ENRICA CHIADRONI

Ricevimento su Appuntamento

Curriculum Vitae (aggiornato al 20/10/2025)

Academic Appointments
I am currently, since September 2021, an Associate Professor at the Department of Basic and Applied Sciences for Engineering at Sapienza University of Rome.
Before my current position, I served as a Senior Scientist at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF) – Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) until August 2021. Since January 2011, I have worked as a staff scientist at the SPARC_LAB Test Facility of LNF, where I coordinated the Machine Operation of the SPARC photo-injector from January 2015 to June 2018. Within SPARC_LAB, I have been the reference person for the THz radiation source, which was included in the CalipsoPlus program until October 2021.

Previous Positions and Research Activities
I have been a member of the SPARC group at LNF since March 2001, when I began my Master’s thesis in Physics with a study on Free-Electron Lasers (FELs). I obtained my Master’s degree in June 2002 from Sapienza University of Rome and subsequently earned my Ph.D. in Physics from University of Rome Tor Vergata in April 2006, with a dissertation on Bunch Length Characterization at the TTF VUV-FEL.
Throughout my career, I have developed significant expertise in radiation-based techniques for measuring both transverse and longitudinal beam properties. I have collaborated with DESY on an experiment—partially funded by INFN-CSN5—to measure beam emittance using Optical Diffraction Radiation in a non-intercepting configuration at FLASH (DESY, Hamburg).
From 2013 to 2015, I served as Local Coordinator of SL_Femtotera, an INFN-CSN5-funded experiment for the development and application of a high peak power THz source at SPARC_LAB, leading to the first user experiments at the facility. In 2013, I was an invited speaker at the 38th International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz 2013), presenting “The SPARC_LAB High Peak Power THz Source: Different Methods of Generation and Characterization.”

Research Coordination and Funded Projects
In 2013, I was awarded a FIRB 2012 grant, a three-year research fund from the Italian Ministry of Research to develop plasma-based acceleration experiments for high-brightness electron beams at SPARC_LAB, where I served as Principal Investigator for the plasma acceleration activities.
From 2015 to 2023, I served as National Coordinator of the SL_COMB and SL_COMB2FEL experiments—both INFN-CSN5-funded—focused on the characterization, manipulation, transport, and application of plasma-based accelerators driven by high-brightness multi-bunch trains at SPARC_LAB for SASE FEL applications. These projects achieved major milestones, including the proof-of-principle demonstrations of the first SASE and Seeded FELs driven by a Plasma Wakefield Accelerator (PWFA).
I have delivered several invited talks at international conferences, including:

• 13th International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC2022) – Plenary Talk: “Progress Towards Demonstration of a Plasma-Based FEL”
• 9th International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC2018) – Parallel Session: “Status of Plasma-Based Experiments at the SPARC_LAB Test Facility”
• 3rd European Advanced Accelerator Concepts (EAAC2017) – Plenary Talk: “Overview of Plasma Lens Experiments and Recent Results”

I am currently the National Coordinator of SL_BetaTest (2024–2027), a four-year INFN-CSN5-funded experiment aimed at demonstrating a plasma-based undulator using betatron radiation.
In 2015, a bilateral project under the ASRT (Egypt)–INFN cooperation agreement, titled “THz Radiation for Medical and Other Applications in Egypt, Italy and Beyond,” was approved for funding, where I served as the INFN corresponding person.
From November 2015 to December 2018, I led Work Package 5 – Electron Beam Design and Optimization within the EU-funded EuPRAXIA Design Study, aimed at developing a plasma-based user facility. Since November 1, 2022, I have been Co-Leader of Work Package 11 – Applications in the EuPRAXIA Preparatory Phase (EuPRAXIA-PP) project, also funded by the EU.
Within the Italian pillar EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB, I serve as Leader of the working area focusing on the injector and ancillary components and as responsible author of the Injector Chapter in the Technical Design Report.
I have been a Member of the Steering Committee and Collaboration Board of EuPRAXIA (Nov 2015 – Dec 2018) representing INFN, and I am currently a Member of the Steering Committee of EuPRAXIA-PP, representing Sapienza University, included in the ESFRI 2021 Roadmap.
Since March 2025, I serve as Sapienza University Representative for the EU-funded PACRI Project (2025–2029).

