Team

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

Curriculum Vitae

Prof. Giulia Fulvia Mancini is the P.I. of the Laboratory for Ultrafast X-ray and Electron Microscopy (LUXEM) and Associate Professor at the Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Italy. She is an internationally recognized expert in the development and commissioning of new time-resolved coherent diffractive imaging, scattering, and spectroscopy techniques, utilized to understand fundamental phenomena in soft-condensed matter.

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 SNSF 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 Grant and two National Grants from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR), with an overall funding ID of 4M€ from current and previous appointments. Her group, LUXEM, develops and implements pioneering experimental imaging and scattering techniques, which integrate tabletop and facility X-rays with electrons pulsed sources, characterized by ultrafast (10^-15s) time and ultrasmall (10^-10m) spatio-temporal resolutions. These pioneering methodologies enabled breakthrough capabilities in the ultrafast metrology of light-activated functionality of nanostructured hybrid functional materials, and in their structure-property relationships characterization across length-scales. The purpose of this technology is under expansion to a larger stakeholders audience through the collaboration with strategic industry partners in X-ray high-quality optics fabrication and pulsed X-ray/electrons detection.

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. In 2024, Prof. Mancini obtained the National Scientific Qualification to Full Professorship in experimental physics of matter and applications (PHYS-03/A, 02/PHYS-03) from the Italian Ministry of University and Research. In 2025, she became member of the X-lites Executive Leadership Committee and formal representative of NEXT COST Action at the consortium “Extreme Light in Intensity, Time, and Space (X-lites) network” (USA). In the same year, she was elected member of the FERMI Free Electron Laser Proposal Review Panel (PRP) and W&T2 panel member of the National Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). At the University of Pavia, she joined the main Teaching Body (Collegio Docenti) of the Doctoral School in Physics. Prof. Mancini has served as external reviewer for the Dutch Research Council (NWO), the LASERLAB-EUROPE research infrastructures (EU), the COST Association (EU), the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the Agency for the Promotion of European Research (APRE), the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL). She is strongly committed to foster Early-Stage-Researchers career and serves as mentor for women in science and STEM disciplines.

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.Sc. in Engineering Physics in 2017. At Mines, Claudia worked under the supervision 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, she studied electrostatic discharge (ESD) formation using indirect electrical and direct optical measurement techniques. Claudia developed herself in the design of high-voltage circuits and electronic measurement collection. Moreover, she 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 leverages her expertise in imaging, photonics and electric-field induced effects, to develop a new ultrafast electrons-based diffraction and imaging system.

Ph.D. Students

Carmelo Grova, M.Sc. in Engineering Physics
Ph.D. Student, LUXEM

Email: carmelo.grova01@universitadipavia.it

Carmelo is worked 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. He is now completing his Ph.D. appointment while working at Leonardo.

Antonio Emanuele Mazzarone, M.Sc. in Physics
Ph.D. student, LUXEM

Email: antonioemanuel.mazzarone01@universitadipavia.it

Antonio is a PhD student at LUXEM, working on the project “Ultrafast Ptychography of Hybrid Nanostructures”. His work is focused on the optimization of computational and experimental time-resolved ptychography techniques at the LUXEM and FERMI Free Electron Laser soft X-ray beamlines. These methods crucially underpin the definition of smart strategies towards dynamical imaging of hybrid nanostructures, and open new possibilities of imaging with structured beams. Antonio has a solid background in soft-condensed matter physics and materials science, built through his early academic path. He obtained his M.Sc. in Physics at the University of Pavia, where he harnessed correlative Ultrafast EUV Microscopy and Transient Reflectivity methods to unravel collective responses out of equilibrium in functionalized nanoparticles supracrystals. His B.Sc. degree in Materials Science and Technology was carried out at the University of Bari, where he developed laser micromachining skills for the investigation of laser-induced surface structures (LIPSS) on quartz and their effects on material properties.

M. Sc. Students

Federico Bertelli, Physics student
M.Sc. student, LUXEM and Bright Solutions Srl

Email: federico.bertelli@universitadipavia.it

Federico is a M.Sc. student at University of Pavia. He obtained his B.Sc. degree in Physics from the University of Pavia in December 2023. He is part of the LMPlus joint Master’s Degree project between the laser company Bright Solutions and LUXEM. His thesis work is focused on the use and characterization of ultrafast lasers for material processing.

B.Sc. Students

David Berardi, Physics student
B.Sc. student, LUXEMEmail: david.berardi01@universitadipavia.itDavid is a B.Sc. student in Physics at the University of Pavia. At LUXEM, he is working on Ptychographic CDI reconstruction for his B.Sc. thesis project, developing a software suite for the automation of the hardware acquisition process and reconstruction. Moreover, he is a software developer whose main area of expertise is Python.

LUXEM & Physics Department Permanent Staff

Nicola Giani, LUXEM Laboratory Engineer

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 purposes. He worked between October 2020 and January 2023 as Engineer for the technical office of a metal carpentry company, where he focused on tank component design and drawings approvals for vehicle functionality and safety, using SAP management for technical component. Nicola joined LUXEM in May 2023, becoming an expert in ultrafast lasers technology and their applications in imaging systems and microscopy. He masters the operation and maintenance of a wide range of laser systems and associated equipment, cryogenic and ultra-high vacuum systems, prototyping new technology.

Alumni & Former Members

Giovanni Luca Ignaccolo, Physics student
M.Sc. student, LUXEM and University of Palermo

Email: giovanniluca.ignaccolo@community.unipa.it

Gianluca obtained his B.Sc. degree in Physics at the University of Palermo, where he is a M.Sc. student in Physics. During his B.Sc. internship, he characterized monolayers of Molybdenum disulfide with AFM and Raman Microscopy, in a collaboration with CNR- Catania. He also co-developed a “Random Laser System”. For his M.Sc. thesis internship at LUXEM, Gianluca focused on the implementation and performances characterization of different optical microscopy modalities, in the visible range. Specifically, he implemented and calibrated a Thorlabs Atomic Force Microscope, and a Fourier Microscope dedicated to Optical Ptychography.

Domenico Compagnini, Physics student M.Sc. student, LUXEM

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.

Giulia Lallo
Executive Coordinator

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

Charlie received a B.Sc. 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 Ph.D. (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

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).