© Olivier Got

The Material and light sciences department is multidisciplinary, boasting every asset required to produce new knowledge and develop and disseminate innovative applications and technologies.

In addition to its far-reaching experimental work based on the expertise of the department's components, the research themes are all linked by strong transversal work in digital modeling, theory and simulation.

Management / leadership 

Director: Jean-Baptiste Verlhac

Deputy director: Jérôme Cayssol

Activities

This department is structured around five equally-weighted themes.

• Molecules and macromolecules
  • Molecular, supramolecular and macromolecular chemistry and engineering
  • Complex adaptive and dynamic molecular and macromolecular systems
  • Methodology and organic synthesis, catalysis, interface chemistry
  • Biomimicry, biocatalysis and green chemistry
  • Analytical chemistry
• Condensed matter and soft matter
  • Electronic, magnetic, mechanical and transport properties: superconductors, semiconductors, electronic and ionic conductors
  • Nanostructures, new states of matter, phase transitions
  • Inorganic, hybrid and composite compounds
  • Colloids, polymers, active matter, suspensions, emulsions, liquid crystals, biological objects, surfaces and interfaces
  • Micro and nanofluidics
• Advanced materials
  • Exploratory solid state chemistry
  • Design and formulation of materials, processes, nanostructures, additive manufacturing
  • Material characterization
  • Structure-property-development relationship
  • Life cycle of materials and substitute materials
• Nuclei, molecules, radiation and universe
  • Nuclear and particle physics
  • Production, characterization and use of ionizing radiation
  • Astrophysics
  • Astrochemistry
  • Large instruments and mega data for sub-atomic physics and exploration of the Universe
• Photonics
  • Light generation and manipulation: laser systems and secondary sources, non-linear optics, plasmonics, optofluidics
  • Light and interactions in extreme regimes: ultra-fast dynamics in matter, attoscience. Plasmas, particle acceleration, fusion. Nanooptics and quantum systems.
  • Spectroscopy-Imaging: multi-dimensional and multi-scale spectroscopy, biophotonics, photochemistry, optics and digital imaging

Several major programs are associated with this department:

Laboratories of Excellence

• AMADEus - Advanced Materials by Design
• COTE - Continental to Coastal Ecosystems
• LAPHIA Cluster - Laser & Photonics
• Store-Ex - Energy storage (national) 

Equipments of Excellence

• ElorPrinTec - Printed Organic Electronics
• Xyloforest - Forest Cultivation: Timber Products & Materials
• PETAL+ - Plasma Diagnostics for the PETAL laser in the LMJ
• REMIFEVE+ - Metrological Fiber Network with European Vocation
• MIGA: Matter Wave – Laser Interferometry Gravitation Antenna
• ThomX - Compact X-ray Source (national)

Graduate research program

• Light Sciences & Technologies

Component structures of the department

This department is composed of 11 research units.

• Center of Intense Lasers and Applications (CELIA - UMR 5107 CNRS - CEA)
• Center of Nuclear Studies of Bordeaux Gradignan (CENBG - UMR 5797 CNRS)
• Paul Pascal Center of Research (CRPP - UMR 5031 - CNRS)
• Institute for Solid State Chemistry Bordeauxy (ICMCB - UMR 5026 - CNRS)
• Institute of Molecular Sciences (ISM - UMR 5255 - CNRS - IPB)
• Astrophysics Laboratory of Bordeaux (LAB - UMR 5804 - CNRS)
• Laboratory of Organic Polymer Chemistry (LCPO - UMR 5629 - CNRS - IPB)
• Laboratory of Thermo-structural Composites (LCTS - UMR CNRS - CEA - joint with Herakles industries)
• Laboratory of the Future (LOF - UMR 5258 CNRS - joint with Solvay)
• Wave and Material Laboratory of Aquitaine (LOMA - UMR 5798 - CNRS)
• Photonics, numerical and Nanosciences Laboratory (LP2N - UMR 5298 - IOGS - CNRS)

Governance

Component council

The Component council is composed of 30 members, including 16 lecturer-researchers or equivalent, 8 support staff, 4 doctoral and post-doctoral students and 2 external members.

Directors’ council

The Director's council is made up of the 11 unit directors and the director and deputy director of the department.

Scientific council

This scientific council is composed of 5 members who are appointed by the director after consulting the department council.

Other components

Lasers and Plasmas Federation (F2M, FR 2707 – CNRS)
Soft Matter Federation (F2M – FR 4275)

Platforms 

• Aquitaine Platform for Materials Characterization (Placamat - UMS - CNRS)
• Cesamo
• Elorprintec
• Xyloforest

Doctoral schools

• Doctoral School for Mathematics and computer science
• Doctoral School for Sciences and environments
• Doctoral School for Chemical sciences
• Doctoral School for Physics and engineering
• Doctoral School for Health and life sciences

Partnerships

• CEA
• Bordeaux INP
• Solvay
• Safran