Research group

We develop the research line in theory and simulation of the interaction of radiation with matter within the “Condensed Matter” group of the Department of Physics of University of Murcia.

The interaction of fast particles with condensed matter has both basic and applied interest, in order to know, analyse and/or modify the structure of matter.

Among the topics we have studied, the most outstanding and recent are the following:

• differences in the energy loss by atomic or molecular ions (so called vicinage effects);
• energy delivered by swift proton beams to biological targets (related to hadron therapy);
• generation and transport of electrons by proton beams in materials of microelectronic or biological interest (related to ion beam lithography and radiotherapy).

Former and current collaborations:

• Centro Atómico Bariloche
• European Centre for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas (ECT*)
• Universitat d'Alacant
• University of Ioannina
• Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María
• Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

In the last years, we are particularly interested in the interaction of radiation with biological media, for the purposes of radiation therapy of cancer, by means of techniques such as hadrontherapy or targetted radionuclide therapy.

We currently lead the projects entitled Nanoscale Biodamage induced by Swift Ions: towards a detailed Modelling and Simulation (Ministry of Science and Innovation) and Charged Particles against Cancer: Detailed Simulations for Better Use (Séneca Foundation).

Rafael's personal web page

Isabel's personal web page

Pablo's personal web page

Pablo de Vera and Rafael Garcia-Molina

€42,350

Pablo de Vera and Rafael Garcia-Molina

€33,220

Fan Cheng, Pablo de Vera, Rafael Garcia-Molina

Assessing the electronic excitation spectra of chromium, palladium and samarium from their stopping quantities

Physical Review B 110, 235134 (2024).

arXiv preprint (Accepted version) Publisher's version

Ana María Zamora-Vinaroz, Pablo de Vera, Isabel Abril, Rafael Garcia-Molina

Simulation of depth-dose curves and water equivalent ratios of energetic proton beams in cortical bone

Physical Review E 110, 034405 (2024).

arXiv preprint (Accepted version) Publisher's version

M. Dapor, R. Garcia-Molina, P. E. Trevisanutto, Z. Ding, S. Taioli

Editorial: Methodological and computational developments for modeling the transport of particles within materials

Frontiers in Materials (Sec. Computational Materials Science) 10, 1302000 (2023).

Publisher's version (Open Access PDF)

Pablo de Vera, Isabel Abril, Rafael Garcia-Molina

Electronic cross section, stopping power and energy-loss straggling of metals for swift protons, alpha particles and electrons

Frontiers in Materials (Sec. Computational Materials Science) 10, 1249517 (2023).

Publisher's version (Open Access PDF)

Pablo de Vera, Simone Taioli, Paolo E. Trevisanutto, Maurizio Dapor, Isabel Abril, Stefano Simonucci, Rafael Garcia-Molina

Energy Deposition around Swift Carbon-Ion Tracks in Liquid Water

International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23, 6121 (2022).

Open access PDF Publisher's version

Isabel Abril, Pablo de Vera, Rafael Garcia-Molina

Calculated energy loss of swift light ions in platinum and gold: importance of the target electronic excitation spectrum

Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2326, 012016 (2022).

Publisher's version

Pablo de Vera, Stefano Simonucci, Paolo E. Trevisanutto, Isabel Abril, Maurizio Dapor, Simone Taioli, Rafael Garcia-Molina

Simulating the nanometric track-structure of carbon ion beams in liquid water at energies relevant for hadrontherapy

Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2326, 012017 (2022).

Publisher's version

Simone Taioli, Paolo E. Trevisanutto, Pablo de Vera, Stefano Simonucci, Isabel Abril, Rafael Garcia-Molina, Maurizio Dapor

Relative Role of Physical Mechanisms on Complex Biodamage Induced by Carbon Irradiation

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 12, 487 (2021).

Open access PDF Supplementary material Publisher's version ACS LiveSlides

Pablo de Vera, Isabel Abril, Rafael Garcia-Molina

Excitation and ionisation cross-sections in condensed-phase biomaterials by electrons down to very low energy: application to liquid water and genetic building blocks

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 23, 5079-5095 (2021).

Open access PDF Electronic Supplementary Information PDF Publisher's version Featured in journal's back cover Featured in "2021 PCCP Hot Articles" list

Andrea Pedrielli, Pablo de Vera, Paolo E. Trevisanutto, Nicola M. Pugno, Rafael Garcia-Molina, Isabel Abril, Simone Taioli, Maurizio Dapor

Electronic excitation spectra of cerium oxides: from ab initio dielectric response functions to Monte Carlo electron transport simulations

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 23, 19173–19187 (2021).

