The project aims at understanding the fundamental microscopic mechanisms and the emergent physical phenomena of complex materials, which are characterized by a strong entanglement of spin-orbital-charge-lattice (SOCL) degrees of freedom, mainly driven by electron-electron correlations and spin-orbit interaction, and include the combination with quantum topology. Targeted material platforms, in bulk, thin-film and superlattice form, are based on transition metal oxides (TMO) at large, but also other transition-metal based systems where electron correlations and spin-orbit coupling can play a relevant role.
A long-term perspective is finding the best candidates among SOCL and/or topological materials (mainly in the realm of TMO) for achieving new paradigms in emergent technologies, for instance beyond the conventional electronics based on the electron charge. Within this framework, the project focuses on investigating materials with a relevant impact towards novel concepts of electronics  (e.g. orbitronics, magnonics, spin-orbitronics, and topotronics) which exploit the orbital degree of freedom, collective spin modes, spin-orbit coupling, spin-momentum locking or topological edge states, thus opening exciting perspectives in dissipationaless spin currents, spin-to-charge conversion, high sensitivity to emergent electric and magnetic fields, all aiming  at outperforming current approaches in carrying logic operations, computation, information storage, etc.

Activity Leader: Silvia Picozzi

State of art

The conventional view of complex electronic matter arises from the idea that strong Coulomb interaction is a fundamental prerequisite to achieve new quantum phases. The paradigmatic example is the metal-insulator Mott transition and 3d TMO are key materials in this framework. Recent research efforts are however increasingly indicating that the combination of strong spin-orbit coupling and electron-electron interaction, joint with inversion symmetry breaking, represents a rich source of new phenomena, effects and phases of matter. Furthermore, the concept of band and Mott insulators as well as superconductors and conventional metals have been revisited in view of their (possibly non-trivial) “topological” behaviour. Along this direction, the field is undergoing a sequence of exciting discoveries, new theoretical frames based on Berry phase physics are becoming more and more popular and the concepts of order and disorder have been substantially expanded and broadened to accommodate new and exotic solid and liquid quantum phases. For instance, electrons propagating in a frustrated spin background, by exhibiting fractional quantum Hall effects, as well as novel magnetoelectric effects or exotic magnetotransport behaviour in iridates, have opened the way for a strong connection of topological phenomena with that of correlated electrons.

Objectives

The main objectives of the project are:

1. To fabricate and investigate materials which can exhibit unconventional spin-textures, ranging from topological magnetic patterns (e.g. skyrmions, chiral domain walls) to chiral spin textures in Rashba/Dirac/Weyl materials.
2. To fabricate and investigate materials with strong interplay of spin-orbit coupling and Coulomb interaction as basic ingredients for novel phases of matter (including topological insulating or gapless states), together with the design of hybrid materials with spatial tuning of the relative strength of Coulomb and spin-orbit interactions (e.g. 3d-4d and 3d-5d TMO systems).
3. To find and study novel phases of matter in materials with frustration due to geometry and/or competing interactions.
4. To address ferroic systems (i.e. showing magnetic/dipolar/elastic order) where the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling and/or the coupling with various external stimuli (e.g.. light) might lead to novel multifunctional materials and effects (i.e. ferroelectric Rashba semiconductors, electromagnons in multiferroics, etc)

Methodologies

All the required expertise are covered by the project team, involving  researchers with competences in:

• modelling (i.e. ab-initio density functional theory - including high-throughput approaches-, many-body, model Hamiltonian)
• material fabrication (via floating zone techniques and pulsed laser deposition, for single crystals and thin-films/superlattices, respectively)
• various experimental probes (i.e. magneto-transport, infrared, optical and X-ray spectroscopies, lab-based or available at large-scale facilities).

