Russian technical university contributing theory and multiscale simulation of crystalline radiation sources, charged-particle channelling, and electron-beam nanofabrication.
SPbPU is one of Russia's leading technical universities, contributing a specialized physics group that works on computational modelling of beam-matter interactions, crystalline optics, and irradiation-driven nanofabrication. Their H2020 contribution centers on theoretical physics and multiscale simulation — predicting how electron and positron beams behave in bent crystals, how focused electron beams build nanostructures atom by atom, and how crystalline materials can generate novel X-ray and gamma radiation. They supply the computational and theoretical backbone (force fields, molecular dynamics, radiation physics) that experimental partners elsewhere in Europe need to interpret their measurements. In practice, this is a mathematical-physics and materials-modelling group, not a wet lab or an engineering shop.
Both PEARL (periodically bent crystals for crystalline undulators) and N-LIGHT (crystalline synchrotron radiation emitters, e-/e+ beams in bent crystals) work directly on this topic.
RADON focuses on focused electron beam induced deposition, electron-molecule collisions, and molecular fragmentation for building nanostructures.
Both RADON and N-LIGHT list computational modelling, multiscale modelling and reactive force fields as core keywords.
PEARL and N-LIGHT both address channelling of charged particle beams through periodically bent crystals for hard X-ray and gamma ray generation.
RADON introduces irradiation-driven chemistry and molecular dynamics as a new direction from 2020 onward.
In the 2016–2019 PEARL project the group's visible contribution was narrow and specific: the physics of periodically bent crystals as undulators. From 2020 onward their scope widened substantially through two parallel MSCA-RISE projects running to 2025 — N-LIGHT extended the crystalline-radiation work into a broader "novel light sources" programme covering both electrons and positrons, while RADON opened a second, distinct line on irradiation-driven nanofabrication and electron-molecule chemistry. The trajectory is from a single theoretical topic into a two-pillar computational-physics portfolio spanning radiation generation and matter fabrication.
They are consolidating around multiscale computational modelling of beam-matter interactions, making them a good theory/simulation partner for groups running experiments on novel X-ray sources, electron-beam nanofabrication, or charged-particle channelling.
SPbPU appears exclusively as a third-party partner under MSCA-RISE, never as coordinator or main beneficiary, meaning their researchers participate through secondments rather than holding budget. They work inside medium-sized consortia (17 unique partners across 12 countries over 3 projects) and show partner continuity — the same crystalline-radiation theme reappears across PEARL and N-LIGHT, suggesting long-term relationships rather than opportunistic participation. Expect them as a specialist theoretical contributor rather than a consortium organizer.
Connected to 17 distinct partners across 12 countries through 3 MSCA-RISE projects, indicating a genuinely pan-European collaboration pattern built on researcher mobility rather than large joint grants.
Very few European groups combine serious theoretical work on crystalline undulators and channelling radiation with multiscale modelling of electron-beam nanofabrication under one roof — SPbPU does both. Their value to a consortium is computational and theoretical horsepower on beam-matter physics, delivered through staff exchange rather than consuming EU budget. For coordinators building MSCA-RISE or theory-heavy physics consortia, they are a proven, repeat partner with demonstrated staying power on the crystalline-radiation theme since 2016.
