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2D materials and their van der Waals heterostructures have sparked a tremendous interest for their tunable electronic properties due to the electron spin, valley and layer degrees of freedom. New opportunities of control are emerging thanks to electromagnetic cavity resonators such as split-ring res

Several cell types communicate with each other through a signaling platform (called synapse) that allows passage of molecules and signals. In particular, B cells form an immune synapse with cells exposing antigens at their surface. Formation of the synapse is critical in order to mechanically extrac

The transport of solid particles by the shearing of a turbulent air flow over a bed of particles occurs in many geophysical processes, such as sand transport by wind, snow transport or dust emission. Particle transport involves a myriad of coupled physical mechanisms, including fluid-particle, parti

Nanotechnology expansion relies not only on the conception of operative nanosize modules and of their assembly, but also on the management of energy flows such as power source and harvesting of generated energy when those nano-systems are in-use. At the micro and macroscopic scales, the use of therm

Exchange statistics are related to the phase f accumulated by the wavefunction describing the state of an ensemble of undistinguishable particles when two particles are exchanged. In the three-dimensional world, particles are divided between bosons, which obey f=0 and tend to bunch together, and fer

The strategy to manage the extreme heat fluxes to the wall of magnetic fusion reactors relies on the dissipation of the plasma’s energy through interaction with the neutral gas present in the edge of the plasma due to plasma-surface interaction. The physics at play consists in a balance between plas

The concept of soliton gas has been introduced at the theoretical level in 1971 as an infinite collection of weakly interacting solitons. In the theoretical construction of a diluted soliton gas, solitons of random amplitudes and velocities are distributed in a non-overlapping way over random positi

The research field of ultracold (T

The research on two dimensional (2D) materials is experiencing, nowadays, an extraordinary rise. Two are the main objectives that drives this scientific field: the fabrication and characterization of novel 2D materials and the vertical stacking of different 2D crystals (van der Walls heterostructure

The ShoTime project aims at producing bright and reliable sources of tunable ultrashort Vacuum- and Deep-UV pulses (120-350 nm, sub-10 fs) at 166 kHz repetition rate, and at using them in combination with sub-10 fs visible or XUV pulses to probe ultrafast molecular dynamics by coincidence electron-i

Hybrid lead halide perovskites are materials that currently attract widespread interest for their application in optoelectronic devices. Their quasi two-dimensional equivalents have shown higher stability than the 3D compounds and offer the possibility to tune the out-of-plane screening properties.

Inspired by the ability of influenza viruses to self-roll on surfaces, we propose a to create artificial photoactive rod particles and investigate their propulsion as rotary motors close to hard and soft interfaces. Self-propulsion results from the interaction between the rod and a light/chemical fi

Systems comprising large numbers of molecular motors and filaments from the cytoskeleton of biological cells show emergent active behaviors that are not present at the level of individual molecules. These behaviors emphasize the general principle of self-assembly: “more is different”. The ActoMyoBea

The electronic properties of materials are intimately linked to their chemical composition and crystallographic structure. Understanding the close link between them is thus of prime importance, especially in systems displaying interesting phases both at the fundamental and applied levels. Quantum ma

Superconductivity in transition metal dichalcogenides such as NbSe2 persists down to monolayer thickness. These 2D superconductors have a strong Ising spin-orbit coupling, which can lead to unconventional superconductivity with triplet pairing instead of the singlet pairing commonly observed. This c

The TEMMEX PRCI proposes a coherent and balanced network of three French and two Russian laboratories with internationally recognized expertise in complimentary domains of molecular spectroscopy. It aims at in depth investigations of the electronic structures, radiative properties and high-resolutio

Understanding sediment transport in rivers, lakes and along the ocean floor is key to sustainable management of open water bodies and aquatic ecosystems. Prominent processes are river morphodynamics, turbidity currents, and tsunamis running up a beach. Predicting and managing these processes require

Cold nuclear spin systems (NSS) exhibit a rich phase diagram spanning over positive and negative temperatures and including various magnetic phases. In semiconductors, NSS offers a possibility to address the thermodynamics on magnetic dipolar lattices below 1µK. However, cooling to such low tempera

Spectroscopy is an extremely powerful tool that is used in many fundamental and applied fields. Among the different spectral domains and despite the advances of recent years, the TeraHertz domain (THz) is much less mature than millimeter waves, infrared or ultraviolet. It is sometimes known as the "

The aim of the GBAR collaboration at CERN is to measure the acceleration in the Earth's gravitational field of a free-falling anti-hydrogen atom H¯. To do this, a H¯? ion must be cooled to less than 10 µK and then photodetached, releasing a H¯ atom with a low initial velocity, the fall of which will

The experimental and theoretical project CoProMM deals with the control of the propagation of water waves with floating or anchored microstructured media. It revolves around two particular aspects of surface waves : 1) floating or anchored microstructured media for swell ; 2) the effect of attenuati

The objective of the project is a detailed study of the photoinduced isomerization of ruthenium nitrosyl complexes in the solid state in order to understand the underlying mechanism, explore the potential energy surface and identify all metastable states and their properties, and establish the princ

