An ERC Synergy grant for the lab

Thomas Ebbesen and Cyriaque Genet are the laureates of a prestigious ERC Synergy grant with three other teams at the University of Tel Aviv, the University of Pennsylvania and the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg. The project is focused on polaritonic chemistry, a field that was imagined and developed in the lab during the past 15 years. In polaritonic chemistry, the interaction between molecules and electromagnetic fluctuations are enhanced in optical cavities, in the dark, which can radically modify the properties of matter such as chemical reactivity. Together, the four teams aim to understand during the next 6 years the underlying chemical physics in order to make polaritonic chemistry a predictive tool for the molecular sciences. This new approach to control the properties of matter has generated considerable interest around the world as it raises not only fundamental questions but it also opens up unsuspected technological potential.

Illustration of light-molecule coupling in an optical cavity – Source : Chemical Reviews

(RI)² for polaritonic chemistry

In the last edition of CNRS Le journal, one can read an article describing the new funding program of CNRS, called (RI)² (Recherche à risque et à impact). This program aims to detect and support fundamental and innovative scientific projects potentially capable of causing major technological advances in the next decades. Polaritonic chemistry and polaritonic materials has been elected as one of them and the project will be carried out by our group for the experimental part and the one of Pr Cristiano Ciuti for the theoretical support.

Source : CNRS Le journal

 

 

 

Welcome Kaina !

Autumn is the season of falling leaves but also of postdoctoral researchers arrivals and we welcomed this week Kaina Gonçalves Diniz, from Brazil. Kaina came in the context of the CAPES-COFECUB exchange program and will stay about one year in the lab. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where he also completed his Master and PhD. He is primarily an experimental physicist, with a research focus on optical tweezers and their applications. He is also interested in chiral nanoparticles and has explored how these particles can be studied in the context of optical trapping. Welcome Kaina !

Welcome John !

Since last week, we have the pleasure to welcome a new postdoctoral researcher, John Ricca. John is the first north american postdoc in the lab and was born in Florida. He received his phD in chemistry from Florida Atlantic University in 2024 , where he carried out research in environmental analytical chemistry, biochemistry and physical chemistry.

Welcome to him !

Visit and seminar of Dr Dago

Dr. Salambô Dago (Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ) University of Vienna) will visit our lab from today till Friday. Tomorrow, Thursday September 12th at 14:00 am, she will give a seminar at the Centre Européen de Sciences Quantiques (CESQ) on the Cronenbourg campus, entitled :

Two applications of feedback control on a nano and micro-system: Thermodynamic of Information & Optical Levitation in the Dark

A summary of the talk can be downloaded here. Do not hesitate to contact Cyriaque Genet if you would like to meet Dr. Dago during her visit

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Bye bye Luis !

Luis Pires, who spent three years and a half among us, as a phD student and then as a postdoctoral researcher, left the lab mid-July to go back to Brazil. He got a position of assistant professor in the Physics Department at the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV).

Congratulations Luis and all the best for your future !

New doctors

The annual and official ceremony of Strasbourg University for the phD graduation took place on friday 21st of June in the Palais Universitaire. Our freshly graduated students, who all defended during fall 2023,  participated and we congratulate them again for this accomplishment !

From left to right : Dr Bianca Patrahau, Dr² Luis Pires and Dr Shahana Nizar Shyla

Photo : Anjali Jayachandran

 

 

Lab hiking

Last friday we took the time to have a lab outing. Weather was a bit uncertain but we did a nice 15 km walk around the Mont Saint-Odile, with some highlights like an unexpected detailed explanation about Ottrott’s castles, a picnic under the rain, a short visit of Hohenbourg abbey and a miraculous water tasting…. Congratulations to all the hikers !

Poster Prize for Anjali !

Following the poster session of symposium Polaritonics for next generation materials, in the context of EMRS2024 conference, Anjali got the first prize for her poster Role of Symmetry in Charge Transfer Complexation under Vibrational Strong Coupling

Congratulations to her and to the recipient of the 2nd prize Niklas Hermann !

Photo Jino George : Anjali and Niklas surrounded by the organizers of the symposium from left to right : Kei Murakoshi, Anoop Thomas, Tal Schwartz and Michael Ruggenthaler.