Contact

Dr. Kristina Kvashnina

ERC Group Head at BM20-ROBL (ESRF)
Molecular Structures
k.kvashnina@hzdr.de
Phone: +33 476 88 2367

Towards the bottom of the periodic table

Kristina Kvashnina leads the project TOP (Towards the bottom of the periodic table) funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The project has received 1.5 million euros and will take place over the next 5 years from 1^st of January 2018.

Towards the bottom of the periodic table group

Welcome!

TOP group, funded by the European Research Council, is a part of the Rossendorf Beamline at The European Synchrotron (ESRF) in France, operated by the Institute of Resource Ecology at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) in Germany. Most of the team members are based at ESRF, Grenoble, France.

We study fundamental physical and chemical properties of the f-electron systems (actinides and lanthanides) through the revelation of the electronic structure and we investigate the applications in which these systems play an important role. Our research is strongly oriented towards the new developments in the field of advanced X-ray spectroscopy methods.

On our website, you can read the latest news, info about our research activities and group members, and view a list of our publications.

People

Dr. Habil. Kristina Kvashnina

Scientific background: Physicist

Special interests: Experimental and theoretical investigations of lanthanides and actinides by XANES, HERFD, XES and RIXS techniques.

Current status: ERC Group Head

After earning a MA degree in theoretical physics at Ural State University (Ekaterinburg, Russia) and a PhD degree in experimental physics at Uppsala University (Uppsala, Sweden) Kristina moved to Grenoble France, where she conducted pioneering research on actinide systems using advanced high energy resolution X-ray spectroscopy methods.

Kristina is a main editor of IUCr's - Journal of Synchrotron Radiation and Professor at the Chemistry Department of Moscow State University, Russia.

Profile on Research gate and GoogleScholar

Dr. Lucia Amidani

Scientific background: Physicist

Special interests: the use of XAS, XES and RIXS coupled with theoretical simulations to understand the elect4ronic structure of solid state materials

Current status: Postdoctoral Research Fellow

After her MA degree in solid state physics, Lucia joined the group of X-ray and Synchrotron radiation of Bologna University for her PhD and a first post-doctoral fellowship. After this experience focused on the use of XAS and XES to semiconductor systems, she moved to Grenoble and joined the ID26 beamline at ESRF to study lanthanides based luminescent materials with high energy resolution spectroscopy. From 2018 Lucia is involved in the theoretical understanding of actinide/lanthanide nanomaterials.

Profile on Research gate

Dr. Elena Bazarkina

Scientific background: Geochemist

Special interests: Speciation of metals in aqueous fluids and host minerals

Current status: Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Elena is a specialist in experimental geochemistry. She is studying the behavior of metals and elaborate in-situ spectroscopy cells. She obtained her Ph.D. in Toulouse (France) and Moscow (Russia). Since 2021, she joined the ROBL beamline group at ESRF in Grenoble.

Profile on Google Scholar

Evgeny Gerber

Scientific background: Chemist

Special interests: Actinides and lanthanides chemistry, environmental radioactivity

Current status: PhD student

Evgeny is a PhD student from Moscow State University (Russia), working on synthesis and characterization of the actinide and lanthanide nanomaterials using laboratory and synchrotron analytical methods.

Profile on Research gate

Jurij Galanzew

Scientific background: Chemist

Current status: PhD student

Jurij is from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany). His MS study at ROBL of ESRF in 2018 was focused on understanding the electronic structure of thorium systems by different theoretical and experimental approaches. Currently Jurij is a shared PhD student at KIT and HZDR for a period of three years (2018-2021).