Dr. Louk Rademaker is awarded with a NWO-Rubicon grant. This grant enables Louk to move to the United States, where he will join the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara (University of California) for two years. As a postdoc, he will study here "strongly fluctuating phases and frustrated oxidic materials." Frustration occurs when there is a discrepancy between the reality and the desired state. This effect also exists in complex oxidic materials such as the nickelates and 'spin-ice' materials. In his research, Louk will investigate fluctuations that emerge from this frustration.

Last December, Louk Rademaker defended his thesis entitled "Fermions and Bosons: Excitons in strongly correlated materials." Louk currently holds a postdoc position in the group of Tjerk Oosterkamp.

With Rubicon, NWO offers junior scientists the opportunity to gain research experience at leading international institutes abroad. The program is named after the river Rubicon. Julius Caesar crossed the river before embarking on the series of victories that led to his famous words 'veni, vidi, vici.'