Flow transport in complex networks is abundant in biology and engineering, from the vasculature of animals, to the hyphal networks of fungi, to the random porous media making up batteries. It has long been thought that biological network morphologies were optimised to minimise the energetic cost ass

FAUST investigates new mechanisms encountered in molecular ions following an extreme ultraviolet (XUV) excitation. XUV ultrafast molecular science addresses the question of how electron correlation and non-born Oppenheimer processes determine photoinduced dynamics on atomic scale. While first studie

Understanding the nucleation of crystals is of profound importance both for fundamental and technological reasons. In the simplest material known to self—assemble to form a crystal, hard spheres, state-of-the-art predictions and experimental measurements of nucleation rates differ by over ten orders

The Ti-P project proposes to study the unique non-reciprocal plasmonic dispersion generated by the topological properties of the electronic band structure of Dirac Materials and of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide in particular. The Berry curvature is a topological property of the electroni

Superconductivity is a fascinating quantum state of condensed matter. Its study and understanding have always aroused immense interest in fundamental physics, but also in materials science and its exploitation leads to numerous technological applications: lossless current transport, energy storage,

The ATTOCom project aims at understanding and controlling the attosecond emission from band gap semiconductors. Amplitude and spectral phase characterization would open key issues in controlling quantum systems on attosecond time scales. This plays a fundamental role in the future development of pet

Spin fluctuations are believed to play a crucial role in the pairing mechanisms of unconventional superconductors, and collective spin modes were central to the identification of the equal-spin pairing state of the superfluid 3He-A via nuclear magnetic resonance. Yet collective spin modes have never

The SOCQS project aims at investigating a new class of materials displaying unconventional magnetism, called Kitaev physics. Kitaev materials are predicted to harbour a new exotic state of matter, known as quantum spin liquid, along with fractional excitations appealing for quantum computation appli

Strongly correlated fermions are ubiquitous in various contexts: electrons in solids or molecules, nucleons in nuclei or neutron stars, quarks in QCD. Our understanding of such systems is limited by the difficulty to compute their properties in a reliable and unbiased way. For conventional quantum M

The liquid-liquid transition (LLT) is a rare and intriguing phenomenon is which a single-component liquid transforms into another one via a first-order transition. Owing to its counterintuitive nature, the LLT has intrigued scientists for several years and challenged our perception of the liquid sta

The dynamics of long flexible fibres in a turbulent flow involves multiple space and time scales and is the result of a complex interplay between their displacement, their deformation, and their interactions. Macroscopic fibres are present in several applications, such as the study of marine polluti

How do tissues and organs grow to reach well-defined shapes? For instance, thin tissues, such as animal epithelia and plant leaves, are typically flat, whereas the default state of a growing thin sheet is curved. How is flat shape achieved? Here we address this question in Arabidopsis leaves, a syst

Recently developed laser-driven sources based on High order Harmonic Generation (HHG) in gases deliver photon pulses with durations in the femtosecond (fs) to attosecond (as) range, carrying a spin or an orbital angular momentum (SAM & OAM). The former is associated with a circular polarization of t

The aim of the SETBEn project is to develop original approaches on well identified questions, at the boundary between non-linear physics and non-equilibrium statistical physics (or “stochastic thermodynamics”). The specificity of the approach we have developed since a decade or so, is to evidence at

Solid bodies at different temperatures and separated by a gap exchange heat in the form of thermal photons. Up to now only the radiative exchanges between two objects had been considered. The goal of the present project is to explore the physics of radiative exchanges in near-field regime between se

The structure-property relation is a fundamental theme in condensed matter. In 2D materials this relation takes on an exceptional aspect since a structure as simple as a rotated bilayer can be associated with a remarkable electronic structure with flat bands, strong electronic correlations, and supe

In many biological phenomena such as biolubrication, stacks of lipid membranes play a major role for reducing friction. The understanding of the microscopic mechanisms involved remains very phenomenological, mainly due to large structural complexity of these systems, and the difficulty of describing

Active matter, a term coined by physicists to describe a large number of agents consuming energy to move or exert mechanical forces, has become a major field of research in biological physics. A colony of motile bacteria is a good example of growing active matter: each cell can grow and divide, and

Obtaining a precise quantitative measurement of viscoelastic properties of cells and their microenvironment is of major interest for fundamental biology, medical diagnosis, and physics of wave propagation. Nonetheless, there is no imaging technique available to perform such measurements at the cellu

Quantum materials have attracted a lot of attention in the past decade due to recent discoveries of condensed matter systems where several phases coexist or are in competition. Probing these quantum phases and controlling their properties using light excitation stand as exciting challenges in conden

Parametric instability (PI) is an opto-mechanical phenomenon that affects the stability of Fabry-Pérot cavities and thus it can drastically limit the performances of gravitational wave detectors of second and third generation. The vibrations of the mirrors are amplified by the action of high order o

We propose a new route to realize correlated quantum Hall states and probe directly their spatial distribution with single atom resolution. Our strategy is to set ultracold gases in rotation, which allows to mimic the effect of the Lorentz force on electrons despite the electrical neutrality of atom

