TORRISI Lorenzo

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Lorenzo, Torrisi
Researcher unique identifier(s): ORCID: 0000-0003-0853-136X, SCOPUS: 23490532700, Metrics overview: 615 Documents, 6834 Citations, h-index: 39.
Date of birth: 20/11/1955, Italian
URL for web site: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gIWcZaIAAAAJ&hl=it

EDUCATION
1979 Physics degree, highest grade with honors, Department of Physics, University of Catania
1982 Specialization diploma in Physics, Structure of matter, Highest grade with honors, Department of Physics, University of Catania
1981-1988: Professional training post, CNR, Italy
1986 Qualified Expert, Ionizing radiation, second degree N°. 1096 (Labor Inspectorate, Italy)
1988 PhD in Physics, First Cycle, Specialization in Radiomethodics, Department of Physics, University of Catania, Italy, PhD Supervisor: Prof. G. Foti.
1989-1992 Graduated Technician at the Physics Department of Catania University.
1992 Associate Professor in Applied Physics (Fis/07) at the Physics Department of Messina University
2009-2019 PhD Coordinator of Doctorate in Physics at Messina University.
From 2019: National Responsible of Researches at INFN, LNS and Sezione di Catania, Italy
From 2020: Member of the International Advisory Board of the Nuclear Physics Institute of the Academy of Science of Czech Republic.

CURRENT POSITION
From 2004: Full Professor of Physics, SSD FIS/01, 02/B1, Experimental Physics, Physics Department (MIFT), Messina University, Italy

ORGANISATION OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
From 2003 Principal Organizator of PPLA (Plasma Physics by Laser and Applications) International Conference given each two years in different places in Italy.

MAJOR COLLABORATIONS

Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion (IPPLM) of Warsaw, Poland: Ti:Sapphire fs laser for TNSA investigations.

Military University of Technology of Warsaw (MUT), Poland: Researches using UV and X-ray microscopy by laser-gas interaction.

Prague Asterix Laser System, Czech Republic: Use of high intensity Iodine Laser for hot plasma production.

Nuclear Physics Institute, Academy of Science of Czech Republic (ASCR): Use of Ion accelerators and other Facilities.


