Head of Research
Giulia Fulvia Mancini, Associate Professor in Physics
University of Pavia
Department of Physics
Office 2-53
Via Agostino Bassi 6
27100 Pavia (PV) – ITALY
Phone: +39 0382 98 7503
Email: giuliafulvia.mancini@unipv.it
Prof. Giulia Fulvia Mancini is P.I. of the he Laboratory for Ultrafast X-ray and Electron Microscopy (LUXEM) and Associate Professor at the Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Italy. She is an expert on the characterization of structure-property relationships and order-disorder correlations in nanostructured hybrid functional materials and interfaces, in the ultrafast (10-15s) time and ultrasmall (10-10m) domains. To do so, her group LUXEM develops and implements novel experimental approaches based on imaging and scattering techniques, which integrate tabletop and facility X-rays with electrons pulsed sources.
Prof. Mancini obtained her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the Federal Polytechnical School of Lausanne (EPFL), LUMES group (Prof. Fabrizio Carbone). In 2015, she joined the Kapteyn-Murnane group as a PostDoctoral Fellow at JILA, University of Colorado-Boulder and NIST (USA). Between 2017 and 2020 she was Team Leader and Senior Research Associate at SwissFEL (PSI) and EPFL, LSU group (Prof. Majed Chergui). Since 2019, Prof. Mancini won an ERC Strarting Grant and an ERC Proof-of-Concept Grant, a Dutch VIDI Grant, a Cariplo Foundation Grants and two National Grants from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR). In 2020, she was awarded the Mildred Dresselhaus Junior Prize and Guest Professorship from the CUI Centre for Ultrafast Advanced Imaging of Matter and the Hamburg University, in recognition of her early scientific achievements and to serve as role model for women in physical sciences. In 2021 she received the ICO – IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Optics for her “contributions to imaging and scattering of nanostructured materials using high-harmonic soft X-ray sources and research on extreme ultraviolet imaging”. Since 2023, she serves as Vice-Chair of the international COST ACTION CA22148 “NEXT: An international network for Non-linear Extreme Ultraviolet to hard X-ray techniques” and as member of the User Organization Executive Committee (UOEC) of the European X-ray Free Electron Laser.
Group members
Post Docs
Claudia Antoinette Maria Schrama, Ph.D. in Physics
Post-Doctoral Scientist, LUXEM
Email: claudiaantoinettemaria.schrama@unipv.it
Claudia’s academic journey in physics began at the Colorado School of Mines and received a B.S. in Engineering Physics in 2017. There, she worked under the advisement of Prof. Charles Durfee, studying nonlinear interactions between matter and ultrashort laser pulses. She continued to work with Prof. Durfee and obtained her M.Sc. in Applied Physics (2018) and a Ph.D. in Physics (2023). During her master’s studies, Claudia researched non-invasive electric field probes using electric field-induced second harmonic generation of ultrafast laser pulses. For her Ph.D. research, Claudia studied electrostatic discharge (ESD) formation using indirect electrical and direct optical measurement techniques. She developed herself in the design of high-voltage circuits and electronic measurement collection. She also learned to design, implement, and analyze various imaging techniques, including spectroscopy, schlieren imaging, and two-color interferometry. Her work was part of a larger group that focused on understanding the energy transfer through an ESD through models, and her contributions were crucial in providing a large data set still being used to test model validity. At LUXEM, Claudia leveraged her expertise in imaging, photonics and electric-field induced effects to develop a new ultrafast electrons-based diffraction and imaging system.
PhD Students
Carmelo Grova, M.Sc. in Engineering
Ph.D. Student, LUXEM
Email: carmelo.grova01@universitadipavia.it
Carmelo is currently working at LUXEM on the interdisciplinary PhD project: “A flexible beamline for ultrafast soft X-ray ptychography experiments”, funded by the ERC-StG ULTRAIMAGE. He possesses a solid background in Material Science and Nanophysics, consolidated by a Bachelor’s Degree in Materials and Nanotechnology engineering and a Master’s Degree in Engineering Physics, both obtained at Politecnico di Milano. Carmelo’s M.Sc. thesis internship was carried out in the laboratoire Kastler-Brossel in Paris under the supervision of Prof. Sylvain Gigan, where he focused on speckle dynamics in biological scattering media and got acquainted with cutting-edge computational optics research. Before joining LUXEM and the PhD School in Physics, he worked for 9 months in consulting in the Telecommunication industry sector.
Antonio Emanuele Mazzarone, M.Sc. in Physics Ph.D. student, LUXEM
Email: antonioemanuel.mazzarone01@universitadipavia.it
Antonio recently started his PhD appointment at LUXEM. His project harnesses correlative Ultrafast EUV Microscopy and Transient Reflectivity methods to unravel collective responses out-of-equilibrium in functionalized nanoparticles supracrystals. He obtained his M.Sc. at the University of Pavia, and his B.Sc. degree in Materials Science and Technology at the University of Bari, where he had developed laser micromachining skills for the investigation of laser-induced surface structures (LIPSS) on quartz and their effects on material properties.