The goal of the project is to calculate analytically the statistics of encounter times between random walkers in complex environments. The first passage time (FPT), defined as the first time for two random walkers to meet « by chance », is a key property of random walk theory, notably in the context

The research objective of this proposal is to rationalize the mechanics of assemblies of passive flexible frictional fibers and to prototype functional fibrous materials that deploy and react to an external stimulus. Passive fibers like pine needles are known to create aggregate that can be shaped i

Energetic particles are ubiquitous in magnetically confined fusion plasmas. They contain a significant fraction of the plasma energy and are thus vital for the performance of fusion devices such as ITER. However, the presence of energetic particles and the fact that fusion plasmas are complex system

A key scientific question in the public debate about global warming is the existence of "tipping points", i.e. bifurcations in the dynamics of the climate sytem, potentially leading to abrupt climate change, such as those recorded in paleoclimate proxies. While the atmosphere is a natural candidate

This project aims at understanding the physics of the thinning and breakup of a liquid stream highly loaded with solid particles. Using model concentrated suspensions, it will built on experiments that will (1) go from quasi-statics to slow viscous dynamics, (2) monitor both stresses and deformation

The massive use of inkjet printing and the recent democratization of 3D printers have led to a large number of studies on the dynamics of liquid impinging a substrate surface. Unlike the impact of a drop on a solid substrate, which is now well documented both theoretically and experimentally, an imp

Femtosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy is considered by many international groups as a major scientific objective because it provides crucial information on the dynamics of both electronic and atomic structures. However, there is still no source to perform routine experiments. This could change b

This project is built on the concept of a novel type of quantum dots: crystal-phase quantum dots (CPQDs), which consist of heterostructures made with a single material but having different crystal phases. Compared to conventional quantum dots, formed using different materials, CPQDs have a unique ad

The SynPAHcool project aims to study the relaxation dynamics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) of astrophysical interest following the absorption of a VUV photon and in extreme isolation conditions similar to those of the interstellar medium (ISM). More specifically, we want to focus on the

Using atomic scale current noise measurements, we will unambiguously establish the presence or absence of Majorana bound states (MBS) that have been suggested to exist on individual Fe impurities, vortex cores and 1D crystalline defects in the iron based superconductor Fe(Se,Te). Unlike other non-in

EDMs, i.e. electric dipole moments of electrons, neutrons or nuclei are sensitive probes for new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. In the present project, we propose to measure the EDM of those systems embedded in a cryogenic solid matrix of inert gas or hydrogen. Matrices offer

Liquid boiling is an out-of-equilibrium phase change phenomenon which is at the center of the technology of heat exchangers. Two types of boliling phenomena can happen: nucleate boiling occurs when a liquid is heated just above its normal boiling point (100 degrees Celsius for water) and explosive b

Materials science has moved from the observation to the control of the properties offered by complex systems. Along this line, mastering electronic correlations remains one of the great challenge in solid-state physics. A robust testbed for studying such phenomena are the molecular correlated materi

The ambition of the StormWave project is to develop a novel experimental platform for the observation and manipulation of nonlinear light waves propagating in optical fiber with unprecedented precision and great flexibility. Generaly speaking, mastering the complex spatio-temporal dynamics of optica

The STLight project focuses on the experimental study of photonic fluids in disordered environments. Superfluidity, the ability of a fluid to move without friction along a pipe or past an obstacle, is one of the most spectacular features of quantum fluids. In nonlinear optics, it manifests as light

Granular and colloidal suspensions share some similarities, as they are both made of an ensemble of individual particles (grains or colloids) dispersed into a liquid. However, granular suspensions are always considered in the athermal regime, where the thermal agitation has no influence at all, wher

The HYDRAE project will explore the almost entirely unknown physical properties of neutral aromatic radicals, both in the isolated gas phase and in aggregates with solvent molecules. Dehydrogenated/ hydrogenated radicals intervene in all concerted Proton Coupled Electron Transfer (PCET) processes, w

This project aims at studying, observing and harnessing extreme wave events using continuous wave excitations in non-linear flexible elastic metamaterials. While the propagation of soliton-type impulses has been successfully studied in recent years within the so-called rotating square architectures,

The properties of wave propagation in moving media differ from those in non-moving media. The rotation of an isotropic dielectric medium is for instance known to lead to polarisation rotation, which corresponds to a phase shift between the spin angular momentum (SAM) components of the wave, and imag

Membraneless organelles are dynamical cellular structures formed through liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of proteins and nucleic acids. These ‘droplets’ are currently recognized to play a major role in organizing the cellular environment and LLPS has become a paradigm in cellular biology. Desp

Soap films are of great interest, whether as nanometer-thick membranes or as foam building blocks. It is therefore essential to understand their stability. The formulation of soapy solutions is essential to adjust this stability by modifying the thermodynamic and rheologic properties of the liquid/a

Levitated nanomechanical oscillator presents some advantages with respect to its clamped optomechanical counterparts, as e.g. its ability during free-fall and coherent evolution to expand its wavefunction up to overlap the particle’s size. Wave-matter interference are expected to test the fundations