Open access PDF Electronic Supplementary Information PDF Publisher's version Featured in journal's back cover

Yannick Fortouna, Pablo de Vera, Alexey Verkhovtsev, Andrey V. Solov’yov

Molecular dynamics simulations of sodium nanoparticle deposition on magnesium oxide

Theoretical Chemistry Accounts 140, 84 (2021).

Publisher's version (free to read)

Pablo de Vera, Martina Azzolini, Gennady Sushko, Isabel Abril, Rafael Garcia‑Molina, Maurizio Dapor, Ilia A. Solov’yov, Andrey V. Solov’yov

Multiscale simulation of the focused electron beam induced deposition process

Scientific Reports 10, 20827 (2020).

Open access PDF Supplementary information PDF Publisher's version

J. E. Valdés, C. Celedón, M. Mery, J. D. Uribe, R. Segura, N. R. Arista, I. Abril, R. Garcia-Molina, Energy loss of H+ and H2+ beams in carbon nanotubes: a joint experimental and simulation study, European Physical Journal D 73 (2019) 201. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2019-100106-2

Pablo de Vera, Rafael Garcia‑Molina

Electron Inelastic Mean Free Paths in Condensed Matter Down to a Few Electronvolts

Journal of Physical Chemistry C 123, 2075 (2019).

Publisher's version

Pablo de Vera, Eugene Surdutovich, Andrey V. Solov'yov

The role of shock waves on the biodamage induced by ion beam radiation

Cancer Nanotechnology 10, 5 (2019).

Publisher's version

Pablo de Vera, Rafael Garcia-Molina, Isabel Abril

Simulation of the energy spectra of swift light ion beams after traversing cylindrical targets: A consistent interpretation of experimental data relevant for hadron therapy

European Physical Journal D 73, 209 (2019).

Publisher's version

Pablo de Vera, Alexey Verkhovtsev, Gennady Sushko, Andrey V. Solov'yov

Reactive molecular dynamics simulations of organometallic compound W(CO)6 fragmentation

European Physical Journal D 73, 215 (2019).

Publisher's version

J. D. Uribe, M. Mery, B. Fierro, R. Cardoso-Gil, I. Abril, R. Garcia-Molina, J. E. Valdés, V. A. Esaulov, Proton energy loss in multilayer graphene and carbon nanotubes, Radiation Effects and Defects in Solids 173 (2018) 93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10420150.2018.1442464

Pablo de Vera, Isabel Abril, Rafael Garcia Molina

Energy spectra of protons and generated secondary electrons around the Bragg peak in materials of interest in hadron therapy

Radiation Research 190, 282 (2018).

Publisher's version

Pablo de Vera, Eugene Surdutovich, Nigel J. Mason, Fred J. Currell, Andrey V. Solov'yov

Simulation of the ion-induced shock-wave effects on the transport of chemically reactive species in ion tracks

European Physical Journal D 72, 147 (2018).

Publisher's version

Kaspar Haume, Pablo de Vera, Alexey V. Verkhovtsev, Eugene Surdutovich, Nigel J. Mason, Andrey V. Solov'yov

Transport of secondary electrons through coatings of ion-irradiated metallic nanoparticles

European Physical Journal D 72, 116 (2018).

Publisher's version

J. J. Esteve-Paredes, J. E. Valdés, J. Sánchez-Claros, I. Abril, R. Garcia-Molina, Simulation of the energy loss of proton beams interacting with few layer graphene foils, Journal of Physics: Conference Series 875 (2017) 112007. DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/875/12/112007

D. Emfietzoglou, I. Kyriakou, R. Garcia-Molina, I. Abril, Inelastic mean free path of low-energy electrons in condensed media: Beyond the standard models, Surface and Interface Analysis 49 (2017) 4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/sia.5947

R. Garcia-Molina, I. Abril, I. Kyriakou, D. Emfietzoglou, Inelastic scattering and energy-loss of swift electron beams in relevant biological materials, Surface and Interface Analysis 49 (2017) 11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/sia.5878

Pablo de Vera, Eugene Surdutovich, Nigel J Mason, Andrey V Solov'yov

Radial doses around energetic ion tracks and the onset of shock waves on the nanoscale

European Physical Journal D 71, 281 (2017).

Publisher's version

Maurizio Dapor, Isabel Abril, Pablo de Vera, Rafael Garcia Molina

Energy deposition around swift proton tracks in polymethylmethacrylate: How much and how far

Physical Review B 96, 064113 (2017).

