Acronyme du projet/ Acronym of the project

4.1.3.1Recherche et innovation / Research and innovation

The Laboratory for Photonics and Nanostructures (LPN) (47 permanent research staff, 38 technical staff) is a fully-owned unit of the CNRS (UPR 20). LPN carries out its research activities within the general context of nanosciences, at the cross-roads of quantum optics and electronics, of physics, chemistry and biology, of materials science and device physics. LPN develops the new technologies and the concepts that will initiate innovation both in basic and in applied science.

LPN's research, based on 8 distinct groups, is organized under six major themes: (i) Quantum and Nonlinear Optics; (ii) Heterostructure Physics and Growth; (iii) Micro-Electronics and Photonics Devices; (iv) Nanostructure, Electron Gas and Spin Electronics; (v) Microfluidics and Nanostructures for Chemistry and Biology; (vi) Semiconductor and Nanostructure Processing and Analysis

The research strategy of LPN is also guided by its strong involvement in the activity of the overall scientific community. Its numerous national and international collaborative projects, its participation in several national and European networks, and its contribution to RENATECH (the French Network of 6 large scale academic clean room facilities) underscore its strong implication at a high scientific level (ref RTB: http://www.rtb.cnrs.fr/accueil.php3?lang=eng)

LPN will join the new NanoSciences Research Center called NanoINNOV-C2N. In a few years, that center will gather in a single location ca. 40% of the scientists of the NanoSaclay LabEx.

All of the 8 groups are currently joining the NanoSaclay LabEx:

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  Photonic components for Telecom Applications (PHOTEL; Head A. Ramdane) which activity is focused on optoelectronic and photonic devices for applications in optical communications, such as sources for high bit-rate networks, or devices for all-optical signal processing
  
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  Physics and Technology of Nanostructures (PhyNano; Head U. Gennser) which aims at understanding and exploiting transport properties associated with the reduction of dimensions in nano-scale semiconductor, metallic and magnetic structures
  
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  Microfluidics and Nanostructures for chemistry and biology (NanoFlu; Head. A-M Aghiri-Gosnet) which tends to promote nanofabrication in chemistry and biology. Using innovating technologies, devices able to manipulate complex fluids are realized and evaluated as integrated tools for analytical chemistry and life sciences
  
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  Group of Optics of Semiconductor nanoStructures (GOSS; Head P. Voisin) develops mainly fundamental research activities aiming at the understanding, the prediction, and the exploitation of the optical and electro-optical properties of semiconductor nanostructures and of new semiconductor materials
  

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  Nonlinear Photonics and Quantum Information (PHOTONIQ; Head A. Levenson) which activity is focused on nonlinear optics at the nanoscale, time-resolved and nonlinear dynamical interactions on III-V semiconductor, hybride III-V on Si, and SiN photonic crystals and waveguides arrays and ion doped solids.
  
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  Photonics and Quantum Electronics (PEQ; Head R. Kuszelewicz) which aim at studying, optical and hybrid nonlinear and quantum effects occurring at dimensions of the order of or much smaller than the wavelength. They take advantage of low dimensionality semiconductor materials in the design, realization and study of photonic devices.
  
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  Elaboration and Physics of Epitaxial Structures (ELPHYSE; Head F. Glas) whose main and common concern is the understanding, mastering and application of the growth of nanostructures of III-V materials.
  
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  Device Physics (PhyDis; head J.L. Pelouard) aims at developing new fundamental plasmonic concepts for applications in two domains: infrared detectors and imaging and solar photovoltaics.
  

LPN/Nano counts 48 scientists (including 1 Pr +3 assistant Pr), 14 research engineers, 14 PhD students and 13 postdoctoral fellows.

Evaluation: The last evaluation of LPN was conducted in 2007 by CNRS. The next one is scheduled in 2011 by AERES. The reports of the 2007 evaluations were very good (see examples below), and the scientific production (as evidenced by the bibliometry figures) are very such that the quotation should be at least A.

Excerpt of the GOSS report: « the visibility and productivity of LPN-GOSS are very high, both by the number and impact of publications, the number of invited papers and the participation to international projects »

Excerpt of the PHYNANO report: « Le groupe PHYNANO [...] joue un rôle reconnu d’expert dans le domaine de la nono-fabrication [sic] pour la communauté nationale de la matière condensée. De par son expertise et son réseau de collaborations il a des contributions scientifiques de premier plan, et de ce fait il jouit d’une grande réputation au niveau international. [...] En conclusion le groupe PHYNANO est l’un des groupes phares du LPN conjuguant une réflexion de base sur les processus de physique quantique et les moyens de les mettre en évidence par la réalisation de nano-dispositifs utilisant l’état de l’art dans le domaine des réalisations nano-technologiques. Cette activité doit continuer à être fortement soutenue dans le futur. »

