CnrNano researcher Miriam Serena Vitiello was awarded the Friedel-Volterra Prize by the Italian Physical Society (SIF) and the French Physics Society (SFP). The prize is awarded annually to a physicist active in the Italian-French collaboration in recognition of relevant achievements of his work over the past 10 years.

According to the jury that announced the award on the occasion of the opening ceremony of the 107th National Congress, on 13 September, Vitello was awarded the award “for her important experimental research in the field of light-matter interaction phenomena, two-dimensional nano-materials, micro and nano systems, nano- photonics, quantum optics, far-infrared photonics. In particular for the development of innovative devices in the therahertz frequency range”. (https://www.sif.it/attivita/congresso/107/premiati)

Miriam Serena Vitiello, PhD in Physics (20069, is research director at the Istituto Nanoscieze and Contract Professor of Condensed Matter Physics at Scuola Normale Superiore. At the NEST Laboratory she leads the research group in TeraHerz photonics and optoelectronics. The THz photonics and optoelectronics group of Prof. Vitiello focuses on the design, development and applications of THz quantum cascade lasers; the development of THz nanostructured detectors based on semiconductor nanowires, 2D materials and vdW heterosctructures; far-infrared metrology; graphene-based photonics; near-field THz miscroscopy.

“I am honored to receive, as a first woman, such a prestigious recognition in memory of the French physicist Jacques Friedel and of the Italian mathematician and physicist Vito Volterra, founder and first president of the CNR”, says Vitiello. “Vito Volterra with his research has been inspiring for many generations, and thanks to his strategic vision of science he provided an essential contribution to culture in its broadest sense thus contributing to human and social development.”