Physics colloquium-“Ultrafast Spectro-Microscopy of Photo-Excited Systems: Harnessing the Power of X-Ray Tabletop and Facility-Scale Sources”

Giulia Mancini

Universita di Pavia (Pavia, Italy), Department of Physics

Abstract: Ultrafast scattering, spectroscopy and imaging are essential tools for understanding and quantifying the functionality of nanoscale systems in space and time domains. The past decades witnessed a revolution in ultrafast pulsed sources, from optical lasers to pulsed X-rays sources. In the X-ray regime, X-ray Free-Electron Lasers (XFELs) provided intense and coherent X-ray pulses, enabling to combine novel experimental strategies, based on ultrafast element-selective core-level spectroscopies and scattering techniques. In parallel, soft X-ray/EUV light from compact High-Harmonic Generation (HHG) sources have proved extremely powerful for investigating electronic, structural and magnetic properties in complex nanostructured systems out-of-equilibrium, with nanometer spatial resolution and pulse durations in the femtosecond (fs)-to-attosecond (as) range. Specifically, the combination of HHG EUV light with ptychographic Coherent Diffractive Imaging (CDI), enabled revolutionary new nano-imaging capabilities, from ultrafast hyperspectral imaging to Bragg coherent small-angle scattering. In this talk I will present recent advances in this field with recent pioneering demonstrations. 

Biography: Prof. Giulia Fulvia Mancini received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Pavia, and she obtained her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the Federal Polytechnical School of Lausanne (EPFL), LUMES group (Prof. Fabrizio Carbone). In 2015, she moved to the United States and joined the Kapteyn-Murnane group as a PostDoctoral Fellow at JILA, University of Colorado-Boulder and NIST (USA). After holding a Team Leader position as Senior Research Associate at the Swiss Free Electron Laser (SwissFEL – PSI) with EPFL (Prof. Majed Chergui), she decided to re-invest the experience gained abroad in Italy. Giulia Fulvia Mancini is a tenured Associate Professor at the Department of Physics at the University of Pavia, (UniPv) since 2021, and Head of Research of the LUXEM team composed of 7 people (1 Marie Curie PostDoctoral Research Fellow, 2 Postdocs, 2 graduate students, 1 Executive Coordinator, 1 Lab Technician), and co-supervisor of 1 undergraduate student. In her group, the Laboratory for Ultrafast X-ray and Electron Microscopy (LUXEM), the research focus is in the understanding of structure-property relationships in functional nanomaterials and interfaces, in the ultrafast (10-15s) time domain, through novel experimental scattering and imaging techniques which integrate tabletop (HHG) and facility (Synchrotrons, Free-Electron Lasers) pulsed X-rays and electrons sources. LUXEM is an internationally recognized laboratory for ultrafast science that collaborates with key industry partners for XUV metrology and computational imaging, such as AXIS, KMLabs, and SESO Thales. Prof. Mancini relies on a consolidated network of international collaborations with world leading scientists in her research field. Her international track record and scientific standing was consolidated by the following awards: (i) a 4M€ LUXEM funding ID from International and National Grants; (ii) the 2020 Mildred Dresselhaus Junior Guest Professorship from the CUI Centre for Ultrafast Advanced Imaging of Matter and the Hamburg University, for “outstanding early scientific achievements”: (iii) the 2021 Young Scientist Prize in Optics for “contributions to imaging and scattering of nanostructured materials using high-harmonic soft X-ray sources and research on extreme ultraviolet imaging”; (iv) membership in the Executive Committee of the European XFEL User Organization to bridge users’ needs with the machine top management. She has co-authored 68 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and international proceeding of conferences top of her field, and 3 patents, contributing to breakthrough scientific discoveries in ultrafast and material sciences, with a h-index 20 in rapid growth. She was invited guest and public speaker to 40 international conferences and 5 public speaking events connecting researchers, investors, policy makers, and the public. Prof. Mancini is strongly invested in the professional development of the students and researchers under her supervision. In the past 8 years, she supervised 8 graduate students and 3 undergraduate students, now in permanent positions in responsibility roles in industry or academia (USA, Europe) and US or CH national laboratories. She is a mentor for women in science and STEM disciplines at UniPv and the University of Hamburg (DE), invited guest of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science Round Tables, and she is committee members of associations and workgroups aimed to promoting equality, diversity, and professional development for young researchers.

All lectures in Hill Hall 202 unless otherwise specified