Excerpt of the PHOTONIQ report: « Tandis que le cœur de l’activité scientifique du groupe est resté inchangée dans le domaine de l’optique non linéaire et de l’optique quantique, le groupe a développé sur la dernière période trois directions de recherche entièrement nouvelles se positionnant sur le long terme et ayant la possibilité potentielle de larges applications. Cet effort a été couronné de succès de façon générale : dans chacune de ces lignes de recherche le groupe a obtenus des résultats à l’état de l’art dont certains peuvent être considérés comme des percées. C’est une réussite parfaitement maitrisée. »

Excerpt of the PEQ report: « Ce groupe couvre un large domaine allant de la modélisation de boîtes quantiques à l’exploitation des propriétés non linéaires en cavité pour réaliser des solitons de cavité. [...] Enfin, on doit remarquer les travaux menés sur l’émission et le contrôle de rayonnement THz à partir de structures QCL. Les propositions de contrôle de l’émission spontanée de telles sources méritent un intérêt. [...]En définitive, les activités menées dans le groupe PEQ sont à la hauteur des objectifs scientifiques attendus et les projets sont en cohérence avec les attentes. On observe que le groupe de recherche est impliqué dans un grand nombre de projets nationaux et européens, ce qui revient à reconnaître la qualité des travaux menés. »

Excerpt of the Phydis report: « Les travaux en plasmonique et nanophotonique ont conduit à une production scientifique satisfaisante et à des résultats à l’état de l’art. Les actions sur les guides plasmoniques nanostructurés ainsi que l’émission de rayonnement cohérent pour des plasmons de surface doivent être poursuivis. »

High profile scientists:
OUDAR, Jean-Louis (H = 29, >5280 citations); CNRS; DR1

Other assessment points: more than 200 citations/year since 1990;
PIERRE, Frédéric (H = 14, >640 citations); CNRS; CR1

Distinctions: CNRS Bronze Medal (2008);

Major publications (IF>7): 1 Nature Phys, 4 PRL

Other assessment points: ERC Starting Grant "NanoSpec" (2009)

MAILLY, Dominique (H = 32, >4680 citations); CNRS DR1, deputy director LPN

Distinctions: CNRS Silver Medal (2002)

Major publications (IF>7): 1 Nature Phys, 11 PRL

Other assessment points: member of the Scientific Council of the former "Mathematics, Physics, Planet and Universe" Department at CNRS; member of National Committee of CNRS
FAINI, Giancarlo (H = 24, >2400 citations); CNRS DR1

Major publications (IF>7): 1 Nature Physics, 8 PRL

Other assessment points: Deputy Director of the Physics Institute (INP) at CNRS
ETIENNE, Bernard (H = 30, >3575 citations); CNRS DR1

Distinctions: CNRS Bronze Medal (1982) and Silver Medal (1991); Dargelos Prize (1999)

Major publications (IF>7): 2 Science; 3 PRL
WANG, Zhao-Zhong (H = 29, >3140 citations); CNRS DR2

Major publications (IF>7): 3 PRL
HAGHIRI-GOSNET, Anne-Marie (H = 11, >580 citations); CNRS DR2; Head of NANOFLU

Distinctions: Blondel Medal from SEE (2005); Prize from the Nanotechnology Club (2001)

Major publications (IF>7): 1 topical review at J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. (>17 citations/year)
VOISIN, Paul (H = 30, >3400 citations); CNRS DR1; Head of GOSS research group

Distinctions: IBM Physics award (1991), nominated for CNRS Silver Medal 1998

Major publications (IF>7): 1 Nature, 20 PRL
MARZIN, Jean-Yves (H = 25, >3500 citations); CNRS DR1; Director of LPN

Distinctions: Ancel Award from the French Physical Society (1990), French "Palmes Académiques" (2006)

Major publications (IF>7): 2 PRL
BLOCH, Jacqueline (H = 21, >1800 citations); CNRS DR2

Major publications (IF>7): 1 Science, 4 Nature, 2 Nature Phys., 8 PRL

Other assessment points: member of the Physical Review Letters Editorial board as Divisional Assistant Editor

KREBS, Olivier (H = 15, >1000 citations); CNRS CR1 (40 years old)

Distinctions: Saint-Gobain Young Researcher Award 1998

Major publications (IF>7): 1 Nature, 8 PRL
SENELLART, Pascale (H = 14, >800 citations); CNRS CR1 (38 Years old)

Distinctions: Nominated for the Jerphagnon Award 2008

Major publications (IF>7): 1 Nature, 1 Nature Phys., 6 PRL
AMO, Alberto (H = 6, ~200 citations); CNRS CR2 (31 Years old)

Distinctions: IUPAP Young Author Best Paper Award at International conference on the physics of semiconductors (2008); Extraordinary Thesis award, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (2008)

Major publications (IF>7): 1 Nature, 1 Nature Phys., 1 Nature Photon.; 3 PRL
LEVENSON, Ariel (H = 19, >1280 citations); CNRS DR2; Head of PHOTONIQ

Major publications (IF>7): 1 Nature, 8 PRL & 2 Patents

Other assessment points: Head of the CNRS "Programme de Recherche Interdisciplinaire" of CNRS, CEA and MESR, C’Nano (since 2010), Past Director of the competence centre C’Nano IdF (2005-2009)
GLAS, Frank (H=23, > 1800 citations); CNRS, DR2

Major publications (IF>7): In 2006-2010: 3 PRL, 1 Nano Lett.

