Jose L. Lado
My name is Jose Lado and I am an assistant professor at Aalto University, working on the theory of quantum materials. You can check our “Correlated Quantum Materials” group webpage here.
Short CV · List of publications
Short bio
I am an assistant professor in theoretical physics at Aalto University, in Finland, since 2019. I was an ETH Fellow at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at ETH Zurich, with Prof. Manfred Sigrist and Prof. Oded ZIlberberg from 2017-2019. I got my Ph.D. between 2013-2016 working in the Theory of Nanostructures group at INL, Portugal, led by Prof. Joaquin Fernandez Rossier. My research focuses on designing emergent phenomena in quantum materials, combining materials science, quantum many-body physics, and machine learning. In particular, I focus on engineering systems where electronic correlations and topology yield exotic physics such as topological excitations and emerging fractionalized particles. Apart from those purely theoretical research lines, I often work in collaboration with experimental groups studying quantum materials in general, and two-dimensional materials in particular.
Research
My work is on the theoretical design and engineering of quantum materials with properties that are hard to find in natural compounds: unconventional superconductivity, symmetry-broken and topological states, unconventional magnetic order, and fractionalized excitations. It combines condensed matter physics, quantum many-body physics, quantum chemistry, machine learning, and materials science, along three directions (van der Waals quantum materials, quantum many-body physics, and machine learning quantum materials) described on the Research lines page. The methods we develop are released as open-source libraries, listed under Software, and the full list of papers is under Publications.
Positions
- 2023 – present: Assistant Professor (level 2), Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, Finland
- 2019 – 2023: Assistant Professor (level 1), Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, Finland
- 2017 – 2019: ETH Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
- 2016 – 2017: Research Fellow, International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Braga, Portugal
- 2013 – 2016: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Early Stage Researcher, International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Braga, Portugal
Education
- 2016: Ph.D. in Materials Science, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- 2013: M.Sc. in Materials Science and Technology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- 2012: B.Sc. in Physics, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Awards and honours
- 2024: 2DM Young Scientist Award, Institute of Physics
- 2023: Early Career Theory Award, Royal Spanish Physics Society and BBVA Foundation
- 2023: EPS Early Career Award, European Physical Society
- 2021: Early Career Award (runner-up), DPG and IOP, through New Journal of Physics
- 2016: Best Ph.D. Thesis in Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, Royal Spanish Physics Society
- 2016: Extraordinary Doctorate Prize, University of Santiago de Compostela
Funded projects as principal investigator
- 2026 – present: Centre of Excellence in Quantum Materials, Research Council of Finland (vice-director)
- 2025 – 2030: Consolidator Grant, European Research Council
- 2021 – 2025: Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation
- 2020 – 2025: Research Fellow, Research Council of Finland
Supervision
I have supervised 6 doctoral theses, 8 M.Sc. theses and 13 B.Sc. theses; they are listed individually on the Supervision page. Current group members are on the Group page.
Selected academic service
- 2025 – present: Early Career Advisor, Physical Review Letters, American Physical Society
- 2024 – present: Programme leader, Quantum Materials work package, Finnish Quantum Flagship
- 2023 – present: Elected member of the Condensed Matter Division board, European Physical Society
- 2022 – present: Leader of ResQ Quantum Materials, InstituteQ, Finland
- 2020 – 2024: Director of the CECAM-FI node, Finland
Open source development
pyqula: Python library to perform tight binding calculations in a variety of systems
dmrgpy: Python library to perform density matrix renormalization group in many body systems (based on ITensor)
Quantum Lattice: User interface to perform tight binding calculations (based on pyqula)
External links