Main collaborations

• IFW – Leibniz Institute Dresden, Germany (Prof. J. Van den Brink)
• Aachen University, Germany (Prof. M. Morgenstern)
• MPI of Stuttgart, Germany (Prof.  P. Horsch)
• University of Warwick, UK (Prof. G. Balakrishnan)
• Imperial College London, UK (Prof. David Payne)
• University of Cracow, Poland (Prof. A. Oles)
• University of Kyoto, Japan (Prof. Y. Maeno)

MAIN ONGOING PROJECTS

• TO-BE (“Towards Oxide Based Electronics”) – COST ACTION funded by European Commission . CNR-SPIN is coordinating the Action.
• UFOX (“Unveiling complexity in Functional hybrid Oxides”) MSCA –IEF funded in Horizon 2020. CNR-SPIN is coordinating the MSCA project.
• TMS (“Topological Materials Science”) – project funded by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas, MEXT, Japan. CNR-SPIN is a partner in the exchange network program.
• Joint project between CNR-IOM and CNR-SPIN within the “Nanoscience Foundry and Fine Analysis (NFFA-MIUR-TRIESTE) facility entitled “First-principles simulations for structural and electronics properties of advanced materials of interest for spintronics”.
• Fondazione CARIPLO  project on “Magnetic Information Storage in Antiferromagnet Spintronic Devices (MagISter)”.  CNR-SPIN is partner, project coordinated by Prof. M. Cantoni (Politec. Milano).
• CNTQ ,  Por Campania FSE 2007-2013,  Contributo PSI K.

The light-matter interaction science and optics as well as the variety of their applications to probe/develop new materials, create innovative devices and techniques are the core of this project.
The project focuses on phenomena and effects arising when light meets materials (superconductors, oxides, non-linear optical materials etc.).

The control and understanding of light/matter interactions will lead to a wave of new functionalities and technologies based on Quantum Components and Light-driven micro/nano-structuring and fabrication of matter with the goal of having an impact in Quantum Technologies, Metamaterials and Advanced Sensing.

Our research activity is multidisciplinary in what combines cond-mat physics and materials science with laser physics and quantum optics. In this sense, it helps pushing the boundaries of what can be envisaged in emerging fields and technologies that are based on new materials and optics as well as on standard materials rigged out with novel functionalities.

Activity Leader: Alberto Porzio

The main topics are:

Superconducting single-photon and THz detectors for the most demanding applications that encompass quantum information and communication, atmospheric remote sensing and LIDAR, metrology, ultra-sensitive imaging and spectroscopy of faint emission sources in medicine and biology.
Non-linear materials in quantum communication. Non-linear optical effects are the core process to generate entangled states in the optical domain that represent the main resource for quantum communication.
Light-driven structuring and fabrication of matter by approaches based both on conventional laser beams and on the emerging use of spatially and polarization structured laser beams, on direct laser surface structuring with continuous and ultrashort laser pulses, on pulsed laser ablation and Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE) techniques and so forth.
Passive and active metamaterials and other micro - and nano - fabricated devices able to control and mold the flow of light or to manipulate electromagnetic waves with different approaches, offering new opportunities for slowing or even stopping the light, signal switching and cloaking, beam shaping and modulation.
Novel excitonic superconductors & devices, Surface Plasmon, Polaritons and Metasurfaces. Investigation of novel physical phenomena emerging in micro/nanoscale structures and at surfaces/interfaces, including the application of structured-light. Possibility to control light at the nanoscale and transfer information on subwavelength scales.

Expertise, Methods & Techniques

• LIDAR and remote optical sensing with particular emphasis to the monitoring of CO2 and many other greenhouse and emission gases that have absorption lines in the near and mid-infrared spectral region and to the development of ringlaser arrays for general relativity effect detection.
  
• Spectroscopic methods including ultrafast spectroscopy, pump&probe and MOKE techniques, time-resolved spectroscopy, electronic Raman spectroscopy, THz probe spectroscopy for the investigation of superconductors and other innovative materials like organics, graphene, nanocomposites, and low-dimensional materials and interfaces.

Main collaborations

Our work is valued by partners across Italy and by many leading international institutions.