Publisher's version

Rafael Garcia-Molina, Maurizio Dapor, Pablo de Vera, Isabel Abril

Energy deposition around swift proton and carbon ion tracks in biomaterials

Journal of Physics: Conference Series 875, 112006 (2017).

Publisher's version

Pablo de Vera, Rafael Garcia-Molina, Isabel Abril

Propagation of Swift Protons in Liquid Water and Generation of Secondary Electrons in Biomaterials

Nanoscale Insights into Ion-Beam Cancer Therapy pp. 61–-98 (2017).

Publisher's version

Pablo de Vera, Nigel J Mason, Eugene Surdutovich, Andrey V Solov’yov

Thermo-Mechanical Damage of Biomolecules Under Ion-Beam Radiation

Nanoscale Insights into Ion-Beam Cancer Therapy pp. 339–357 (2017).

Publisher's version

M Bolsa Ferruz, Vladimir Ivošev, Kaspar Haume, Lilian Ellis-Gibbings, Ali Traore, Vivek Thakare, Soraia Rosa, Pablo de Vera, V-L Tran, Arkadiusz Mika, Daria Boscolo, Sophie Grellet, Alexey Verkhovtsev, Bernd A Huber, Karl T Butterworth, Kevin M Prise, Frederick J Currell, Nigel J Mason, Jon Golding, Emanuele Scifoni, Gustavo García, Frédéric Boschetti, F Lux, O Tillement, Cédric Louis, Kurt Stokbro, Andrey V Solov’yov, Sandrine Lacombe

New Research in Ionizing Radiation and Nanoparticles: The ARGENT Project

Nanoscale Insights into Ion-Beam Cancer Therapy pp. 379–434 (2017).

Publisher's version

Mingjie Wang, Benedikt Rudek, Daniel Bennett, Pablo de Vera, Marion Bug, Ticia Buhr, Woon Y Baek, Gerard Hilgers, Hans Rabus

Cross sections for ionization of tetrahydrofuran by protons at energies between 300 and 3000 keV

Physical Review A 93, 052711 (2016).

Publisher's version

Pablo de Vera, Nigel J Mason, Fred J Currell, Andrey V Solov'yov

Molecular dynamics study of accelerated ion-induced shock waves in biological media

European Physical Journal D 70, 183 (2016).

Publisher's version

R. Garcia-Molina, Book Review - Peter Sigmund, Particle Penetration and Radiation Effects, Volume 2: Penetration of Atomic and Molecular Ions, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 344 (2015) 50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2014.12.017

R. C. Fadanelli, M. Behar, L. C. C. M. Nagamine, M. Vos, N. R. Arista, C. D. Nascimento, R. Garcia-Molina, I. Abril, Energy loss function of solids assessed by ion beam energy-loss measurements: Practical application to Ta2O5, Journal of Physical Chemistry C 119 (2015) 20561. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b04292

Pablo de Vera*, Rafael Garcia-Molina, Isabel Abril

Angular and Energy Distributions of Electrons Produced in Arbitrary Biomaterials by Proton Impact

Physical Review Letters 114, 018101 (2015).

Publisher's version

Maurizio Dapor, Isabel Abril*, Pablo de Vera, Rafael Garcia-Molina

Simulation of the secondary electrons energy deposition produced by proton beams in PMMA: influence of the target electronic excitation description

The European Physical Journal D 69, 165 (2015).

Publisher's version

Isabel Abril*, Pablo de Vera, Rafael Garcia-Molina, Ioanna Kyriakou, Dimitris Emfietzoglou

Lateral spread of dose distribution by therapeutic proton beams in liquid water

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B 352, 176-180 (2015).

Publisher's version

Alexey Verkhovtsev*, Sally McKinnon, Pablo de Vera, Eugene Surdutovich, Susanna Guatelli, Andrei V. Korol, Anatoly Rosenfeld, Andrey V. Solov’yov

Comparative analysis of the secondary electron yield from carbon nanoparticles and pure water medium

European Physical Journal D 69, 116 (2015).

Publisher's version

S. P. Limandri, R. C. Fadanelli, M. Behar, L. C. C. M. Nagamine, J. M. Fernández-Varea, I. Abril, R. Garcia-Molina, C. C. Montanari, J. C. Aguiar, D. Mitnik, J. E. Miraglia, N. R. Arista, Stopping cross sections of TiO2 for H and He ions, European Physical Journal D 68 (2014) 194. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2014-40782-6

Pablo de Vera, Eugene Surdutovich, Isabel Abril, Rafael Garcia-Molina, Andrey V. Solov’yov

Analytical model of ionization and energy deposition by proton beams in subcellular compartments

The European Physical Journal D 68, 96 (2014).