Conference Organization and Scientific Committees
I have been a Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC) since 2018, contributing to editions including IPAC2021–2023.
Since June 2017, I have been a Member of both the Scientific Program Committee (SPC) and the International Organizing Committee (IOC) of the LINAC Conference.
Since May 2023, I have served as a Board Member of the Accelerator Group of the European Physical Society (EPS-AG), and since January 2025, as a Member-at-Large of the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Physics of Beams (DPB).
I chaired the Scientific Program Committee of the 6th European Advanced Accelerator Concepts (EAAC2023) Conference (La Biodola, Isola d’Elba, Italy, September 17–23, 2023).
Currently, I am a member of the IOC and SPC for:

• IPAC’25 (Chair of MC1 – Novel Particle Sources and Acceleration Techniques)
• IPAC’26 (Chair of MC3 – Alternative Particle Sources and Acceleration Techniques)
• IPAC’27 (Observer of MC3 – Alternative Particle Sources and Acceleration Techniques)
• AAC’26
• LEDS’26

Additionally, I have contributed to the organization of numerous international conferences, including:

• 2009 – Chair, Working Group on Manipulation and Diagnosis of High-Brightness Beams, Workshop on The Physics and Applications of High-Brightness Electron Beams, Maui (Hawaii);
• 2015 – Co-Chair, SPIE Optics+Optoelectronics Conference, Prague, session on Novel Source Developments;
• 2015 – Co-Chair, 2nd EAAC Conference (EAAC2015), Working Group on High-Gradient Plasma Structures and Advanced Beam Diagnostics.

I have served on the Local Organizing Committees (LOC) of:
Channeling (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018), CERN School on Excellence in Detectors and Instrumentation Technologies (EDIT2015), 1st EAAC (2013), 3rd ICFDT (2013), 5th ICFDT (2018), and the Physics and Applications of High-Brightness Beams Conference (Crete, 2019).
I was also a Program Committee Member of SPIE Optics+Optoelectronics (2015), session on Advances in X-ray Free-Electron Laser Instrumentation.

Other Teaching Exerience and Supervision
I have been a lecturer at the CERN Accelerator School (CAS) in Geneva (Nov 2015) and Hamburg (June 2016), teaching on High-Brightness Photo-injectors, at the International School of Particle Accelerators (Erice, 2023) and at the IPAC 2023 in Venice in the Student Tutorial program (2023) where I delivered two lectures on Plasma Acceleration.
I have supervised several Master’s and Ph.D. theses and currently serve as a Member of the Doctoral Board (Collegio Docenti) for the Ph.D. program in Accelerator Physics at Sapienza University of Rome.

Publications and Scientific Impact
I am the co-author of more than 250 papers in international, peer-reviewed journals, including several in Nature journals, such as:

• W. Ackermann et al., Nature Photonics 1, 336–342 (2007);
• F. Giorgianni, E. Chiadroni et al., Nature Communications 7, 11421 (2016);
• R. Pompili et al., Scientific Reports 6, 35000 (2016);
• R. Pompili et al., Nature Physics 17 (4), 499–503 (2021);
• R. Pompili et al., Nature (2022), DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04589-1.

My research spans high-brightness beam dynamics, FEL physics, linac-based THz radiation sources, beam diagnostics, and advanced acceleration techniques.
On May 23, 2023, I obtained the Italian National Scientific Qualification as Full Professor in the disciplinary field 02/A1 – Experimental Physics of Fundamental Interactions (Academic Recruitment Field 02/A – Physics of Fundamental Interactions), under Ministerial Decrees 553/2021 and 589/2021.
My current h-index is 37 (Scopus).

Peer Review and Scientific Evaluation
I regularly serve as a reviewer for Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Journal of Applied Physics, Physical Review Letters, Physical Review Accelerators and Beams, and Journal of Modern Optics.
I have also acted as a reviewer for research and development proposals submitted to the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the Helmholtz Association (for the Helmholtz Young Investigators Groups program).
In October 2023, I was appointed External Reviewer for the Scientific and Technological Objectives of the CERN AWAKE Project.