National

Most of the SPIN Units are within the local Universities where collaborations are established. For the activities of this project, Napoli Federico II and Salerno Universities are strongly involved.
In addition, we collaborate with Università degli studi della Campania and Università degli studi di Milano.
We also take advantage of networking with several CNR Institutes: IFN, NANOTEC, IMM, INO and ISASI.
Common research projects in this scientific area are carried out with other national agencies like INRIM, CNISM and INFN.

International

Europe 

• Chalmers Univ. of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden
• Glasgow Univ. (UK)
• Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
• Tampere University of Technology, Finland
• Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
• Institute of Electron Technology, Warszawa, Poland
• Laboratoire Kastler Brossel and Univ. P. et M. Curie (Paris, France)
• IPCC The Institute of Cryobiology and Cryomedicine, Kiev, Ukraine

Turkey

• Middle East Technical Univ, Ankara

USA

• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
• Rochester Univ.
• Harvard Univ.
• Hypres, Inc.

China

• Tianjin Univ, Tianjin Polytechnic Univ. and Tianjin Univ. of Technology and Education
• Beijing Research Institute of Telemetry
• Southeast Univ., Nanjing
• CAS-SIMIT Shanghai; BRIT; Southeast Univ., Nanjing.

Japan 

• Saitama Univ.
• AIST - National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Tsukuba)
• Tokyo Univ. of Agriculture and Technology.

This project is aimed at investigating the fundamental properties of functional organic and inorganic materials, with specific responsiveness to physical (i.e. electromagnetic radiation, magnetic and electrostatic fields, heat, mechanical stress) and chemical (i.e. interaction with gas, liquid analytes, ionic species) external stimuli. These basic research efforts will be oriented to support the realization of innovative sensing and electronic devices to be mainly employed in the fields of biomedicine and smart systems. Further, this scientific chain will be completed with the development of computational techniques for the processing of data produced by such devices.

Activity Leader: Mario Barra

State of art

In the last years, functional compounds have been attracting a widespread interest of the scientific community in light of their favorable use for the development of smart and highly-integrated systems, where sensing, actuation and electronic control functions can be simultaneously incorporated. Through the continuous availability of electronic materials with innovative chemico-physical features, it is predicted that, in the next decades, this technological paradigm will be further enhanced and extended to many other applicative fields, until the concrete perspective to integrate smart functionalities even in everyday common objects. On the other hand, many of the responsive materials of interest display inherently a good biocompatibility level, putting them also at the forefront in supporting the birth of a new generation of devices to be applied in several bio-medical applications, with the ability to work with minimal invasiveness at the interface with the living matter. This possibility implies, consequently, also the need of developing numerical methods specifically designed for processing large amounts of data produced by different and sophisticated diagnostic modalities.

Objectives

Starting from this general scenario, this project will be targeted on three main and deeply related applicative areas:

• Innovative devices to be employed in biomedical applications and software toolboxes for data analysis applied for both validating the diagnostic properties of the developed systems and inferring information relevant for health monitoring;
• Advanced sensing and actuating systems with high level of integration and/or multifunctional response;
• Electronic and optoelectronic devices, with related complex circuits, fabricated on flexible, large-area and/or transparent substrates.

Activities in any of these sectors are conceived as highly sinergystic and the mutual exchange of ideas and technological competences between the involved researchers will be set as basic strategy.In order to face the technological challenges posed by the project objectives, the research efforts will be focalized on selected categories of materials: organic conjugated systems (small molecules and polymers), transition metal compounds (oxides and dichalcogenides) and multifunctional composites (magnetic elastomers, hydrid organic-inorganic frameworks, etc). The physical properties of these materials, particularly in form of thin and nano-structured films, will be deeply investigated both at micro- ad nano-scale. A particular attention will be paid also to analyze and possibly exploit new physical phenomena arising, in artificial and natural hetero-structures, at the interfacial regions separating compounds with different and tailored properties. Several specific research themes will be pursued in this project and will be concerned with the three applicative areas according to the following more detailed itemization:

• Innovative electromechanical systems entirely based on transition metal compounds;
• Infrared imaging bolometers, new type actuators and high frequency mechanical (100 kHz-10MHz) oscillators with memory capabilities based on functional oxides;
• Magnetic and magneto-electric sensors for low-field detection;
• Hetero-structures for multifunctional sensing based on novel detecting principles;
• Macro- and nano-scale electronic transport at metal-oxide and metal-organic interfaces investigated by advanced scanning probe techniques;
• New sensors for environmental monitoring;
• Innovative photocatalysts and persistent luminescence materials for antibacterial activity and removing emerging pollutants;
• Elasto- and nano-structured magnetic materials for sensing and actuating systems;
• New magnetic nano-structures and composites for medical therapies;
• Magnetism and (multi-)ferroic effects in organic materials and hybrid organic-inorganic metal frameworks;
• Computational tools for image reconstruction, image processing, pattern recognition in structural, functional, and dynamic MRI, X-ray tomography, Positron Emission Tomography, and prototypal modalities;
• Computational tools for the modeling of time series provided by sensor in electroencephalography (EEG) and SQUIDs in magnetoencephalography (MEG);
• Software tools for the calibration and validation of advanced devices for biomedical applications;
• Bio-compatible organic transistors based on field-effect and electrochemical doping for chemical and biological sensing in liquid environments;
• Charge transport properties in organic and transition metal nano-channels;
• Organic devices for flexible electronics: field-effect transistors and related complex analog and digital integrated circuits;
• Organic and hybrid organic-inorganic devices for the detection and the conversion of light (photo-diodes, photo-transistors, photovoltaic cells);
• Unconventional electromagnetic phenomena in artificial meta-materials;
• New devices based on meta-materials for manipulating electromagnetic radiation from THz to visible regimes.

Methodologies

• The envisioned research activities will rely on the utilization of a wide number of complementary experimental approaches, including:
• Physical vapor (Pulsed Laser Deposition, Sputtering, Supersonic molecular beam evaporation) and solution-based (ink-jet printing, spin-coating, electro-spinning) deposition methods;
• Advanced computational methods for data processing;
• Advanced (visible, UV, x-ray) radiation-based material characterization techniques;
• UV and e-beam lithographic processes;
• Scanning Probe (AFM, MFM, STM, STM-BEEM, PFM, Kelvin probe) and Electron (SEM) microscopy;
• Charge transport characterization techniques in various environments (versus temperature, in presence of magnetic field, in ac regimes, etc).

Main collaborations

• Dipartimento di Scienze della Salute, Università di Genova
• CNR-IBFM Istituto di bioimmagini e fisiologia molecolare 
• IRMET S.p.A, Euromedic Int. 
• Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, riabilitazione, oftalmologia, genetica e scienze materno-infantili, Università di Genova
• Carestream Health Italia srl
• IRCCS San Martino-IST, Genova 
• Paramed srl, Genova 
• IRCCS Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genova
• Dipartimento di Matematica, Università di Genova
• Università degli Studi di Genova
• Academy of Athens
• Trinity College Dublin
• CNRS, Université Paris-Sud
• Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz
• Met Office, Northumbria University
• ISIR- Osaka University

MAIN ONGOING PROJECTS

• Comunità Europea – H2020 (H2020-NMBP-10-2016)
• MAECI -XI Programma Esecutivo (PE) di cooperazione scientifica e tecnologica per gli anni 2017-2019, progetti scientifici congiunti di “grande rilevanza”
• U.S. Army International Technology Center Atlantic (ARMY RESEARCH LABORATORY)
• Fondazione AriSLA,Par Fas 2007-2013
• Comunità Europea - H2020-PROTEC-2014

