Regarding the contribution of the Center to regional development, it should be pointed that Greece’s recent economic condition has resulted in a substantial delay of implementing Structural Funds in the country (due to country's problems, although these funds have been agreed by EU authorities the processes/procedures have not been developed and implemented yet). 2016 will be the year for a substantial implementation of the Structural Funds framework in Greece (the Region of Crete has been earmarked for funds of over 300 million Euros). Extending CCQCN’s activity in the second half of 2016 (M37-M39), and establishing contacts with officials in the Region of Crete (at the level of Governor and Vice- Governors of the Region of Crete) will help build/create synergies between Structural Funds and the Research Framework Programme, enhancing the CCQCN’s competitiveness and excellence in research, and directly contributing to a regional, national and European sustainable economic development. The equipment procurement process is in its final stage. The High-Performance Cluster (HPC) has been acquired and is in operation since March 2015. The Cryogen-free optical/electrical access cryostat/superconductive magnet assembly has been acquired and is in operation, as is the Broad/Narrow band light excitation and single photon detection instrumentation. The procurement process for the acquisition of (a) the ink-jet printing system and the accompanying equipment, and (b) the atomic layer deposition reactor, is in progress (deadline for bid offers is May 11, 2016). The procurement of the chemical vapor deposition reactor will start in May 2016. CCQCN researchers work with subcontractor STEP-C to explore and proceed with commercialization aspects of their work. A University of Crete spin-off company (in which the University of Crete owns 5% of equity with the rest of the equity percentage vested to CCQCN members) has already been formed. Discussions with high-tech companies in areas of co-development have been commenced. 1. INTRODUCTION The CCQCN profile Starting its operation on September 1, 2013 (as an EC-supported FP7-REGPOT-2012-2013-1 project; Project number: 316165), the Crete Center for Quantum Complexity and Nanotechnology (CCQCN) has actively pursued high-caliber theoretical, experimental and computational research in promising areas of Condensed Matter Physics and applications. The CCQCN is located at the premises of the Physics Department of the University of Crete and its members are professors of the Physics Department of the University of Crete, pursuing research in areas such as: Josephson junctions (theory) [Tsironis, Panagopoulos, Flytzanis, Lazarides, Kiritsis] Ultrafast phenomena (theory) [Zotos, Perakis] Magnetics (theory) [Zotos, Papanicolaou] Quantum metamaterials(theory) [Tsironis, Economou] Holographic models for strongly correlated electrons [Kiritsis, Panagopoulos, Petkou, Tomaras] Graphene (experiment) [Iliopoulos, Konstantinidis, Kalosakas, Papagelis] Nanoelectronics, flexible semiconductors (experiment) [Iliopoulos, Kiriakidis] Measurements, atomic physics(experiment) [Panagopoulos, Kominis, Rakitzis] Superconductivity (experiment) [Panagopoulos] Computational condensed matter physics [Tsironis, Zotos, Papanicolaou, Perakis] CCQCN members and hired senior-experienced researchers (SERs) and experienced researchers (ERs) interact closely with researchers, via twinning links, in 9 leading institutions, namely the: Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Goettingen Institute for Solid State Research (IFW), Dresden Cambridge University, incl. Department of Applied Mathematics and