Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Dr. Elena Degoli, born in Modena April 12 1972, is at the moment researcher (SSD FIS03) at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. After her degree in physics in 1997 (summa cum laude with the thesis "Optical properties of ultrathin silicon layers") she earned her Ph.D in Physics in 2001 at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia under the supervision of Prof. Stefano Ossicini with the thesis "Si quantum Wells: a Way for Optoelectronics?". From 2001 to 2006 she was a postdoctoral fellow at the INFM (Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia) before and at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia after. Her research activity mainly concerns the theory of low dimensional systems, in particular the study of the structural, electronic and optical properties of silicon nanostructures through ab-initio methods. The results of these investigations have been presented in more than 40 international conferences, published in more than 30 papers on peer-reviewed journals, obtaining about 550 citations and an h-index=12 (font: ISI Web of Knowledge, January 2011). She has been the editor of the book 'Optoelectronic interconnects for integrated circuits - Achievements 1998 – 2001 - Silicon based interconnects', Luxembourg: office for official Publications of the European Communities.

She worked in many national and international projects (EC SBLED, EC SMILE, EC ESPRIT II MELARI, CNR MADESS II, PRIN1999 Modesti, PRIN2002 Ossicini, PRIN2005 Ossicini, PRIN2007 Ossicini) and in the INFM-PRA RAMSES e INFM-PAIS CELEX that gave her the possibility to work with experimental research groups active in the field of nanotechnology. She is, at the moment, the coordinator of a two years research project of international character involving 5 research groups from Italy, France, Spain, Germany and Cina. The outcomes of her researches has been acknowledged by 2 international young scientist awards.
 

Her research activity mainly concerns the theory of low dimensional systems studied through ab-initio approaches for photonic and photovoltaics applications. Some examples of systems of interest are:

• 2- 1- and 0-dimensional silicon based nanostructures
• Lead chalcogenides nanocrystals