Giancarlo Righini

Physicist, he studied at the University of Florence and made his first approach to the research in optics in the group led by Giuliano Toraldo di Francia. After three years of fellowships at the University of Florence, in 1972 he got a permanent position at National Research Council of Italy (CNR). Since then, he has worked almost 40 years at CNR, in Florence and Rome. Among various duties, he was director  of CNR National Group of Quantum Electronics and Plasma Physics (1983-1996), research director at IFAC - Nello Carrara Institute of Applied Physics (1991-2010), head of IFAC Optoelectronics and Photonics Department (1999 - 2005), director  of CNR National Department of Materials and Devices (2006-2009). From February 2012 to  February 2016 he was director of the Enrico Fermi Center in Rome. 

He now holds a position of associate scientist at IFAC CNR. 

He always did experimental research, first in optical holography and optical signal processing, and then in fiber and integrated optics, with particular attention to glass materials. His more recent interests concern optical microresonators and nanostructured materials. His publication record includes more than 500 papers, most of them in relevant international journals, and several book chapters.

He has been/is member of the Editorial Board of several international journals, including Applied Optics, Fibers, New Journal of Glass and Ceramics, Optical Materials, Optoelectronics Letters, Photonics Letters of Poland, Advances in Optical Technology. He is editor of the book 'Glass Micro- and Nanospheres'  (2019) and co-editor of various other books (2009-2020), plus many conference proceedings.

He has also taught for many years, as contract professor, at the University of Florence and at AILUN, a higher education institute in Sardinia. He has tutored more than 20 MSc and PhD students in Italy and has been member of several PhD juries in Europe.

He has been PI in several national and international projects in the fields of optics and photonics. He his often asked to review research projects dealing with optics and photonics for public research agencies in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Italy and Spain. He was appointed Vice-President of IUPAP (International Union of Pure and Applied Physics), and of ICO (International Commission for Optics). As a service to optical community, he has been co-founder and then President of the Italian Society of Optics and Photonics (SIOF); member of the founding committee and then Secretary of EOS (European Optical Society); member of the Board of Directors of SPIE. Currently he is chairman of Technical Committee TC-20 (Glasses for Optoelectronics) of the International Commission on Glass.

He has chaired or co-chaired several international conferences; he was one of the founders of the workshop series on Photoluminescence of Rare Earths (PRE), and is now its honorary chair. 

Giancarlo C. Righini is Fellow of EOS, OSA, SIOF and SPIE, and Meritorious Member of SIF.





Professional activity 



Scientist associated to IFAC CNR  Istituto di Fisica Applicata "Nello Carrara"  (National Research Council of Italy) - since September 2010.  Formerly, research director.

Giancarlo Righini is Fellow of OSA (Optical Society of America), SPIE (International Society for Optical Engineering), EOS (European Optical Society) and of SIOF (Società Italiana di Ottica e Fotonica). He is Meritorious Member of SIF (Società Italiana di Fisica).



ORCID ID:  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6081-6971





Previous duties



Research director at CNR Nello Carrara Institute of Applied Physics  (1991 - April 2006; March 2009 - August 2010)



Contract professor of Optoelectronics at the University of Florence until October 2011



Director  of CNR Department of Materials and Devices (May 2006 - March 2009)



Head of IFAC Optoelectronics and Photonics Department (1999 - 2005)



Director  of CNR National Group of Quantum Electronics & Plasma Physics (1983-1996)



Contract professor of  Optical Technologies at the School of Specialization in Optics and of Optoelectronic Devices and Integrated Optics at the Electronic Engineering Department, Università di Firenze (in the period 1995 to 2010).





Other duties



President of the Italian Committee for Promotion of Optical Sciences and Technologies (FOTONICA.IT)



Honorary Chair of the International Workshop "Photoluminescence in Rare Earths: Photonic Materials and Devices" (held every other year)



Currently he is member of the Editorial Board of the following journals: Fibers, Optoelectronics Letters, Photonics Letters of Poland, International Journal of Optics, Micromachines. 



He was editor of the SIOF book series "Quaderni di Ottica"



He has been referee for many international journals (Electronic Letters, Applied Optics, ...)



Co-editor of the book Introduction to Optoelectronic Sensors (World Scientific, 2009).



Co-editor of the book Glassy Materials Based Microdevices  (MDPI Books, 2019).





Most cited publications



Spherical whispering‐gallery‐mode microresonators

A Chiasera, Y Dumeige, P Feron, M Ferrari, Y Jestin, G Nunzi Conti, ...

Laser & Photonics Reviews 4 (3), 457-482 2010



Whispering gallery mode microresonators: fundamentals and applications

GC Righini, Y Dumeige, P Feron, M Ferrari, G Nunzi Conti, D Ristic, ...

La Rivista del Nuovo Cimento 34, 435-488 2011



Photoluminescence of rare-earth-doped glasses

GC Righini, M Ferrari

Rivista del Nuovo Cimento 28 (12), 1-53 2005



Size dependence of electron—LO-phonon coupling in semiconductor nanocrystals

G Scamarcio, V Spagnolo, G Ventruti, M Lugara, GC Righini

Physical Review B 53 (16), R10489 1996



Erbium-activated HfO2-based waveguides for photonics

RR Gonçalves, G Carturan, M Montagna, M Ferrari, L Zampedri, S Pelli, ...

Optical Materials 25 (2), 131-139 2004



Mechanisms of Ag to Er energy transfer in silicate glasses: a photoluminescence study

M Mattarelli, M Montagna, K Vishnubhatla, A Chiasera, M Ferrari, ...

Physical Review B 75 (12), 125102 2007



Microstructural and optical properties of sol-gel silica-titania waveguides

G Brusatin, M Guglielmi, P Innocenzi, A Martucci, G Battaglin, S Pelli, ...

Journal of non-crystalline solids 220 (2-3), 202-209 1997



Sol-gel Er-doped  planar waveguides: A viable system for 1.5 μm application

RR Gonçalves, G Carturan, L Zampedri, M Ferrari, M Montagna, ...

Applied physics letters 81 (1), 28-30 2002



Optical microspherical resonators for biomedical sensing

S Soria, S Berneschi, M Brenci, F Cosi, G Nunzi Conti, S Pelli, GC Righini

Sensors 11 (1), 785-805 2011

Optical and surface properties of inorganic and hybrid organic–inorganic silica–titania sol–gel planar waveguides

P Innocenzi, A Martucci, M Guglielmi, L Armelao, S Pelli, GC Righini, ...

Journal of non-crystalline solids 259 (1-3), 182-190 1999



High Q silica microbubble resonators fabricated by arc discharge

S Berneschi, D Farnesi, F Cosi, GN Conti, S Pelli, GC Righini, S Soria

Optics letters 36 (17), 3521-3523 2011



The large-scale polarization explorer (LSPE)

S Aiola, G Amico, P Battaglia, E Battistelli, A Bau, P De Bernardis, ...

Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV 8446, 84467A
2012