Expertise
Prof. G. Cerullo’s ultrafast spectroscopy group at POLIMI has world-class expertise in the development of ultrafast spectroscopy techniques and in their application to the study of photoinduced dynamics in molecules and solids. We generate and manipulate ultrashort pulses of light to study the ultrafast processes at the heart of DNA, biomolecules and novel 2D materials, for a wide range of multidisciplinary efforts and in close collaborations with international scientific partners.
Discover more on https://www.femtosecond.fisi.polimi.it/.
Role in QUONDENSATE
In QUONDENSATE, we will test the optical properties of the engineered quantum defects in 2D materials and we will use advanced wide-field micro-spectroscopy methods for probing of the equilibrium and non-equilibrium optical response for the defect network, by means of hyperspectral and ultrafast holographic microscopy techniques. We lead Work Package 3 (Charecterization of defect networks), also substantially contributing to Work Package 4 (Implementation of Quantum Reservoir Computing with defect networks).
We coordinate the whole project.
QUONDENSATE related papers
- A. Genco et al.,
Femtosecond switching of strong light-matter interactions in microcavities with two-dimensional semiconductors.
arXiv preprint arXiv:2408.00111, 2024. - C. Trovatello et al.,
Quasi-phase-matched up- and down-conversion in periodically poled layered semiconductors.
arXiv preprint arXiv:2312.05444, 2023. - V.R. Policht et al.,
Time-domain observation of interlayer exciton formation and thermalization in a MoSe2/WSe2 heterostructure.
Nature Communications 14, 7273, 2023. - C. Louca, A. Genco et al.,
Interspecies exciton interactions lead to enhanced nonlinearity of dipolar excitons and polaritons in MoS2 homobilayers.
Nature Communications 14, 3818, 2023. - C. Trovatello et al.,
Optical parametric amplification by monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides.
Nature Photonics 15, 6-10, 2021. - S. Dal Conte et al.,
Ultrafast Photophysics of 2D Semiconductors and Related Heterostructures.
Trends in Chemistry 2, 28-42, 2020. - G. Soavi et al.,
Broadband, electrically tunable third-harmonic generation in graphene.
Nature Nanotechnology, 13, 583–588, 2018.
Group Members
Prof Giulio Cerullo (PI)
Giulio Cerullo is a Full Professor with the Physics Department, Politecnico di Milano, where he leads the Ultrafast Optical Spectroscopy laboratory. His research activity focuses on the generation of tunable few-optical-cycle light pulses and on their application to the study of primary photoinduced processes in molecules, nanostructures and two-dimensional materials. He has published more than 500 papers which have received over 30000 citations (H-index 86 according to Scopus). He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, of the European Physical Society, a member of the Accademia dei Lincei and past Chair of the Quantum Electronics and Optics Division of the European Physical Society. He has been General Chair of the conferences CLEO/Europe 2017, Ultrafast Phenomena 2018 and Program Chair of the International Conference on Raman Spectroscopy 2022. He is the 2023 recipient of the EPS-QEOD Quantum Electronics Prize. He is Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Optics and sits on the editorial board of the journals Science Advances, Laser & Photonics Reviews, Journal of Physical Chemistry, Scientific Reports. He has received an ERC Advanced Grants and has participated to many European Projects, including the supervision of 5 Marie Curie Individual Fellowships. He holds over 10 patents and is the co-founder of two spin-off companies.
Prof Stefano Dal Conte
Stefano Dal Conte is Associate professor at Politecnico di Milano. His research activity within the last 10 years has been dedicated to the investigation of non-equilibrium dynamics of strongly correlated electronic materials and low dimensional materials like graphene and 2D transition metal dichalcogenides using ultrafast optical spectroscopy. He is currently the PI of an ongoing national project (PRIN 2022) related to the study of ultrafast carrier and heat transfer in two dimensional heterostructures. He is co-author of more than 50 peer-reviewed publications (h-index: 29, source Google Scholar). During his research activity he supervised, two PhD students, three master students and co-supervised five postdoctoral researchers. He is currently professor of physics (course: “Fisica sperimentale A+B”-10 CFU) for chemical engineers and material/nanotechnology engineers of Politecnico di Milano.
Dr Armando Genco
Dr. Armando Genco has a proven expertise in the fields of strong light-matter interactions and 2D materials. Starting from his PhD carried out at University of Salento and CNR NANOTEC Lecce (Italy), he intensively studied light-matter interactions in different microcavity systems based on organic, hybrid and inorganic semiconductors, covering all the aspects of the research, including theoretical simulations, fabrication, and optical characterization of the devices. His knowledge and skills have been broadened even more during a 3-years postdoc at the University of Sheffield (UK) in the group of Prof. A. Tartakovskii, where he performed advanced spectroscopy on 2D materials and van der Waals heterostructures in one of the world-leading groups in this field. In 2021 he moved to Politecnico di Milano (Italy) in the group of Prof. Giulio Cerullo, to study the ultrafast optical response of 2D materials and micro- and nanophotonic structures. He was recipient of a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at POLIMIfocused on exploring the strong interactions of light with atomically thin materials at ultrafast time scales. He is co-author of more than 35 peer-reviewed publications (h-index: 19, source Google Scholar). From June 2023 he is Assistant Professor at Politecnico di Milano.
Dr Chiara Trovatello
Chiara Trovatello did the Ph.D. within the Graphene Flagship network under the supervision of Prof. Giulio Cerullo and Prof. Stefano Dal Conte and received the title of Ph.D. in Physics in 2020 (summa cum laude). During her doctoral studies, CT visited the University of Wurzburg (March 2018) and she was awarded a Marie Curie RISE Fellowship to visit Columbia University (March-September 2019). After the Ph.D., she returned to Columbia University as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the group of Prof. P. James Schuck. In 2023, she received the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellowship to conduct independent research at Columbia University and at Politecnico di Milano, where she is currently Assistant Professor, with the goal of developing and characterizing ultracompact platforms for quantum optics based on layered semiconductors. Among her prizes, CT is the recipient of the Bernard J. Couillaud Prize 2022 by the Optica Foundation and Coherent Inc., for her contributions in the field of ultrafast optics with 2D materials, and of the ISSNAF 2023 INFN Bruno Touschek Award for research in fundamental physics.
CT has delivered >30 invited and contributed talks at leading conferences and institutions, has published >25 scientific papers including several in the highest-impact journals in the field, and has been part of the organizing committee of international conferences, e.g., MRS, CLEO, and review and selection committees for the Optica Foundation.
Chiara Trovatello is also the Founder and the former President of the Optica Student Chapter of Milan. Starting from the Presidency of the chapter, and now as Optica Ambassador, CT passionately advocates for open science, ethical research, equal representation and opportunities in STEM.
More info at: https://chiaratrovatello.com
Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI)
Politecnico di Milano is a public scientific-technological university which trains engineers, architects and industrial designers. The University has always focused on the quality and innovation of its teaching and research, developing a fruitful relationship with business and productive world by means of experimental research and technological transfer. Research has always been closely linked to teaching and it is a priority commitment which has allowed Politecnico Milano to achieve high quality results at international levels. According to the prestigious QS 2025 ranking, the Politecnico di Milano is the 1st university of Italy and the 111st in the world.