Antonio Polimeni is Associate Professor in Experimental Physics at Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma. In 2013, he got the national habilitation as Full Professor. His research concerns the electronic properties of semiconductor materials and nanostructures investigated by optical spectroscopy and transport techniques. Particular relevance in his research activity is played by the investigation of the effects of hydrogen incorporation in semiconductor nanostructures and materials. Prof. Polimeni pioneered the possibility of engineering at the nanoscale the band structure of various semiconductor materials and of creating size-, site- and shape-controlled nanostructures via spatially-controlled incorporation of hydrogen. The investigated materials include III-V quantum dots and nanowires, dilute nitrides, nitrides, two-dimensional materials (such as transition metal dichalcogenides, hexagonal boron nitride and indium selenide).
Prof. Polimeni received his PhD in Physics in 1997. From 1997 to 1999, he was a post-doctoral Research Associate at the School of Physics and Astronomy, Nottingham University (UK) in the group of “Quantum Transport and Spectroscopy of Semiconductors” headed by Prof. L. Eaves. In Nottingham, he investigated the structural, transport, and optical properties of self-assembled quantum dots, including the effects of magnetic and electric fields on the dot electronic structure. And the device applications of quantum dots for high-performance semiconductor lasers. In 2000, Antonio Polimeni joined the Physics Department, University of Rome “La Sapienza”. In Rome, Antonio Polimeni’s interests moved to the electronic properties of dilute nitride and oxide semiconductors. The most relevant results of his activity in Rome are related to the discovery of the effects that hydrogen irradiation exerts on the electronic and structural properties of dilute nitrides and oxides, as well as III-V nitrides and magnetic ZnO:Co semiconductors. In particular, Prof. Polimeni discovered the hydrogen-induced passivation of nitrogen atoms in dilute nitrides. That discovery enabled the fabrication of novel nanostructures with planar architecture that paved the way to the recent realization of site-controlled single photon sources embedded in photonic structures. The research of Antonio Polimeni focused also on the optical, electronic, transport and structural properties of nanowires. Most recently, the group lead by Antonio Polimeni is working on the electronic properties of two-dimensional materials with special emphasis on the effects of hydrogen irradiation that led to the observation of site-controlled quantum emitters.
Antonio Polimeni worked also at the High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Nijmegen (The Netherlands) and Grenoble (France), at the Philipps-University of Marburg (Germany) and at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble (France) and at the University of Warsaw (Poland).
Prof. Polimeni is member of the board of the PhD in Materials Science at Sapienza Università di Roma. He supervised 14 PhD thesis in Physics and Materials Science, 20 Master thesis, and 28 Laurea breve thesis.
Prof. Polimeni coauthored 239 articles published in peer-reviewed journals (246) and conference proceedings (40). These articles were cited 6300 times resulting in an h index equal to 45 (source Google Scholar). He gave 50 invited talks and seminars. He wrote 8 invited book chapters and articles.
In 2000, the Italian Physical Society awarded Antonio Polimeni the “Umberto Maria Grassano” Prize for his spectroscopic studies in solid state physics. In 2003, Antonio Polimeni was awarded the “Ugo Campisano Prize” given by the Italian National Institute of Matter Physics to a researcher younger than 40 years. In 2004, he obtained an appointment of a two year grant “Young Researcher Project” by the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific and Technological Research. In 2009, he was awarded the “Tomassoni” prize by “Fondazione Roma -Sapienza”. In 2015, Antonio Polimeni received by the Faculty of Science the prize for “Excellence in teaching”. In 2017, he was given the Somiya Award for “Semiconductor Nanowires: Growth, Characterization, Processing and Optoelectronic Devices” issued by International Union of Materials Research Societies.