Luigi AMICO

Current Position

- Full Professor of Theoretical Condensed Matter,  Dip. Fisica ed Astronomia ‘Ettore Majorana’, Universita' di Catania

- Executive Director -  Quantum Physics, Quantum Research Centre, Technology Innovation Institute, Abu Dhabi (https://www.tii.ae/team/prof-dr-luigi-amico-about)

- Visiting Research Professor, Centre for Quantum Technologies, NUS Singapore (http://www.quantumlah.org/).

- Distinguished  Research Professor,  MajuLab joint CNRS-NUS Laboratory, Singapore. (https://majulab.cnrs.fr/associated-staff/)

- ‘Honorary Professor’, School of Physics and Astrophysics, Kent University, UK

Education

1992 Laurea in Nuclear Engineering, Politecnico di Torino. 1998 Ph.D. in Physics, University of Catania. 1997–1998 Visiting research fellow at the “Institut fur Physik: Theoretische Physik II, Universitaet Augsburg”). Member of “Graduirtenkolleg: “Non linear problems, geometry and physics” Augsburg (Germany). 1998-1999 Post Doctoral fellow at the “Departamento de Fisica Teorica de la Materia Condensada”, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid 1999- 2001 Tenure track in the project: “Nanostructured devices”, University of Catania. 2002- Permanent position: Adjunct Professor at the University of Catania. Since 2014: Associate Professor.

Distinctions or awards
2007-2008: Visiting professor at Dept. de Fisica Materiales, Universidad Complutense Madrid (Spain) (Sabatical fellowship funded by the Spanish ministry).
2008 (August-September): Visiting Research fellowship, Centre for quantum technologies (Singapore). 2009 (September) Visiting Research fellowship, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (Canada). 2011 (August-September): Visiting Research fellowship, Centre for quantum technologies (Singapore). 2012-2013: (April-June): Visiting Professorship, Rutheford Appleton Lab (UK) (Research Network fellowship funded by STFC); (July- October): Visiting Professorship, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (Canada) (Sabatical fellowship funded by Perimeter Institute).
2013- : Appointed visiting Research Professor, Centre for quantum technologies (Singapore).
2015 (July): Appointed visiting Research Professor, Centre de Physique Theorique de Grenoble-Alpes, Grenoble (France).
2016 (July): Appointed visiting Research Professor, Neel Institute, Grenoble (France).
2017-2019: Appointed Lanef ‘Chaire d’Excellance’, CNRS-Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble.

2021: Awarded  of the Julian Schwinger Foundation research grant ‘Rydberg Atomtronics’ (250K USD).

2022: SuperNova Award (Technology Innovation Institute, Advanced Technology Research Facility Council, United Arab Emirates). Motivation: Global research in Atomtronics.

2024: Appointed ‘Honorary Professor’, School of Physics and Astrophysics, Kent University, UK.

Teaching. 1994-2001: Assistant lecturer for General Physics I-II, Solid state physics Engineering Faculty, Catania.2002- : Professor of ‘General Physics and Introduction to Solid State Physics’, Engineering Faculty, Univ. Catania. 2006: Invited lecturer for Ph.D. courses in ``Exactly solvable models in condensed matter'' at Universita' di Roma Tre, and at the 'Royal Institute of technology (KTH)', Stockholm (Sweden). 2014-: Professor of ‘Quantum phases of matter’, graduate course in Physics, Univ. Catania. 2015-: Professor of ``Exactly solvable models in condensed matter'' (Ph.D) , Physics Faculty, Catania. 2016: Professor of ‘Complementi di Fisica Teorica, Scuola Superiore, Catania.

Further Professional duties. Since the 2001 referee for: (the earliest first) Physical Review Letters, Physical Review A, B; Europhysics Letters; Nuclear Physics B; Journal of Physics A; New Journal of Physics; Quantum Information and Computation; Physics Letters A; Nature Physics; Quantum Information Processing, Nature Scientific Reports, Physical Review X, Journal of Low Temperature Physics.

Since 2012: Official referee of Italian Ministry for Education&Research. Member of the Editorial Board of Nature Scientific Reports.

Research Interests. Condensed matter physics, Cold atoms, Quantum Information, Mathematical Physics.

Publications. Co-author of more than 150 research articles. About 10400  citations, h-factor 36 (data from google scholar). For an updated record see: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=rghdhhgAAAAJ&hl=en

Talks. More than 120 invited talks in academic institutions and international workshops.

Organization of workshops - MCRTN International workshop: ‘Nanoscale Dynamics and Quantum Coherence’, 2005 Catania (Italy). Organizers: L. Amico, G. Falci, G. Mangano, A. Mastellone, E. Paladino.- International workshop: ‘Atomtronics’, 2015 Benasque (Spain). Organizers: L. Amico (main organizer), G. Birkl, M. Boshier, L.-C. Kwek, A. Minguzzi. - International workshop: ‘Quantum resources in extended systems: Entanglement in spin magnets’, Grenoble 2015. Organizers: L. Amico (main organizer), A. Minguzzi, F. Hekking, T. Perring. - International workshop: ‘Atomtronics’, 2017 Benasque (Spain). Organizers: L. Amico (main organizer), G. Birkl, M. Boshier, L.-C. Kwek, A. Minguzzi, C. Mianiatura. International workshop Frank Hekking memorial workshop, L. Amico, H. Courtois, A. Minguzzi, J. Pekola, W. Guichard, Les-Houshes January 2018. ‘Atomtronics’, 2019 Benasque (Spain). Organizers: L. Amico (main organizer), G. Birkl, M. Boshier, L.-C. Kwek, A. Minguzzi, C. Mianiatura. ‘Atomtronics’, 2022 Benasque (Spain). Organizers: L. Amico,  G. Birkl, M. Boshier, L.-C. Kwek, A. Minguzzi, C. Mianiatura. Atomtronics’, 2024 Benasque (Spain). Organizers: L. Amico, G. Birkl, M. Boshier, L.-C. Kwek, A. Minguzzi, C. Mianiatura.

 

Funding

(as PI/CO-PI)            

--‘Ministero dell'Universita' e della Ricerca’: Italy-Germany  bilateral action "Programma Vigoni" 2007-2008. Partners: DMFCI Catania; Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Hannover. Funded 10K Euro.

-- Specific Targeted Research Projects (STREP) Coordinator of “Diagnostics of quantum resources in cold atoms and solids.” (DIAQUAS) (2009). Partners: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Science and Technology Facilities Council, London Center for Nanotechnology, Universitaet Augsburg, Universitaet Ulm, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Result: Over the treshold (marks 3.9/5). Not Funded

-- PI for rogetto di Ricerca di Ateneo: “Thermal and quantum fluctuations in many-body systems: topological order & Entanglement”, Universita’ di Catania (2008). Funded.

-- PI for Progetto di Ricerca di Ateneo: “Quantum correlations in low dimensional extended systems” Universita’ di Catania (2012). Funded.

-- PI for Science&Technology Facility Council, Research Network grant: “Unlocking the quantum information content of magnetic materials using neutron scattering”, Rutheford Appleton Lab. –ISIS (UK). Funded.

-- FET-Proact 3 “Quantum Simulation”. Coordinator of  ‘Quantum simulation with persistent currents of cold Atoms confined in Ring-shaped Trapping potentisal’ (Q-ART). Partners: Univ. Catania, Univ. J. Fourier, CNRS Paris, Univ. Mainz, Univ. Darmstadt, Univ. Aut. Barcelona, Univ. Strathclyde). Result: Over the treshold (Marks: 4.6/5). Not Funded.

-- FET-RIA. Coordinator of  “Quantum technology with persistent currents of cold Atoms confined in Ring-shaped Trapping potentials  (Q-ART) (2014). Partners: Universita’ di Catania, Universite Joseph Fourier Grenoble 1, University of Strathclyde, Johannes Gutenberg-Universitaet Mainz, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, CNRS - Université Paris 13, Universitaet Darmstadt, Centre for quantum technologies, NUS (Singapore). Result: Over the treshold (marks 4.2/5). Not Funded.

-- Co-PI of Ministry of Educaton and Research of Singapore, Academic Research Fund Tier 2 ‘Atomtronics-persistent currents in ring lattice architectures MOE2014-T2-1-145’, Participant Profs. R. Dumke, L.C. Kwek. (2015-2018). Funded 350K SD.

-- PI of CNRS/CEA/Univ. Grenoble-Alpes (Lanef) ‘Chaire d’excellence’research grant “Quantum technologies with correlated matter at mesoscopic scales" (Funded 250K Euro) (2017-2020).

-- Participant, Member of Proposing Committee and member of the Managing Commitee for the COST Action CA16221 ‘Quantum Technologies with Ultra-Cold Atoms’  (https://atomqt.eu/)

--PI of  Individual grant ‘Chance’, Universita’ di Catania (2017/2018). Funded. 10K Euro.

-- PI of Julian Schwinger Foundation Research Grant (2021-2025). Funded 250K USD.

--C0-PI  Los Alamos National Laboratory "Next-Generation Quantum Sensors" Laboratory Directed Research and Development project (budget 2022-2026  5.5M USD,  PI Malcolm Boshier.

As participant. Since 1996, participant to 5 European projects, and 8 National projects founded by Italian Minister of Education and Research

Students. Since 1998 supervisor of 12 PhD students (1998-2024) A. Osterloh (co-advised with Prof. U. Eckern), now Senior Post-doc Uni-Duisburg, Germany. 1999-2001: A. Di Lorenzo (coadvised with Prof. R. Fazio.), now Prof. Univ. Uberlandia, Brazil. D. Patane’2007-2009, now R&D Engineer en EREDA, Spain. 2011-2014: D. Aghamayian (co-advised with Prof. L.-C. Kwek), now post-doc researcher CQT (Singapore). 2016-2019: T. Haug, CQT (co-advised with Prof. L.-C. Kwek); 2019-2022.  Wayne Jordan Chetcuti (based in TII, title  granted by Univ. Catania). Main Advisor; 2021-2025. Enrico Domanti (based in TII, title will be granted by Univ. Catania). Main Advisor. 2021-2025. Ben Blain (based in TII, title will be  granted by Univ. Kent, UK). Main Advisor. 2021-2025 Francesco Perciavalle (based in TII, title will be  granted by Univ. Pisa). Main Advisor. 2022-2025 Philip Kitson  (Julian Schwinger Foundation Ph.D position; title will be granted PhD University of Catania). Main Advisor 2022-2025 Abbas Hirkani (based in TII, title will be granted by SISSA). Main advisor 2024-2028 Aysha AlSubaihi (based in TII, title will be granted by Sorbonne University). Main Advisor

Master (Laurea) students: 2007-Elio Profumo, France. 2008-Davide Paparo, -Bruno Tomasello, now Post- doc ILL, Grenoble (France).

Full Record in: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=rghdhhgAAAAJ&hl=en

Selected   papers (Impact factor >5)

[1] L. Amico and V. Penna. ``Dynamical Mean Field Theory of Bose Hubbard Model '' Phys. Rev. Lett 80, 2189 (1998).

[2] L. Amico, A. Di Lorenzo, and A. Osterloh, ``Integrable model for interacting electrons in metallic grains'', Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 5759 (2001).

 

[3] L. Amico and A. Osterloh, ``Exact correlation functions of the BCS model in the canonical ensemble'', Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 127003 (2002).

 

[4] A. Osterloh, L. Amico, G. Falci, and R. Fazio, "Scaling of entanglement close to quantum phase transitions'', Nature  416, 608 (2002).

 

[5] L. Amico, A. Osterloh, and F. Cataliotti,  "Quantum many particle systems in optical rings", Phys. Rev. Lett.  95, 063201 (2005).

 

[6] L. Amico, R. Fazio, A. Osterloh, and V. Vedral, “ Entanglement in many body systems”,  Rev. Mod. Phys. 80,  517-576 (2008).

 

[7]  A. Hamma, L. Cincio, S. Santra, P. Zanardi, L. Amico, “Local response of topological order to an external perturbation”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 210602 (2013).

 

[8] A. Bermudez, D. Patane, L. Amico, and M. A. Martin-Delgado, “Topology-induced anomalous defect production by crossing a quantum critical point”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 135702 (2009).

 

[9] Dario Patanè, Alessandro Silva, Luigi Amico, Rosario Fazio, Giuseppe E. Santoro, ‘Adiabatic dynamics in open quantum critical many-body systems, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 175701 (2008)

 

[10] Dario Patanè, Alessandro Silva, Fernando Sols, Luigi Amico, “Thermalization dynamics close to a quantum phase transition”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 245701 (2009).

