Set up in 2013, the Sum-frequency Generation Laser Spectroscopy Laboratory (SFG – VISpLab) is part of the University of Trieste's Department of Physics, and is located at the Italian National Research Council’s (CNR) Materials Foundry Institute (IOM) based at the Basovizza campus of Area Science Park. 

Today, the SFG - VISpLab was presented as one of the UniTS facilities to have strengthened its activities over time, becoming a leading facility on the local and international scientific scene.

‘The Laboratory innovatively exploits non-linear optical spectroscopy with laser sources to investigate the fundamental properties of condensed matter surfaces at the atomic level, where very relevant physical and chemical phenomena take place,' explains Erik Vesselli, head of the laboratory and associate professor in experimental condensed matter physics at UnITS. ’Our aim is to synthesise and characterise materials that mimic complex molecules present in nature, like enzymes, for example. 

Biomimetic materials (i.e., materials that mimic nature) are of fundamental importance because they can be used in strategic applications such as the synthesis of energy carriers, the photovoltaic industry, energy storage systems, electronics and spintronics.
To further develop the laboratory, the team has recently commissioned an electrospray molecular source, which allows new two-dimensional materials to be assembled, artificially replicating in a crystal the characteristics of biochemical systems, which can then be adjusted and controlled for practical use.
‘Using this innovative approach, we have recently succeeded in creating a material based on graphene, which mimics in two dimensions the properties of vitamin B12. B12 is a biomolecule that is unique for its particular functionality,’ continues Prof. Vesselli. ‘This is a significant achievement for the international scientific community, with interesting applicative potential.’

The laboratory does not work as a standalone, being as part of the scientific collaboration network of the Trieste System both at national and international levels. 
Initially set up thanks to MUR funding and partially with the contribution of local and foreign foundations, SFG - VISpLAB has grown over time thanks to scientific projects and with recent funding by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region in the context of an intense scientific collaboration with CNR - IOM in the immediate vicinity of Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste.