CURRICULUM VITAE

Education:

April 2000. Laurea in Physics (final mark: 106/110) at the University of Camerino (Italy). Advisor: Prof. A. Di Cicco. Thesis title: ''Study of the structural disorder in the ternary alloy RbBrI in the liquid and solid phase''. In this work the EP has carried out systematic XAS experiments at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF, France) at the K-edges of the three atomic species present in the RbBr 1-xIx alloy, for 6 different anion concentrations x. Pseudobinary ionic alloys attract interest as the local atomic order exhibits a well-defined equilibrium between the long range order forces exerted by the lattice and short range order Coulomb forces. Through an innovative multi-edge fitting procedure attainable with the GNXAS data analysis package, EP has obtained a detailed structural insight on the RbBrI atomic arrangement both in solid and liquid phase (where lattice forces are not present) elucidating the role of the lattice in the local order. See A. Di Cicco (2004) for details.

October 2000 - January 2001. Grantee at the Interdepartmental Large Devices Centre (CIGA, University of Camerino) under the supervision of Dr. M. Minicucci and A. Di Cicco, on the following topics: alignment and interfacing of a rotating anode X-ray diffractometer. Calibration of the diffractometer by means of reference materials.

March 2001 - March 2004. PhD thesis activity on the study of condensed matter structure under the action of pressure and temperature. Advisor: Prof. A. Di Cicco. Thesis title: Phase transitions for Ge under extreme conditions. The thesis has been defended at the University of Camerino on 04/05/2004, achieving the panel judgement: 'excellent'. The PhD activity research was partially funded by the “Young researcher” grant provided by the University of Camerino. Used extreme conditions devices were: diamond anvil cell (DAC), large volume “Paris-Edinburgh” press and “L'Aquila-Camerino” furnace. Ge in the crystalline, amorphous and liquid forms has been subject of investigation. Used experimental techniques were XAS and XRD for bulk structural studies as well as Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) and Auger spectroscopy for investigations limited to the specimens surface. XAS and several XRD experiments have been carried out at the ESRF and at the Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation du Rayonnement Electromagnétique (LURE, France). During this period, EP collaborated in the development of the BM29 XAS beamline at the ESRF. XRD with a rotating anode diffractometer as well as electronic spectroscopies have been carried out respectively at the CIGA and Physics departments of the University of Camerino. During his PhD work, EP benefit from an ERASMUS grant (Nov 2002 - Jan 2003) to collaborate with the group of Prof. A. Polian at the University of Paris VI.

Working activity:

April 2004 - June 2004. Post-doc grantee at the University of Camerino, Physics department, provided by the University of Camerino. This grant gave EP the possibility to finalize the activity related to the PhD thesis.

September 2004 - February 2005. Post-doc grantee at the University of L'Aquila (Italy), Physics department, provided by the Italian institute for physics of matter (INFM). The research activity of EP was focused on building an original setup for recalescence measurements on melted samples. The set-up comprised an optical pyrometer, a vacuum chamber, a resistive heating device and an automated acquisition software. The scope of that set-up was to monitor the occurrence of discontinuities in the nucleation rate of undercooled liquids as a function of the temperature, thus indicating possible structural anomalies in the atomic structure of the liquid under investigation.

March 2005 - August 2006. Post-doc grantee at the University of Camerino, Chemistry and Physics departments, provided by the University of Camerino. During this period EP tackled the problem to investigate the atomic structure of electrocatalysts under working conditions inside proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). This leaded to the development of a special PEMFC derived from a commercial one, suitable for XAS measurements at synchrotrons both in transmission and fluorescence mode.

September 2006 - December 2009. Scientist for the Italian interuniversity consortium for the physics of matter (CNISM). During this period EP consolidated his position as an expert in the field of the structural characterization of materials under extreme conditions of temperature, pressure as well as size (nano-sized matter). In particular, he focused his efforts on the structural anomalies exhibited by an intriguing class of material termed 'water-like'. Moreover, EP worked on the structural characterization of innovative diluted Pt-based electrocatalysts for PEM fuel cells. A special PEMFC developed by EP were tested successfully with an advanced diluted electrocatalyst carrying out energy dispersive fluorescence XAS measurements at the ESRF. Further XAS measurements with the special PEMFC were carried out in transmission geometry at the ELETTRA sychrotron. EP was involved in the development of the beamlines ODE and XAFS at SOLEIL (France) and ELETTRA (Italy) synchrotrons respectively. The ODE beamline designed to carry out energy dispersive XAS measurements was equipped with an imaging plate and a movable slits thus allowing simultaneous XAS and angular dispersive x-ray diffraction measurements (ADXRD). The XAFS beamline was improved by the installation of a 'L'Aquila-Camerino' furnace coupled with an imaging plate for combined XAS and ADXRD measurements of high temperature solids and liquids.

January 2010 - December 2010. Post-doc grantee at the University of Camerino, Physics department, funded by Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A. EP was involved in the study of extreme conditions generated by FEL radiation. A tremendous problem in experiments involving ultrafast heating of matter is the estimation of the maximum temperature reached by the sample lattice. EP developed an innovative approach based on the framework of the classical heat diffusion (see publication n. 2). With the aim to put to test the theoretical basis of this approach, EP designed and built a Cassegrain infrared (IR) pyrometer (wavelength around 2300 nm), with spot size of about 250 um and time resolution around 5 us.

January 2011 to present. Beamline scientist at the FERMI@Elettra free electron laser (Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A. (ST), Italy). EP is responsible for designing and developing the EIS-TIMEX endstation conceived to investigate strongly excited states of matter. He is also involved in optimizing an experimental method to measure the lattice temperature in transient warm dense matter. Numerical calculations carried out by EP, based on the Fourier law, are in very good agreement with the temperature profile measured by a custom IR pyrometer on selected specimens, thus corroborating the theoretical approach. EP is currently writing a publication dedicated to these findings.

Teaching and training activity:

In 2010 EP was the thesis advisor for an undergraduate physics student at the University of Camerino. Title of the thesis: “Infrared pyrometry in the field of physics of matter”. Main topics of the thesis were: optics, pyrometry, black-body radiation, infrared detectors, temperature calibration, numerical calculation of relevant characteristics of an optical system. In August 2009, EP was lecturer at an international school on X-ray absorption spectroscopy data analysis. Title of the school: “GNXAS summer intensive course”, held in Camerino (Italy). From 2005 to 2010 EP was lecturer at the University of Camerino alternating “General physics” and “Laboratory of structure of matter” courses for students of Geology/Environmental sciences/Veterinary science degree and Physics degree, respectively. From 2004 to 2010 EP was supervisor of undergraduate, graduate and PhD students both Italian and international (mainly French, Polish, Pakistani, Chinese) at the XAS laboratory (University of Camerino). Training activity included: XAS and XRD experiments at synchrotron facilities, advanced XAS data analysis, development of techniques for the study of matter under extreme conditions, development of data acquisition dedicated software, sample preparation and characterization for XAS and XRD experiments.