 

[11] L. Amico, D. Rossini, A. Hamma, V.E. Korepin, "Optimal correlations in many-body quantum systems." Phys. Rev.  Lett. 108.24 (2012): 240503.

 

[12] Q.-T. Xie, S. Cui, J.-P. Cao, L. Amico, H. Fan , “The anisotropic Rabi model”, Phys.Rev. X 4, 021046 (2014).

 

[13] F.  Franchini, J. Cui, L. Amico, H. Fan, M. Gu, V. E. Korepin, L.-C. Kwek, V. Vedral,  “Universal quantum simulators, local convertibility and edge states in quantum many body systems”, Phys.Rev. X 4, 041028 (2014).

 

[14] Luigi Amico, Davit Aghamalyan, H. Crepaz, F. Auksztol, R. Dumke, L.-C. Kwek, “Flux qubits with neutral currents in optical lattices”  Scientific Reports vol. 4, 4298 (2014), arXiv:1304.4615.

 

[15] Tobias Haug, Rainer Dumke, Leong-Chuan Kwek, Luigi Amico, ‘Topological pumping in atomtronic circuits’, Communications Physics 2019, arXiv:1810.08525.

 

[16] T. Kuwahara, I. Arad, L. Amico and V. Vedral, “Local reversibility  and entanglement structure of many-body ground states", Quantum Sci. Technol. 2017.

 

[17] D. Yu, L. C. Kwek, L.  Amico, R. Dumke , “Superconducting Qubit-Resonator-Atom Hybrid System”, Quantum Sci. Technol. 2, 035005 (2017)

 

[18] “Quantum State Transmission in a Superconducting Charge Qubit-Atom Hybrid”, D. Yu, M. Martinez Valado, C. Hufnagel, L.-C.Kwek, L. Amico, R. Dumke,  Sci. Rep. (2016).

 

[19] “Superconducting Qubit-Resonator-Atom Hybrid System”, Deshui Yu, Leong Chuan Kwek, Luigi Amico, Rainer, Quantum Sci. Technol. 2, 035005 (2017).

 

[20] P. Naldesi, J. P. Gomez, A. Minguzzi, B. Malomed, M. Olshanii, L. Amico, ‘Raise and fall of a bright soliton in an optical lattice’, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 053001 (2019).

 

[21] P. Naldesi, J. Polo, V. Dunjko, H. Perrin, M. Olshanii, L. Amico and A. Minguzzi, SciPost Phys. 12, 138 (2022).

 

[22]  L. Amico et al. ‘Roadmap on Atomtronics: State of the art and perspective’, AVS Quantum Sci. 3, 039201 (2021).

 

[23] Juan Polo, Piero Naldesi, Anna Minguzzi, Luigi Amico, ‘The quantum solitons atomtronic interference device’, arXiv:2012.06269, Quantum Sci. Technol. 7, 015015 (2022).

 

[24] ‘GHZ-like states in the Qubit-Qudit Rabi Model’, Yuan Shen, Giampiero Marchegiani, Gianluigi Catelani, Luigi Amico, Ai Qun Liu, Weijun Fan, Leong-Chuan Kwek, SciPost Physics, vol. 11, issue 6, id. 099

 

[25] Wayne J. Chetcuti, Tobias Haug, Leong-Chuan Kwek, Luigi Amico, ‘Persistent Current of SU(N) Fermions’,  arXiv:2011.00916, SciPost Phys. 12, 033 (2022)

 

[26] L. Amico, D. Anderson, M. Boshier, J.-P. Brantut, L.-C. Kwek, A. Minguzzi, W. von Klitzing, ‘Atomtronic circuits: from many-body physics to quantum technologies’,  Rev. Mod. Phys. 94, 041001 (2022).

 

[27] ‘Quasiparticles in superconducting qubits with asymmetric junctions’, Giampiero Marchegiani, Luigi Amico, Gianluigi Catelani, PRX Quantum, Volume 3, Issue 4, article id.040338

 

 

Currently, I am an Associate Professor working  in the Physics Department, University of Catania. I am  an associate member of CNR-MATIS Excellence Centre for Condensed matter and Material science, Italy; an associate member of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Italy. Since 2010, I am appointed  Visiting Research Professor at the  Centre for Quantum Thechnologies (CQT), Singapore.  I hold the ‘Lanef -Chaire d’excellence’  in  Grenoble and, finally, I am an ‘ Distinguished Invited Professor’, MajuLab CNRS-UNS-NUS-NTU France-Singapore joint lab.

