INFN-LNF Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati
Two young researchers from the Frascati National Laboratory have won two prestigious INFN awards for their thesis work. Lucio Crincoli received the Resmini Prize for the best PhD thesis, awarded by National Scientific Commission 5, while Carlos Buitrago received the Vaccaro Prize for the best master’s thesis in accelerators, awarded by the INFN Accelerator Committee.
Lucio Crincoli’s work is titled “Experimental and theoretical development of m-scale and high repetition rate plasma sources for plasma-based particle accelerators” (supervisors: Massimo Ferrario and Angelo Biagioni) and is focused on the theoretical and experimental development of high-repetition-rate, meter-scale plasma sources for particle accelerators, as part of the European EuPRAXIA project. Carlos Buitrago’s thesis is entitled “Dynamics Studies for Ultrashort Electron Beam Generation” (supervisor: Anna Giribono) and is dedicated to the study of the generation of ultrashort electron beams through an innovative compact compression scheme based on coherent synchrotron radiation.
The Resmini Prize is one of the awards for the best doctoral theses that INFN assigns each year in the five research areas of the Institute, and it is named in memory of the physicist Francesco Resmini (1938–1984) one of the pioneers in studies of accelerator machines and applied physics for environmental and medical applications.
The Vaccaro Prize is awarded for the best master’s thesis on theoretical and numerical research activities in the field of Particle Accelerators by the INFN Accelerator Committee. With this prize, INFN intends to commemorate Vittorio Giorgio Vaccaro (1941–2023), a pioneer of accelerator physics, who introduced fundamental concepts such as impedance and universal maps of particle beam stability, which are still at the core of the discipline today.
Both prizes foresee a monetary award of 2,000 euros and give the winners the opportunity to present their works at nationally relevant venues: the PhD thesis during one of the periodic meetings of National Scientific Commission V and the master’s thesis at the National Conference “Giornata Acceleratori 2026”.
Lucio Crincoli graduated in Nuclear Engineering at Politecnico di Milano and earned a Ph.D. in Accelerator Physics at Sapienza University of Rome. He is currently a technologist at the Frascati National Laboratories and works, within the SPARC_LAB group, on the design and development of plasma sources for particle accelerators and as part of the European projects EuPRAXIA and PACRI.
Carlos Buitrago obtained his master’s degree in Physics through the international “Erasmus Mundus Master LASCALA” program that issues a joint Sapienza University of Rome and Université Paris-Saclay title. He is currently a PhD student in Accelerator Physics at Sapienza University of Rome and carries out his research activity at the Frascati National Laboratories, working on beam dynamics studies and betatron radiation emission within the SPARC_LAB group and in the framework of the European project EuPRAXIA.
Congratulations to Lucio Crincoli and Carlos Buitrago from all the LNF staff.