NEPHEWS Twinning Programme - Cléophanie Brochard-Richard at FERMI

From 28 June to 3 July 2026, Cléophanie Brochard-Richard, Postdoctoral Researcher in the Sotomayor Research Group at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), visited the FERMI free-electron laser as part of the NEPHEWS Twinning Programme.

During her visit, she joined a user experiment headed by Prof Samuel Huberman, from the McGill University, gaining her first hand-on experience with FERMI's unique experimental capabilities. In particular, she used the nanoscale transient grating approach, uniquely available at the EIS-TIMER beamline, to study hydrodynamic thermal transport in solids.

Dr Brochard-Richard's research focuses on nanophononics, investigating lattice vibrations and thermal transport in nanostructured materials. Her work contributes to the development of next-generation materials that can be integrate in electronic or photonic devices with applications in information and communication technologies.
The visit forms part of the NEPHEWS Twinning Programme, an initiative designed to allow new users to gain skills by participating in beamtime experiments conducted by “twin” research groups with more experienced members at the Research Infrastructure.

She left "My week went very well. The people were very nice, very collaborative. It was very interesting, and I learned a lot of things, including how the techniques works and what can be the limitations of the materials on which I am working. So, it was fully interesting."

Elettra is one of the 18 research infrastructures participating in this initiative, which represents a valuable opportunity in building strong scientific connections and supporting the next generation of facility users.