Michele Modugno is an Ikerbasque Research Professor in the Department of Physics at EHU since 2010.
He obtained his PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Florence in 1998, specializing in symmetry breaking and phase transitions in quantum field theory. Between 1998 and 2010, he served as the theory lead for the experimental Quantum Gases group at LENS (Florence, Italy) and was a member of the BEC Center in Trento (Italy). During this period, he made key contributions to the physics of ultracold atoms, including the dynamics and collective excitations of Bose–Einstein condensates, transport in optical lattices, and localization in disordered potentials. Notably, he contributed to the first observation of Anderson localization for matter waves, published in Nature (2008), as well as multiple papers in leading journals such as Physical Review Letters and Nature Physics.
Since joining EHU in 2010, he has been a member of the QUINST group, working on quantum control in ultracold gases, spin–orbit coupled condensates, and quantum simulations across different platforms. He has also maintained continuous theoretical collaborations with experimental groups in Florence, Pisa, and Innsbruck, contributing to results on subdiffusion, self-bound droplets, dipolar condensates, supersolidity, and quantum analogues of classical hydrodynamic instabilities.
He is a founding member and secretary of the Spanish Cold Atoms Physics Forum and served as the first coordinator of the Spanish cold-atom network CAPS (RED2018-102488-T). He has been recognized as an APS Outstanding Referee (2012), New Journal of Physics Outstanding Referee (2014), and Distinguished Referee of the European Physical Journal (2015), and is listed among the World’s Top 2% Scientists.
