Professor Gaetana Laricchia

Born in Barletta (Italy), I was an undergraduate in Physics at UCL from 1980 to 1983 and then a postgraduate obtaining a PhD in positron physics in 1986. From 1986-88 I worked as a postdoctoral research assistant at UCL and Aarhus University in Denmark. In 1988, I was appointed to the UCL staff as a Lecturer. In 1994-1995 I held a Science Research Fellowship awarded by the Nuffield Foundation. I was promoted to Reader in 1996, to Professor in 2003 and appointed Head of the Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Positron Physics group in 2004.

Research interests

My major research interests are in experimental studies of positron and positronium interactions with simple atomic and molecular systems. Particular attention has recently been given to positronium formation and positron impact ionization (including threshold and differential studies), annihilation, the production of positronium beams and positronium scattering. More detail about this research can be found here.