Nowadays, I am a staff scientist at CNR-IOM institute in Trieste and head of the Laboratory DIGIMAT - DIGItal growth of quantum MATerials. My main research activity is the deposition by Pulsed Laser Deposition of complex materials and heterostructures in the form of thin films and the cross/correlations among their structural and electronic properties. I master the structural characterizations of thin films and heterostructures by X-Ray Diffraction and the investigation of their electronic properties by synchrotron radiation-based techniques (e.g. X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy, X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy, and Angular-Resolved Photo-Emission Spectroscopy). Moreover, I have a long-standing experience in many other characterization techniques such as magneto-transport properties (standard four probe, inductive contactless and microwave methods), electron diffraction from surfaces (i.e. both Low Energy Electron Diffracion and Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction), surface morphology by Scanning Electron Microscopy and checmical composition by Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDXS) analysis.
My research on complex materials and heterostructures is focused on the role of structural properties (mainly strain induced on the thin films by different substrates during the epitaxial growth) on the electronic properties (e.g. metal-insulator transition, topological properties, 2-dimensional electron gas, quantum interference effects at low temperatures, and so on) of such compounds.