The scope of the present activity is the study, from the classical to the quantum level, of the fundamental processes involved in the motion of carriers (holes and electrons), lattice vibrations and other excitations in a large variety of materials and devices (including new generation solar cells, thermoelectrics, nanoelectromechanic devices, etc.) of interest for energy transport and conversion. For this purpose, different approaches will be available on the theoretical side, able to provide adequate description from the atomistic to the microscopic level, from quantum mechanics and ab initio approaches to molecular dynamics and modelling of strongly correlated materials. Both equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium phenomena (like the interplay of electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom in ultra-fast pump-and-probe experiments) will be object of investigation. The theoretical efforts will be accompanied by a continuous and fruitful comparison and interplay with the experimental results, as those provided, e.g., by angle-resolved photoemission, optical spectroscopy - both linear and non-linear - and nano-spectroscopies. Special focus will be given to novel two-dimensional and hybrid layered materials, and complex interfaces. The competencies available to the activity will also allow to get insights on nanocomposite materials and materials at the interface between  biology and physics.

Activity Leader: Cantele Giovanni

State of art

The design and characterization of new functional materials for the development of new devices for energy transport and conversion is an emerging and rapidly developing research field. Basic interactions governing the fundamental processes in these materials are far from being understood, because electronic, lattice, spin and optical (photon) processes occur and can interfere with each other. Moreover, at the macroscopic level, other phenomena, such as the effects of energy exchange and scattering against the boundaries might take place.

The fundamental phenomena governing the response of such devices span a length scale that ranges from the nanoscale (nanodevices, nanoscale circuits, nanowires and nanotubes, two-dimensional materials, etc.) to the macroscale (composite materials, organic compounds, amorphous blends, etc.), so that their investigation requires a multi-scale approach and a variety of different competencies. For example, the matching of two different materials at an interface might not be described by just the knowledge of the electronic structures of the separated components, because structural reconstruction and charge transfer can show up. Typically, local chemistry effects (that is, phenomena induced by the formation of chemical bonds or by the interaction between the two different materials) require a microscopic description, that is, an atomistic point of view. On the other hand, elementary charge and spin excitations and transport require the elaboration of effective models, able to take into account the interplay between different degrees of freedom.

Emerging materials, such as graphene and two-dimensional crystals, topological insulators, semiconductors with helical and chiral edge states, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite materials, layered compounds, nano- and micro-composites, and so on have been shown to be good candidates for energy and electronic applications, each with its own advantages and drawbacks. Driven quantum systems are also emerging as a valuable alternative in designing new and powerful microscopic devices with complex and rich thermodynamic behavior. These systems could offer the possibility to manipulate charge and heat on a quantum scale with numerous applications extending from quantum information to technological and biological device design.

In view of applications for low-power (nano)electronics, energy harvesting and conversion, and others, one needs a better understanding of heat production, and energy transport, dissipation and conversion from the quantum to the macroscopic scale.

Objectives

The main goal of the present activity is to provide a fundamental understanding of open problems in materials science, with a main focus on materials for nanoelectronics, energy harvesting and conversion, with special focus on phenomena where the interplay between different (electronic, vibrational, etc.) degrees of freedom as well as electronic correlations play a fundamental role. The many activities included within the present project are:

• to provide an atomistic description of complex nanostructures surfaces and heterostructures/interfaces, for the investigation of newly conceived systems with advanced functionalities. Typical examples are provided by van der Waal heterostructures, where many two-dimensional subunits  can be interfaced with each other to provide efficient optoelectronic or (nano)electronic devices
• to provide a realistic and quantitative description of out-of-equilibrium (pump and probe) and ultrafast (~100 fs time scale) phenomena, involving at the same time electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom (for example, multiple exciton effects in two-dimensional layered materials)
• to provide accurate descriptions of transport coefficients such as conductance and thermopower of atomic and molecular junctions. The interest is on the role of many-body interactions between electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom. Focus is on the optimization of the thermoelectric figure of merit and the efficiency in conditions close to and out of equilibrium
• to elaborate accurate descriptions of equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium charge and spin transport in low-dimensional systems with novel properties (topological insulators and superconductors, spin-orbit-coupled quantum wires, etc.). Such systems can be envisioned as convenient tools to manipulate the spin degree of freedom, including the design of spin splitters
• to study complex out-of-equilibrium phenomena such as the dynamics of a quantum quench. Focus here is on the time evolution of a Hamiltonian quantum system after the modulation in time of one or few of its parameters. Such a study is strictly connected to the definition of the operation of the building blocks of a quantum computer
• to envision and propose new devices for the manipulation, transport and storage of energy in quantum systems. The purpose of this research activity is to quantify the influence of quantum dynamics on the energy transport in nano and quantum systems and to understand if and under which conditions these quantum effects can be exploited to build more efficient devices to manipulate the energy at quantum level
• to investigate the excitations of novel bulk materials, like the unconventional multiferroics, and of the two-dimensional electron gases which form at the interfaces and on the surface of topological insulators,  by optical spectroscopy extended to the nanoscale
• to gain a better understanding of charge carrier fluctuation mechanisms in advanced functional materials, by resorting to additional and complementary experimental procedures such as noise spectroscopy
• to study and characterize field emission properties and interface barriers in novel nanoscale devices, with the aim of bringing out potential field emission applications and interface barrier tuning.
• to elaborate effective models and/or simulations of complex systems at the interface between material physics and biology. At this purpose, molecular dynamics and Montecarlo approaches will be available, that have already been proven to give efficient and accurate description of intriguing problems, such as laser-driven antibody−gold surface interactions of interest for biotechnological and biosensing applications
• to elaborate effective models, based on MonteCarlo and molecular dynamics simulations, of the thermoelectric efficiency in nanocomposite materials. In particular, phenomena of interest might be charge separation and transport at donor/acceptor interfaces and nanocomposites, currently employed in the development of new generation devices for energy harvesting and conversion
• to understand the structure and organization of complex biological systems systems, such as the structure and organization of chromosomes in mammalian cells from the subMb to chromosomal scales, by using polymer physics

Methodologies

• Ab initio density functional theory and its extensions
• Exact diagonalization techniques
• Montecarlo approaches and molecular dynamics
• World line quantum Montecarlo
• Analytical and numerical techniques to describe the out-of-equilibrium transport properties in nanosystems
• Advanced parallel numerical techniques for the solution of problems involving differential equations or large/sparse matrices
• Scattering matrix and non-equilibrium Green's function approaches
• Bosonization techniques
• Electric noise spectroscopy
• Infrared spectroscopy of two-dimensional electron gases in interfaces and topological insulators
• Atomic force micro-spectroscopy of inhomogeneous samples on the nanoscale

Main collaborations

• NTU Singapore
• CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
• CNR-NANO and Scuola Normale di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
• Secondary collaborations:
• ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
• Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland
• Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Institut für Silizium Photovoltaik, Berlin, Germany       
• University of Geneve, Switzerland
• University of Bonn, Germany
• Harvard university, Harvard, USA
• Laboratoire LPMMC, Grenoble, France
• Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, Dresden, Germany
• Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Ghent University, Belgium

MAIN ONGOING PROJECTS

• CNR SPIN—NTU Singapore Joint Laboratory (Active 2015-2017): Amorphous materials for energy harvesting applications. The reasearch activity concerns the fundamental and applied investigation of new materials for environmental friendly energy harvesting devices, in particular in the field of thermoelectricity and photovoltaics
• CNR-SPIN—CNR-NANO: FIRB 2013 Project Coca (Active 2014-2017)
  Project Coheat - Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (Active 2014-2018)
  The projects and the research activities are focused on new ways to control, transfer and manipulate energy in quantum systems
• FIRB CNR-SPIN— Federico II (Napoli)—Univ. Salerno. FIRB 2012 HybridNanoDev : Nanostrutture ibride superconduttore-semiconduttore: applicazioni nanoelettroniche, proprietà topologiche, correlazione e disordine (Active 2013-2016)