Publisher's version

Silvina Limandri, Pablo de Vera, Raul C. Fadanelli, Luiz C. C. M. Nagamine, Alexandre Mello, Rafael Garcia-Molina, Moni Behar, Isabel Abril

Energy deposition of H and He ion beams in hydroxyapatite films: A study with implications for ion-beam cancer therapy

Physical Review E 89, 022703 (2014).

Publisher's version

Rafael Garcia-Molina, Isabel Abril, Pablo de Vera, Ioanna Kyriakou, Dimitris Emfietzoglou

A study of the energy deposition profile of proton beams in materials of hadron therapeutic interest

Applied Radiation and Isotopes 83, 109 (2014).

Publisher's version

Pablo de Vera, Isabel Abril, Rafael Garcia-Molina

Water equivalent properties of materials commonly used in proton dosimetry

Applied Radiation and Isotopes 83, 122 (2014).

Publisher's version

C. D. Archubi, I. Abril, R. Garcia-Molina, N. R. Arista, Barkas effect in the stopping power for ions with different ionization degrees, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 316 (2013) 88. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2013.08. 034

J. E. Valdés, C. Celedón, R. Segura, I. Abril, R. Garcia-Molina, C. D. Denton, N. R. Arista, P. Vargas, Energy loss distribution of proton beams at normal incidence on multi-walled carbon nanotubes, Carbon 52 (2013) 137. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2012.09.014 (PDF)

D. Emfietzoglou, I. Kyriakou, R. Garcia-Molina, I. Abril, H. Nikjoo, Inelastic cross sections for low-energy electrons in liquid water: exchange and correlation effects, Radiation Research 180 (2013) 499. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1667/RR13362.1

D. Emfietzoglou, I. Kyriakou, R. Garcia-Molina, I. Abril, The effect of static many-body local-field corrections to inelastic electron scattering in condensed media, Journal of Applied Physics 114 (2013) 144907. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4824541 (Erratum, Journal of Applied Physics 115 (2014) 139901. DOI: 10.1063/1.4870452)

Pablo de Vera, Rafael Garcia-Molina, Isabel Abril, Andrey V Solov’yov

Semiempirical Model for the Ion Impact Ionization of Complex Biological Media

Physical Review Letters 110, 148104 (2013).

Publisher's version

Pablo de Vera, Isabel Abril, Rafael Garcia-Molina, Andrey V Solov'yov

Ionization of biomolecular targets by ion impact: input data for radiobiological applications

Journal of Physics: Conference Series 438, 012015 (2013).

Publisher's version

Rafael Garcia-Molina, Isabel Abril, Pablo de Vera, Helmut Paul

Comments on recent measurements of the stopping power of liquid water

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B 299, 51 (2013).

Publisher's version

Rafael Garcia-Molina, Isabel Abril, Pablo de Vera, Ioanna Kyriakou, Dimitris Emfietzoglou

Proton Beam Irradiation of Liquid Water: A Combined Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo Simulation Study of the Bragg Peak Profile

Fast Ion-Atom and Ion-Molecule Collisions Vol. 1, pp. 271–304 (2013).

Publisher's version

Isabel Abril, Rafael Garcia-Molina, Pablo de Vera, Ioanna Kyriakou, Dimitris Emfietzoglou

Inelastic Collisions of Energetic Protons in Biological Media

Advances in Quantum Chemistry 65, 129 (2013).

Publisher's version

R. Garcia-Molina, I. Abril, P. de Vera, I. Kyriakou, D. Emfietzoglou, Proton beam irradiation of liquid water: A combined Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo simulation study of the Bragg peak profile, Cap. 8 (pp. 271-304) in Fast ion-atom and ion-molecule collisions, Interdisciplinary research on Particle Collisions and Quantitative Spectroscopy, ed. Dz. Belkic (World Scientific Review Volume, 2012). ISBN: 978-981-4407-12-0. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814407137_0008

R. M. Behar, R. C. Fadanelli, L. C. C. M. Nagamine, E. D. Cantero, G. H. Lantschner, J. C. Eckardt, N. R. Arista, R. Garcia-Molina, I. Abril, Electronic stopping cross sections for protons in Al2O3: an experimental and theoretical study, European Physical Journal D 66 (2012) 247. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2012-30364-1 (PDF)

