Gianluca Alimonti

Particle Physics

After spending four years at Fermilab near Chicago as Guest Scientist, since 1991 I'm a staff physicist with INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) in the Milano unit.

My research activity has always been focused on subnuclear and high energy Physics: first in beauty and charm quark photoproduction experiments at Fermilab, then in solar neutrino experiments at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso.
I'm involved in the largest hep experiment, ATLAS, taking data at LHC (Large Hadron Collider), at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) at Geneva: the ATLAS paper about the Higgs boson.
Here is a list of more than 300 scientific publications and presentations at international conferences.

Energy

Following the experience developed during my research activity with silicon detectors, the same technology used to build photovoltaic cells, I approached and studied energy production issues.

• I'm currently teaching Fundamentals of Energetics for the Master degree in Physics at University of Milan.
• I'm the patent holder of the high efficiency photovoltaic cell, built with a “3D” technology, suited for high current. Both the base and the emitter can be realized in the silicon bulk: electrodes can than be built on the dark surface of the cell leaving the illuminated surface more efficient and not shaded by the contact grid.
• I teach Nuclear Reactors at University of Milan for the Master degree in Physics and in Chemistry.
• Member of the EPS Energy Group
• Member of the Euro-CASE Energy Platform

Scientific dissemination

 Being convinced of the importance of a correct scientific dissemination about energy subjects, I'm :
• author with Prof. E.Pedrocchi, Emeritus from Politecnico of Milan, of the volume Energia, Sviluppo, Ambiente (Energy, Development, Environment). This can be a reference book for a university teaching about energy and environment related issues (like Fundamentals of Energetics), but it can be used also as a personal insight in the energy world.
• promoter and organizer of dissemination workshops and seminars within the series Energy for the future: nuclear and renewable sources held at the Physics Department of the University of Milano. Subjects go from renewable sources potentials to the future of nuclear fusion, from the scientific debate about Climate Changes to the evaluation of fossil fuel reserves, from waste to energy plants to IV generation nuclear power plants perspectives.
• speaker in public conferences as: European Researchers Night, Science Cafe or Science Festival
• teacher of energy issues at secondary high schools within the Progetto Lauree Scientifiche (PLS), national project of the Physics Department
• among the authors of La sfida delle fonti energetiche pulite, rinnovabili, sicure per l'uomo e l'ambiente, Sperling & Kupfer 2008 and scientific supervisor of the same book. Solar energy potentials are shown in the chapter I wrote, and the importance of R&D investments is underlined to allow these new technologies, in particular the photovoltaic technology, to reach economical competitiveness and maturity.
• author of the paper La sfida per l'energia del futuro published on Sistema Universita'. Starting from the actual situation based on fossil fuel energy, with the economical advantages and environmental limits and impacts that these sources have, a list of potential alternatives is given: from the nuclear source, with the due attention to rules, safety and information, to renewable energies, underling the importance to choose between the mature technologies, that require incentives to increase their usage, and others that still require important and well aimed funds in R&D.
Gianluca Alimonti INFN, via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano