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Biography

I am the Founding Director of the Quantum Science and Technology Hub (QSTH).

I received my Masters degree in physics from University of Bari in 2006 (graduating Summa cum Laude and earning the BNC Research Award for my thesis research).

I received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Bari and in Applied Physics from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2010 under the International Cooperation Program Award awarded by the Italian Ministry of Research (Ph.D. advisor, Prof. Yanhua Shih).

My research was recognized with the “Giampietro Puppi Award” for the best Ph.D. thesis in Physics and Astrophysics in Italy in the academic years 2007-2009.

After a one-year postdoctoral fellowship issued by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, I moved as a group leader and lecturer to the Institute of Quantum Physics at Ulm University, Germany directed by Prof. Wolfgang Schleich, before joining the �������� in 2016.

Research interests

My research aims at achieving a deeper understanding of the fundamental physics at the interplay between quantum physics, quantum information, complexity theory, atomic physics and general relativity, as well as at boosting the real-world implementation of quantum-enhanced technologies for applications in quantum computation, quantum communication, simulation of complex quantum systems, high-precision sensing and imaging.

I have given > 80 invited lectures at prestigious conferences and institutes across Europe, North America and Asia, including MIT, U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, University of Maryland, and Oxford University and numerous worldwide extended academic visits, including US Department of Defence labs. I have also organised international workshops in the areas of quantum sensing and quantum imaging.

As an example, the research in my group on multi-photon-correlation interferometry has been triggering experiments worldwide and has boosted novel approaches to quantum computing and quantum sensing with available experimental resources. Our discovery of a novel thermal-light interference effect and its application for remote sensing has triggered experiments in the United States, Italy and South Korea. Within the QUANTUS collaboration, the first experimental realisation of Bose-Einstein-condensate interference in microgravity paved the way to the first quantum tests of general relativity in space.