M. Sc. Students
Domenico Compagnini, Physics student M.Sc. student, LUXEM
Email: domenico.compagnini01@universitadipavia.it
Domenico is a M.Sc. student in Physics at the University of Pavia. He obtained his B.Sc. degree in Physics from the University of Catania. At LUXEM, he is working on the design and implementation of an EUV spectrometer for his M.Sc. thesis project. During his master’s degree studies in physics, he became passionate about photonics and imaging techniques using ultrafast lasers.
LUXEM Staff
Nicola Giani Laboratory Engineer at LUXEM
Nicola Giani Laboratory Engineer at LUXEMEmail: nicola.giani@unipv.it
Nicola Giani is LUXEM’s Laboratory Engineer. He obtained his B.Sc. degree in Energetic Engineering and his M.Sc. degree in Energetic and Nuclear Engineering from Politecnico di Torino. During his M.Sc. internship Nicola worked at SCK-CEN in Mol (Belgium), where he developed machine learning algorithm to investigate nuclear spent fuel for safety purpose. He worked between October 2020 and January 2023 as Engineer for the technical office of a metal carpentry company where he mainly focused on tank component design and drawings approvals for vehicle functionality and safety, using SAP management for technical component.
Alumni & Former Members
Simone Restelli, Technical Staff, Physics Department
Email: simone.restelli01@universitadipavia.it
Simone received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Physics from the University of Pavia. In 2020, he joined the Doctoral School in Physics. His thesis work is conducted in the Raman-EPR group, in collaboration with LUXEM and LACUS-EPFL via LaserLab Europe, focused on experimental condensed-matter experimental physics. He obtained his PhD in Physics in March 2024 from the University of Pavia. His research activity is focused on time-resolved optical and X-ray techniques, with which he studies charge-carrier and lattice dynamics in transition metal oxide thin films and organic ligand capped nanoparticle systems. He is now part of the technical staff of the University of Pavia, serving as Laboratories Engineer within the Physics Department.
Giulia Lallo
Executive Coordinator
Email: giulia.lallo@unipv.it
Giulia Lallo was LUXEM Executive Coordinator between 2022 and 2024. She supported research projects progression and laboratory management, facilitating logistics and providing assistance to all LUXEM Team members. Previously, Giulia was a PHE Teacher Assistant at Kaust School (Saudi Arabia) to support, lead and supervise Middle and High school student during classes and physical activities. She also worked as Specialist Teacher Assistant at Kaust School (Saudi Arabia). Her position focused on re-enforcing and developing communication skills among students and teachers, specifically through a safe and diverse environment. She developed a strong curiosity and connection regarding learning environment, multi-cultural and international working space.
Charles Schrepferman Bevis, Ph.D. in Physics
Post-Doctoral Scientist, LUXEM
Email: charles.bevis@unipv.it
Charlie received a B.A. in Physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2011, where he worked in the lab of Prof. Steve Cundiff studying nonlinear interactions between matter and ultrashort laser pulses. He then obtained his M.Sc. (2017) and PhD. (2020) in Physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder. During his graduate work, Charlie worked in the Kapteyn-Murnane Group at JILA and studied computational imaging methods using coherent soft X-ray and EUV light sources. He specialized in the design and development of tabletop nano-imaging systems using ptychography coherent diffractive imaging with a high harmonic generation, laser-like source. Moreover, he was a part of a team that demonstrated the first sub-wavelength resolution image taken with an EUV source, first full-field stroboscopic imaging of a nanosystem with an EUV source, and novel experimental configurations to improve the throughput of ptychography coherent diffractive imaging. In 2021, Charlie joined LUXEM to study the relationship between structure and function of functionalized nanomaterials at ultrafast timescales. He was awarded the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out the project DECIPHER at LUXEM, which he completed in 2023. He leveraged his expertise in computational imaging system design and algorithm development to create novel correlative approaches using both electron and X-ray scatterometry and imaging.
Oliviero Cannelli, Ph.D. in Physics
LSU École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) & LUXEM
Email: oliviero.cannelli@epfl.ch
Oliviero received his B.Sc. in Chemistry with summa cum laude at “La Sapienza” University of Rome in 2014, where he worked in the laboratory of Prof. Robertino Zanoni and used XPS to investigate the amphiphobic properties of hybrid organic-inorganic coatings of aluminum oxide nanostructures. He obtained his M. Sc. Degree in Chemistry from Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa and from the University of Pisa with summa cum laude in 2016. In Pisa, Oliviero worked in the laboratory of Prof. Chiara Cappelli and applied theoretical methods to study temperature, solvent and vibronic effects on conjugated dyes molecules. In 2021, he obtained a Ph.D. in Physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) working in the Laboratory of Ultrafast Spectroscopy (LSU) under the supervision of Prof. Majed Chergui and Prof. Giulia Fulvia Mancini (now Head of LUXEM). During his graduate studies, Oliviero developed a tabletop transient reflectivity set-up to study charge and lattice dynamics in transition metal oxides. He employed X-ray spectroscopic methods from synchrotron and Free Electron Laser (FEL) facilities to study photo- and thermally-induced electronic and structural dynamics in perovskites, transition metal oxide systems, and biologically relevant samples. In 2023 he was awarded the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out the project METRICS at CFEL-ATTO group (Germany) in collaboration with FERMI (Italy) and Class 5 (Germany).
