Belita Koiller
Belita Koiller | |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | Physicist, Professor |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Known for | Contributions to condensed matter theory, quantum information science, manipulation of electron spin and charge in semiconductors |
| Notable work | Research on disordered solids, semiconductor alloys, valley interference in silicon |
Belita Koiller holds the position of Professor of Physics at the Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in Brazil. Specializing in Condensed Matter Theory, she has significantly contributed to the comprehension of disordered solids, such as disordered chains and semiconductor alloys. Her current investigations concentrate on manipulating single electron spin and charge within semiconductors, aiming to advance quantum information processing and quantum computing technologies.
Career
Koiller completed her doctorate in theoretical Condensed Matter Physics at the University of California-Berkeley in 1975 under the mentorship of Leo Falicov. Afterward, she returned to Brazil and joined the Physics Department at Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, where she attained the rank of Full Professor in 1992. Two years later, in 1994, she transitioned to the Physics Institute at UFRJ.
She was elected General Councilor of the Brazilian Physical Society (SBF) on three occasions, beginning terms in 1993, 1999, and 2005. Koiller contributed three years to the ICSU Committee on Capacity Building in Science and has been part of the Executive Committee for the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies since 2005. In 2008, she became a member of the IUPAP Commission on Semiconductors and was chosen as International Councilor for the American Physical Society Council in 2009. Recognized as a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) in 2010, she has also held the vice-presidency of the Brazilian Physical Society since 2013.
Since 2010, Koiller has served as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Physics, having previously been an editor for the Brazilian Journal of Physics from 1990 to 1991. She presided over the IUPAP 29th International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors hosted in Rio de Janeiro in 2008 and has played a key role in organizing various international scientific meetings.
Research
During her doctoral studies, Belita Koiller focused on exploring electronic characteristics of transition-metal oxides. Her research expanded into areas including electron-atom collisions influenced by laser fields, electronic structures within disordered chains using renormalization group techniques, defects found in alkali halides, magnetic ordering phenomena in potassium cyanide, magnon behavior within disordered magnetic systems, as well as electronic and elastic properties pertaining to semiconductor alloys and superlattices. Additionally, she made notable contributions to theoretical frameworks involving multiphoton transitions in crystals and laser-induced chaotic dynamics in one-dimensional models.
From 2001 onward, Koiller’s work has centered on applying condensed matter physics principles to quantum information science. Among her significant achievements are elucidating how valley interference impacts spin coupling between donor pairs in silicon and developing methods to manipulate silicon’s valley degree of freedom.
Honours
Belita Koiller was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1981 and became a research fellow at Brazil’s National Research Council in 1985. In 1995, she broke new ground as the first woman inducted into the physicist section of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. She received the “Comendador da Ordem Nacional do Mérito Científico” honor in 2002 and was later promoted to “Grã Cruz da Ordem Nacional do Mérito Científico” in 2010. In recognition of her contributions, Koiller was named a L’Oréal UNESCO Laureate for Women in Science in 2005 and serves as an International Councilor for the American Physical Society.