Other assessment points: In charge of the International Associated Laboratory "Nanostructures of Compound Semiconductors" (ILNACS, 2010-2013) between CNRS and the Russian Academy of Sciences
HARMAND, Jean-Christophe (H=26, > 2000 citations); CNRS, DR2

Major publications (IF>7): In 2006-2010: 2 PRL, 3 Nano Lett., 1 Nature Materials

Other assessment points: Director of Groupement de Recherche (GdR) "Nanofils, nanotubes semiconducteurs"
PATRIARCHE Gilles (H=26,>2500 citations); CNRS, DR2

Major publications (IF>7): In 2006-2010: 2 PRL, 4 Nano Lett.
SAGNES Isabelle (H=21,> 2000 citations); CNRS, DR2

Major publications (IF>7): In 2006-2010: 7 PRL, 1 Nature
LEMAITRE, Aristide (H=26,> 2500 citations); CNRS, CR1

Major publications (IF>7): In 2006-2010: 18 PRL, 3 Nature, 2 Nature Physics
Research activities: LPN/Nano issued 363 publications in reviewed journals between 2006 and 2010, together with 36 patents. Among those publications: 3 Science, 4 Nature, 1 Nature Phys., 1 Nature Photon., 16 PRL. (see 7.2 for details)

27 PhD theses have been obtained within the same period. Among them, 16 new doctors already hold a permanent position and 11 hold a temporary position. 2 HdR were obtained during that period at LPN/Nano.

Scientists from LPN/Nano gave more than 120 invited conferences at national and international congress, including keynote lectures. (A partial list is given in 7.2)

LPN/Nano teams maintain numerous collaborations (20 current collaborations within the Campus Paris-Saclay, many of them members of the NanoSaclay LabEx, ca. 30 collaborations with research French labs and more than 15 international active collaborations)
Equipments: LPN/Nano is a multidisciplinary lab which activity is strongly related with the LPN Technological Facility Center (LPN-TFC) which gathers 700m² clean room for the process and 300m² for the growth. The LPN Technology Facility Center belongs, together with five other facilities located in IEMN, LAAS, FEMTO, CEA-LETI associated to FMNT and IEF, to the national BTR network, the Basic Technology Research network initiated in 2004. This network supports all major public technological research centers. Hence, LPN/Nano teams have easy access to all the equipments at LPN-TFC, which are either freely operated by any user after a qualifying training, or under restricted access. In addition to the standard clean room equipment LPN-TFC own two E-beam lithography systems, and a home-made Nano Focused Ion Beam (Gallium, Gold, Ionic Liquids….). LPN-TFC is operated by a technical staff of 6 Research Engineers and 6 assistant engineers or technicians. For the experiments and the characterization:

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  All necessary optical equipment to assess high bit rate optical devices including very fast lasers and in-line all-optical signal processing components. This includes the 160 Gbit/s DESCARTES platform for device functionality investigation.
  
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  Low temperature –UHV-STM/STS, Dilution fridge with 8 T magnet, Dilution fridge with 3D magnet, 1.5K cryostat with 14 T magnet, I-V and noise characterization
  
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  Microfluidics experimental set-ups with inverted microscopes and fast cameras.
  
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  In-situ lithography setup for deterministic insertion of a localized emitter in a component; 3 µPL set-ups, photon correlation set-up, time resolved spectroscopy set-up, magneto-spectroscopy set-up with in-situ microscope, single dot resonant spectroscopy set-up, general purpose macro PL/PLE set-up, guided wave optics set-up. Most setups are equipped with polarization analysis.
  
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  TEM/STEM JEOL 2200 FS with Cs probe corrector, EELS omega filter and X ray spectrometer
  
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  2 Multi configuration X ray diffractometers, including one with rotating anode
  
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  4 Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) setups; 1 Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE) setup
  

Besides, LPN/Nano is partner within two EquipEx projects: STRAS (see partner ISMO/MN) and HIDONA (see partner IRAMIS@Saclay) LPN/Nano is also contributing to the IRT SystemX: Contribution to the TELECOM axis through the investigation of novel photonic devices to address e.g. novel modulation formats, in collaboration with III-V lab and INSTITUT TELECOM.