D. Emfietzoglou, I. Kyriakou, R. Garcia-Molina, I. Abril, K. Kostarelos, Quasi first-principles Monte Carlo modeling of energy dissipation by low-energy electron beams in multi-walled carbon nanotube materials, Applied Physics Letters 100 (2012) 093113. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3688307 (PDF)

R. Garcia-Molina, I. Abril, I. Kyriakou, D. Emfietzoglou, Energy loss of swift protons in liquid water: Role of optical data input and extension algorithms, Ch. 15 (pp. 239-261) in Radiation Damage in Biomolecular Systems, Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering, eds. G. G. Gómez-Tejedor, M. C. Fuss (Springer, 2012). ISBN 978-94-007-2563-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2564-5_15

D. Emfietzoglou, I. Kyriakou, I. Abril, R. Garcia-Molina and H. Nikjoo, Inelastic scattering of low-energy electrons in liquid water computed from optical-data models of the Bethe surface, International Journal of Radiation Biology 88 (2012) 22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3109/09553002.2011.588061 (PDF)

Rafael Garcia-Molina, Isabel Abril, Pablo De Vera, Ioanna Kyriakou, Dimitris Emfietzoglou

Role of the interaction processes in the depth-dose distribution of proton beams in liquid water

Journal of Physics: Conference Series 373, 012015 (2012).

Publisher's version

M. Behar, R. C. Fadanelli, I. Abril, R. Garcia-Molina, L. C. C. Nagamine, Energy-loss straggling study of proton and alpha-particle beams incident onto ZrO2 and Al2O3 films, European Physical Journal D 64 (2011) 297. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2011-20352-4 (PDF)

R. Garcia-Molina, I. Abril, S. Heredia-Avalos, I. Kyriakou, D. Emfietzoglou, A combined molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulation of the spatial distribution of energy deposition by proton beams in liquid water, Physics in Medicine and Biology 56 (2011) 6457. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/56/19/019 (PDF) [Read News Article in medicalphysicsweb ]

I. Kyriakou, D. Emfietzoglou, R. Garcia-Molina, I. Abril, K. Kostarelos, Simple model of bulk and surface excitation effects to inelastic scattering in low-energy electron beam irradiation of multi-walled carbon nanotubes, Journal of Applied Physics 110 (2011) 054304. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3626460 (PDF)

S. M. Shubeita, P. L. Grande, J. F. Dias, R. Garcia-Molina, C. D. Denton, I. Abril, Energy loss of swift H2+ and H3+ molecules in gold: Vicinage effects, Physical Review B 83 (2011) 245423. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.83.245423 (PDF)

I. Abril, R. Garcia-Molina, C. D. Denton, I. Kyriakou, D. Emfietzoglou, Energy Loss of Hydrogen- and Helium-Ion Beams in DNA: Calculations Based on a Realistic Energy-Loss Function of the Target, Radiation Research 175 (2011) 247. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1667/RR2142.1 (PDF)

Pablo de Vera, Isabel Abril, Rafael Garcia-Molina

Inelastic scattering of electron and light ion beams in organic polymers

Journal of Applied Physics 109, 094901 (2011).

Publisher's version

D. Emfietzoglou, I. Kyriakou, R. Garcia-Molina, I. Abril, K. Kostarelos, Analytic expressions for the inelastic scattering and energy of electron and proton beams in carbon nanotubes, Journal of Applied Physics 108 (2010) 054312. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3463405 (PDF)

M. Behar, C. D. Denton, R. C. Fadanelli, I. Abril, E. D. Cantero, R. Garcia-Molina, L. C. C. Nagamine, Experimental and theoretical determination of the stopping power of ZrO2 films for protons and α-particles, European Physical Journal D 59 (2010) 209. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2010-00164-x (PDF)

I. Kyriakou, C. Celedón, R. Segura, D. Emfietzoglou, P. Vargas, J. E. Valdés, I. Abril, C. D. Denton, K. Kostarelos, R. Garcia-Molina, Energy loss of protons in carbon nanotubes: Experiments and calculations, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 268 (2010) 1781. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2010.02.073 (PDF)

Isabel Abril, Cristian D Denton, Pablo de Vera, Ioanna Kyriakou, Dimitris Emfietzoglou, Rafael Garcia-Molina

Effect of the Bethe surface description on the electronic excitations induced by energetic proton beams in liquid water and DNA

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B 268, 1763 (2010).

Publisher's version