Rosa María de la Cruz
Associate Professor, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain.
Rosa María de la Cruz has been an Associate Professor since 1998 at the Carlos III University of Madrid in the Department of Physics. She has a doctorate in Physical Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid (1990).
Prof. de la Cruz is an expert in the use of the continuous dielectric model applied to the study of interface phonons in low-dimensional semiconductor nanostructures (quantum wells, quantum wires, and quantum dots). This type of phonons gives very precise information about the geometry of these nanostructures. Prof. de la Cruz is also an expert in the use of the continuum elastic model to study the coherent and incoherent growth phenomena of III-V semiconductor quantum dots. Both research fields are theoretical.
Currently, the scientific contributions of this researcher focus on the optical properties of semiconductor nanowire arrays as the basis for photovoltaic solar cells. Specifically, the effect of the dimensions of the nanowires (diameter and length) and the period of the array. She also studied the effect of the surrounding material on the nanowires and the effect of the incident angle on the s- and p-polarizations of the incident light. The used models are effective media theories (Maxwell-Garnett and Bruggeman type) and the Transfer Matrix Method to determine the reflectance, transmittance, and absorbance of the multilayer system (nanowire array). She also studied the optical properties of anisotropic media such as LiNbO3 with inclusions of Ag nanoparticles with the aim of achieving metamaterial status. All this work has led to around 50 JCR articles and 60 contributions to international conferences. Some of these journals have a high impact such as Phys—Rev. B, Nanotechnology, Physica E, etc.
Prof. de la Cruz has around twenty research projects with national funding (Ministry of Education and Science as instigator), Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (as main researcher), Carlos III University of Madrid (as main researcher), and Community of Madrid (as a researcher).
During the years 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, Prof. de la Cruz was part of the organizing committee of the international conferences “Trends in Nanotechnology”: TNT2001, TNT2002, TNT2003, TNT2004, TNT2005, and TNT2006. During 2024 and 2025 she is part of the scientific committee of Material Europe Conferences 2024 and 2025 (Conference Chair).
She has supervised two doctoral theses. One defended in 2004 at the Univ. Carlos III of Madrid with the qualification of Outstanding Cum Laude and Extraordinary Prize of the Materials Engineering and Science Program. The other was defended in 2008 at the Univ. Complutense of Madrid with the qualification of Outstanding Cum Laude.
She has also supervised 5 final year projects (2000, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2015), two final degree projects (2015 and 2024), and has co-directed a Diploma of Advanced Studies (2008).
Regarding her contribution to evaluation processes, her collaboration with ANEP during 2005- 2006 and 2022 stands out. She has also contributed to the evaluation of the EXPLORA projects in 2014 and an international project in Chile (2014).
She reviews scientific journals such as Nanotechnology, Physica B, Physica Status Solidi, Physica D, Fizika A–B, and Journal of Physics: Condens. Matter, Semiconductor Science and Technology