Last 16 December 2022 Francesco Belli successfully defended his thesis entitled “Characterization of hydrogen based superconductors from first principles”.
As Francesco fantastically explained, in the first part of this thesis he has identified the specific physical and chemical properties that give rise to high critical temperatures in conventional hydrogen based superconductors. He continued the defense by exposing the effect of the quantum ionic fluctuations in the phase stability of LaH10 and LaBH8, and finished establishing the general trends of these quantum fluctuations for all systems investigated through the Stochastic Self Consistent Harmonic Approximation. Finally, he maintained an interesting discussion about the results with the members of the committee, formed by Julia Contreras-García, Aitor Bergara and Graeme Ackland.
At the end of the thesis defense, Francesco was awarded with the usual “Txapela”, a traditional Basque hat. Then, Fransco’s family, friends and committee members all enjoyed a nice meal at Lukas restaurant.
Francesco is now moving to Buffalo, in the United States, where he will join Eva Zurek’s group as a postdoctoral researcher.
Zorionak Dr. Belli! Good luck in the future!
His thesis can be read here.