Personale docente

Dr. Elena Garlatti, graduated in Physics of Matter at the University of Parma and received her PhD in Physics in 2014 at the University of Milan. She worked as a Post-Doc researcher in the Molecular Magnetism group of the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences “Macedonio Melloni” of the University of Parma from 2014 to 2017. In 2018 she was a Visiting Scientist at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source (United Kingdom). From 2019, she is a Research Associate at the Department of Mathematical, Physical and Computer Sciences of the University of Parma.

In 2021 she obtained the National Scientific Qualification for Associate Professor - sector 02/B2 - Condensed Matter Theory.

Her research activity concerns the development of theoretical models to study static and dynamical properties of magnetic molecules. The aim of her research is both to investigate the behaviour of these molecules as model systems for fundamental quantum phenomena and to identify molecules suitable for technological applications, especially in the field of quantum information processing. Thus, she characterised several molecules, describing their static properties and coherent dynamics with the Spin Hamiltonian model.

She also developed a theoretical method, based on Rate Master Equations, to interpret Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) with the aim to study the relaxation dynamics induced by spin-phonon interactions in magnetic molecules. Indeed, understanding the relaxation dynamics of these systems is crucial for their application in the field of quantum information processing.

She has also been principal investigator co-investigator of inelastic neutron and X-ray scattering and μSR experiments at other large-scale facility such as the Institut Laue-Langevin ILL (France) and the Paul Scherrer Insitut PSI (Switzerland).

In a recent work, she also contributed to develop a method, tested with 4-dimensional inelastic neutron scattering, to detect and quantify entanglement in the eigenstates of a supramolecular dimer of Cr₇Ni antiferromagnetic rings. These molecular rings are in fact the most studied molecular qubits and entangled quantum states are an essential resource for quantum information processing.

At the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, she worked on her project “Unveiling phonons with 4D inelastic neutron scattering: towards a full comprehension of relaxation dynamics in molecular bits”, for which she obtained a Fondazione “Angelo Della Riccia” fellowship. There, she planned, performed and interpreted the results of innovative inelastic neutron scattering experiments and she performed ab-initio calculations on phonons, focusing on the new generation of molecular qubits based on vanadyl ions. The aim of this research is to study, for the first time and without effective models, phonons and spin-phonon interactions in magnetic molecules, in order to understand their effects on relaxation dynamics and decoherence. Further developments concern the study of phonon density of states of Single-molecule magnets with a single Dy ion. These studies were also the subject of the project “PRISM – Phonons Role In Spin relaxation of Molecular nanomagnets” funded by “Bando 2019 – Quota incentivante per il finanziamento di progetti di ricerca di Ateneo”, of which Dr. Garlatti was the principal investigator. She also designed experiments of inelastic X-ray scattering at the large-scale facilities ESRF (FR) e NSLS-II (USA), to study phonon modes and spin-phonons interactions in VO²⁺ molecular qubits: this technique, applied for the first time to molecular qubits, has several advantages with respect to neutron scattering.

Currently, Dr. Garlatti is focusing on the design and interpretation of the results of non-conventional NMR experiments for the coherent manipulation of molecular “qudits”. Within the project NQSTI - National Quantum Science and Technology Insitute (Partenariato esteso in Scienze e Tecnologie Quantistiche) she works on the design and simulation of NMR experiments, where multi-frequency pulse sequences are used to implement quantum algorithms. Dr. Garlatti is also the Unit Coordinator of the project PRIN 2022-CROQUET - moleCular dimeRs fOr QuantUm Error correcTion on the surface, aiming at the realization of proof-of-principle experiments of Quantum-Error-Correction schemes with dimers of molecular qubit-qudit, which can be also grafted on surfaces.

She is also involved in the research activity of the University of Parma Unit of the ERC-Synergy project CASTLE (PI Prof. Stefano Carretta), aiming at the comprehension and experimental investigation of chirality induced spin selectivity (CISS).

This research activity is witnessed by 34 publications, 13 as first author, in leading international peer-reviewed journals. She also refers scientific papers for international journals and she regularly attends both national and international scientific conferences, also as an invited speaker.