Nowadays, to properly design and develop advanced materials capable to preserve for long times their performance under aggressive environments such as power generation plants, renewables, nuclear reactors and electronics of new generation, transport on ground and on space, aeronautics, catalysis, biomedical implants, the optimization of metallurgical processes involved is crucial.

Our proposal consists in a quantum sensor based on a superconduc:ng resonator. The working principle is based on the exponential growth of the susceptibility in proximity of a critical phase transition, where the system quickly switches from the vacuum state to a strong emission of easily detectable microwave signals, in response to extremely weak electromagnetic signals. The sensor can detect microwave and radiowave signals, with single-photon resolu:on.

The constant demand for more powerful and energy-efficient electronic devices than existing ones is challenging scientists and companies to develop innovative solutions that can address such primary technological needs. Based on a recent scientific discovery made by our team we have developed a technology for superfast and extremely scalable logic and computing circuits with minimal energy losses, which has the potential to become the leading technology in the future world of largescale computing and telecommunication infrastructures.

Lifeshell is an anti-seismic furniture construction concept, which can be used for making wardrobes, tables, desktops, beds. It’s made by timber based panels: highly resistant and flexible, relatively lightweight and inexpensive. Lifeshell benefits from the natural wood elasticity and from smart connections for dissipating the great impact energies occurring during an earthquake. Lifeshell has been designed for resisting partial building collapses, and to provide a safe shell where inhabitants can find refuge.

Optical backplane for interconnection between boards of a high-capacity ICT apparatus, data-center, server and the related automatic assembly method. The solution is based on optical connections between boards with an optimized layout on a support with mechanical constraints that involve controlled deformations of commercial optical fibers with standardized connectors. The entire interconnection circuit is divided into N independent circuits, each of which makes the connections between all the boards (Full-Mesh).

The metasurface optomechanical modulator is a device designed to modulate the amplitude, phase and polarization of a beam of electromagnetic radiation, independently, or simultaneously, according to prescribed paths in the parameter space (for example, as regards polarization, paths on the Poincaré sphere). The concept of our device can be applied to the entire spectrum of electromagnetic waves: from radio frequency, to microwaves (GHz), to millimeter waves (THz), to far and near infrared radiation, and to visible light.

The technology concerns planar optical antennas composed of thin metal films and dielectric materials for the efficient direction of the light emitted by light sources, such as fluorescent molecules and bio-markers. They consist of a reflector layer, adjacent to the substrate, and a director, semi-reflective, between which the emitter is positioned, integrated into a homogeneous dielectric layer.

The Q-PLL is an innovative nonlinear circuit which is able to synchronize to a signal comprising two or more incommensurate frequencies (forcing).

When the forcing contains two prevailing frequencies the locking response is a third frequency parametrically selected among those prescribed by the theory of three-frequency resonances in dynamical systems.

In particular, the locked frequency is closely related to the pitch perception of complex sound in humans.

Geopolymers belong to the class of chemically bonded ceramics: they are synthesized at low temperatures and are eco-friendly, as besides the low consolidation temperature required by the process they can be produced from secondary raw materials and industrial waste of various kinds, thus reducing the energy demand and the environmental impact of the entire production cycle. Materials such as fly ash, steel mill slag, biomass ash, sludge and silt, extractive residues, mineral and ceramic powders, organic or inorganic waste fibers, plastics, etc.