Kevin Ambrogioni
PhD thesis title: Development of laser-driven radiation sources and their application to the preservation of cultural heritage
Academic Tutor: Carlo Spartaco Casari
Academic Supervisor: Matteo Passoni
Industrial supervisor: Claudia Conti
Affiliate external company or research group: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto di Scienze del Partimonio Culturale (CNR-ISPC)
PhD cycle: 39° (see all student profiles of the same cycle > LINK)
BSc: Energy Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
MSc: Nuclear Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
ELI Beamlines - Dolní Břežany, Czech Republic (13/10/24 to 26/10/24 and 24/04/25 to 15/06/25) AIM: development and test of set-up for non-destructive material analysis via Particle-Induced X-ray Emission from laser-driven sources, simulations of the radiation sources for optimization of the set-up
Accélérateur Grand Louvre d'analyse élémentaire - Paris, France - planned during next academic year AIM: Particle-Induced X-ray Emission on ceramic artifacts with conventional particle accelerators to benchmark the non-conventional approach with laser-driven particle
École Polytechnique - Paris, France - planned during next academic year AIM: use of advanced targets for laser-matter interaction produced at our labs for high-energy photon emission, benchmarking of the simulations
Thesis abstract
Laser-based particle accelerators could enable the development of compact and transportable particle sources for the cultural heritage field, through the Particle-Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE). The accelerated ions differ from the mono-energetic beams of conventional accelerators for their exponential spectrum. New techniques for acceleration optimisation and for PIXE data interpretation are needed. Particle-In-Cell and Radiation HydroDynamics simulations accounting for non-idealities are used for optimisation. An extension of an open-source code for the analysis of X-Ray Fluorescence data (PyMca) is developed to include laser-driven PIXE.
Personal interest in my research theme
While delving into the study of plasma physics during the Master of Science, I have immediately found laser-driven particle acceleration a fascinating topic. Its complexity due to the non-linear effects at the base of the process, and the great interconnection between material properties, laser characteristics and different acceleration regimes caught my interest right away, flowing me into the laser-driven particle sources sector. The possible application in cultural heritage further increased the interest, allowing me to connect physics and art.