SYNTHESIS OF THE SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY

Lorenzo Torrisi is full Professor in Experimental Physics (FIS/01) at Messina University (Italy).
He is Teacher of many courses at Messina University, as reported in the personal webpage: https://sites.google.com/site/proftorrisi/.
He is the Director of the “Laboratorio di Fisica dei Plasmi Laser” at the Physics Department MIFT of Messina University.
He is National Responsible of INFN Researches (5th Group) from 1994. Prof. L. Torrisi works at the Physics Department-MIFT of Messina University and at INFN-LNS and Sezione di Catania (Italy) as a Leader of the Research Group carrying out mainly study of Physics and applications of laser-produced plasmas. The non-equilibrium plasma can be employed to accelerate ions and electrons, to produce intense X-ray emission, to treats material surfaces, and to generate many Nuclear Physics phenomena, such as Nuclear fusion effects.
Prof. Torrisi is a specialist on radiation interaction with matter. He uses ion beams, electron beams, UV-Vis-IR radiation and/or laser beams to irradiate solids in order to investigate on the mechanisms of energy transfer to the matter. At low intensity and doses these interactions can be employed to modify the chemical and physical properties of many materials. The characterization of the modified materials by ion implantation, ion sputtering, photon and electron irradiation, are carried out in his laboratory with the use of various methods, such as Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, ion channelling analysis, elastic recoil detection analysis, nuclear reaction analysis, particle inducing X-ray emission, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, optical spectroscopy and others.
At high laser intensities the irradiated solid is immediately vaporized, and atoms are high ionized generating hot and dense plasma in vacuum.
As a function of the laser properties (intensity, wavelength, polarization,…) interaction conditions (spot dimensions, focal position, incidence angle,…) and target composition and geometry, it is possible to control the plasma parameters, such as density, equivalent temperature, average energy of the accelerated electrons, ion energy distributions, angular and charge state distributions and high electric field driving the ion acceleration in plasma.
Using different regimes, such as backward particle acceleration (BPA) from thick targets, target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) and radiation pressure acceleration (RPA), it is possible to use sub-nanosecond and fs lasers, at intensities higher than 1016 W/cm2, to accelerate ions, in non-equilibrium plasmas, at energies above 10 MeV per charge state. Such plasmas find applications in many fields, from Medicine for protontherapy, to Microelectronics for multiple ion implantation, and from Nuclear Physics for Astrophysical and Fusion Reaction studies, to Biology for energy release in fast times to cell cultures.
Prof. Torrisi is especially interested to analysis and treatment of materials modified by the radiation energy release, with a special interest to fast detectors used for Nuclear Physics and plasma diagnostics. Recently he is using SiC and Diamond detectors in time of flight configuration to measure photons, electron and ions emitted from fast laser-generated plasmas.
In this field he is the National responsible of the INFN-research projects so called PLAIA (plasma ablation for ion accelerator), PLATONE (Pulsed Laser Ablation for Transient ObtaiNable Electric-field), PLEIADI (Plasma Laser Energetic Ion Acceleration & DIagnostics) and LIANA (Laser Ion Acceleration for Nuclear Applications), projects devoted to application of laser-produced ions to generate intense multi-energetic ion beams for ion implantation processes and for a new generation of laser ion sources. Recently he is involved in the study of the mechanisms of ion acceleration processes in non-equilibrium plasma applied to ELIMED, a project that has the aim to accelerate protons from non-equilibrium plasmas at energies above 60 MeV for protontherapy use. Starting from 2019 he is responsible of the INFN project called CIMA (Carbon-Based Innovative Materials for Nuclear Physics Applications). This project has the aim to use Graphene to prepare sensors, detectors, dosimeters, strippers, composite materials for laser-plasmas preparations and biomaterials.
Recently Prof. Torrisi is interested to the laser generation of nanoparticles and nanostructures in liquids that show peculiar properties of resonant absorption of laser radiation. In the field of laser-generated plasmas “advanced targets” can be prepared using metallic nanoparticles embedded or deposited in thin polymers and insulators to maximize the laser-thin foil energy deposition. The nanoparticles and micrometric structures, in fact, enhance the ion acceleration through surface plasmon resonances and plasma waves excitation absorption processes. Also, in other applications nanoparticles are finding interesting applications, such as in the Bio-Medical field to enhance diagnostic imaging quality and localized radiotherapy efficiency.
Many proposals of Prof. Torrisi have been accepted in the ambit of Laser-Lab Europe for experiments in large European facilities, such as PALS Lab of Prague (Czech Republic). Prof. Torrisi was the first researcher that has obtained the D-D fusion reaction in laser plasma at PALS starting from the beginning of 2011 with dedicated experiments, demonstrating the generation of characteristic monoenergetic neutrons and protons emitted from the plasma.
The research group of Prof. Torrisi closely cooperates with the Institute of Physics ASCR in Prague, the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion in Warsaw, the Italian INFN and CNR, many Italian and European Universities and with other Research laboratories. He is organizer of the International Conference PPLA with biennial periodicity. He is associated editor of Rad. Eff. and Defects in Solids: Incorporating Plasma Science and Plasma Technology.
Actutally He is responsible of the Project PRIN-PNRR (P2022M33MS) entitled "Carbon dots for advanced bio-medical imaging and beyond (CAR-BIOMED)" and for this He collaborates with the University of Bari and Salento (Lecce).
Starting from 2020 he is member of the International Advisory Board of the Nuclear Physics Institute of the Academy of Science of Czech Republic.
Prof. Torrisi is author or co-author of more than 1000 publications in international and national journals and conference proceedings. His actual H-index from Scopus database is H=40, the citation number is 6859 and the total documents 616.


LIST OF SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gIWcZaIAAAAJ&hl=it