Andrea Cavalleri (born 1969) is an Italian

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

who specializes in

optical science Atomic, molecular, and optical physics (AMO) is the study of matter-matter and light-matter interactions; at the scale of one or a few atoms and energy scales around several electron volts. The three areas are closely interrelated. AMO theory in ...

and in condensed matter physics. He is the founding director of the in Hamburg, Germany and a professor of Physics at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. He was awarded the 2018 Frank Isakson Prize for his pioneering work on ultrafast optical spectroscopy applied to

condensed matter Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases which arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms. More generally, the su ...

systems.

Scientific achievements

Cavalleri is known for his application of light to create new states of matter, and especially for the use of terahertz and mid-infrared optical pulses to sculpt new crystal structures. The field of research pioneered by Cavalleri is sometimes referred to as non-linear phononics. He has shown that phononic control can be used to create new crystal structures with light, to induce hidden metallic states in oxides, induce

ferroelectricity Ferroelectricity is a characteristic of certain materials that have a spontaneous electric polarization that can be reversed by the application of an external electric field. All ferroelectrics are also piezoelectric and pyroelectric, with the a ...

in dielectrics, manipulate magnetism and create non-equilibrium superconductivity at very high temperatures. Cavalleri has also been amongst the people who applied the first femtosecond X-ray pulses to condensed matter systems, for example in his studies of photo-induced

phase transition In chemistry, thermodynamics, and other related fields, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic states o ...

Scientific career

He received his laurea degree and PhD at the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one ...

, as a student of Almo Collegio Borromeo, in 1994 and 1998 respectively. Cavalleri has held research positions at the

University of Essen The University of Duisburg-Essen (german: link=no, Universität Duisburg-Essen) is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', the university was awarded ...

, the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...

and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In 2005, he joined the faculty of the University of Oxford, where he was promoted to Professor of Physics in 2006. He joined the Max Planck Society in 2008.

Selected honors and awards

He is a recipient of the 2004 European Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, of the 2015 Max Born Medal from the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physic ...

(UK) and the

Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft The German Physical Society (German: , DPG) is the oldest organisation of physicists. The DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 60,547, as of 2019, making it the largest physics society in the world. It holds an annual conference () and multiple ...

and of the 2015 Dannie Heineman Prize from the

Göttingen Academy of Sciences Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The or ...

. The American Physical Society awarded Cavalleri the 2018 Frank Isakson Prize for Optical Effects in Solids "''for pioneering contributions to the development and application of ultra-fast optical spectroscopy to condensed matter systems, and providing insight into lattice dynamics, structural phase transitions, and the non-equilibrium control of solids''". He is an elected fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the

(UK). He was elected a member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

in 2017 and a fellow of the European Academy of Sciences in 2018.

References

External links

Research homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavalleri, Andrea 21st-century Italian physicists 1969 births Living people Academics of the University of Oxford University of Pavia alumni Italian expatriates in the United States Italian expatriates in the United Kingdom Italian expatriates in Germany Condensed matter physicists Academic staff of the University of Hamburg Max Planck Society people Max Planck Institute directors Fellows of the American Physical Society