As documented by my publications, I have  established several international collaborations. In particular. I have forged  strong connection with the Centre for Quantum Technologies in Singapore. I have  formed a strong connection with   CNRS - Laboratoire de Physique et Modélisation des Milieux Condensés, Grenoble, where I hold the  ‘Lanef-Chaire d’excellence’. In such institutions,  I have been leading  international research teams. I have  documented  ability to obtain research funds. As attested in  my cv, I am involved as participant/coordinator in several major Italian and International network grants from the start  of my career.

Throughout my career I have been contributing to the research in diverse fields, particularly in the general area of quantum statistical physics, ranging from mathematical physics and quantum information  to many-body and  mesoscopic physics with close contacts with the experimentalists in the field (see the research statement attached to the present application). My work is well recognized by the scientific community (my papers have currently been cited more than 5200 times and hold an h-index of 26, data from SAO/NASA ADS).

I am recognized as one of the founding leaders in the cross-fertilization field between quantum information approaches and many-body systems ("Scaling of entanglement close to quantum phase transitions", Nature 416, 608 (2002); "Entanglement in Many-Body Systems", Rev. Mod. Phys.  80,  517-576 (2008).  A major challenge in this context is to tell a part entanglement from usual correlations. In this context, I mention the very fruitfull collaboration with Prof. G. Aeppli. Together, we constructed an international collaboration and resources (Rutheford-Appleton Laboratories, Paul Scherrer Institute, University of Catania) to measure entanglement in quantum magnets through neutron scattering experiments. This study has the promise of being a seminal work that will lead to a whole new subfield of neutron scattering: the quantitative experimental study of the quantum information content of quantum magnets.  Several experimental sessions were carried out already (in  RAL and Paul Scherrer Institute in Zurich). We already published “Experimental implications of the entanglement transition in clustered quantum materials”(Phys. Rev. B 96, 224408 (2017)); futher papers summarizing our findings are in preparation.

I am  recognized as one of the founding leaders and one of the main driving force of the emerging field of  cold-atom Quantum Technology that is known as Atomtronics ("Quantum many particle systems in ring-shaped optical lattices", Phys.Rev.Lett. 95 (2005) 063201; ‘Atomtronics’, J. Opt (2016)). I have been working intensively to propose   Atomtronics as a new direction of fundamental research with ground-breaking applications in quantum technology. In short: Atomtronics seeks to realize circuits of ultracold atoms where the wires are replaced  by laser light and/or magnetic  guides.  Elementary Atomtronic circuits have already been realized, mimicking both conventional electronics like diodes, PNP junctions and elements of quantum electronics such as Josephson junctions SQUID’s.  Atomtronics, however, is not strictly limited to developing electronic-like components: it aims at providing new concepts of quantum devices, integrated in a circuitry that may be of a radically new type.  With atomic flows and high flexibility in the confinement geometry  offered by Atomtronics enlarges cold-atoms quantum simulators considerably: In the spirit of solid-state physics I-V (current-voltage) characteristics, we are able to  define a new diagnostic of the different condensed matter quantum regimes, in terms of the current flowing through the cold atomic system. With such approach, we are expected to discover new features of quantum material science (condensed matter). The technological evolution I foresee is comparable to the development of electronics and silicon technology: its enormous success is based on visionary basic research whose impact became apparent about 50 years later.  In the past 20 years, the advancement of information and communication technology has had a major impact on human culture and society, embracing not only all scientific disciplines but also our daily life. I think,  I have been in the right time and in the right position to shape the field. Since then, the community enlarged considerably and it is gathered in the Atomtronics@Benasque workshops I have been organizing since 2015. Indeed, I am aware of few large scale efforts worldwide of high profile scientists that  have the potential to definetely make the field as a major line in quantum technology: I do believe that it is just the right time to invest in Atomtronics. Currently, I have been acting as key player in medium and large scale research grants both in Europe and overseas.