Materials - Nanosciences department

The projects carried out by this department of the Institute of Physics are focused on the control of the properties and the functions of a material at the ultra-small scale (nanometer).

Overview of the department

The department groups together 31 members. Their activities aim at enhancing the fundamental knowledge of condensed matter at the nanometer scale, and providing supports for the development of new materials or devices for electronics, photonics or information storage. The overall research activities of the department is organized around three research axes :

 

This research axis is interested in the non-conventional structural, dynamical and cooperative properties of complex molecular systems (aperiodic crystals, multicomponent fluids, liquid-crystals) induced by a highly anisotropy spatial restriction at the nanoscale. Unidirectional confinement is investigated in unimolecular channels of aperiodic guest-host architectures and composites nanomaterials obtained by impregnation of mesostructured porous solids.
 
Future electronics devices will be based on complex hybrid architectures integrating semiconducting, metallic, and molecular layers in a single stack. The activities of the surfaces and interfaces physics group are focused on the growth and characterization of such heterostructures. Specific efforts are devoted to the analysis of physical and chemical properties governing the surface and interfaces formation at the atomic scale. The correlations between these nanoscopic properties and the macroscopic behaviour of the final devices are finally investigated.
 
The members of ThEoS are theorists who interact with experimentalists and use quantum & classical methods for their research activities: Multiple diffusion and spectroscopy, electronic, transport, correlated systems, photo-induced phase transition, fluids at interfaces.

 

Tools and means

The department relies on cutting-edge experimental, theoretical and numerical skills, coupling large-scale facilities (neutron sources and synchrotron radiation), on-site experiments (growth, advanced characterization, nanotechnologies) and numerical approaches (molecular modelling and ab initio calculations).

Research output

Overview of the latest publications most representative of the 3 research axes of the Materials-Nanosciences Department:

 

Nanoconfined Matérials :

 

Surfaces and Interfaces :

 

ThEoS :

 

Full list of publications by author :

On this page or from the list of department staff

 

 

 

confinement dans des nanopores

Nanoconfined Materials

This research axis is interested in the non-conventional structural, dynamical and cooperative properties of complex molecular systems (aperiodic crystals, multicomponent fluids, liquid-crystals) induced by a highly anisotropy spatial restriction at the nanoscale.

microscope à effet tunnel

Surfaces and Interfaces

This research axis is interested in the growth and characterization of the electronic, optical and transport properties of heterostructures based on semiconductors, oxides, metallic and organic films.

contours of constant current (arbitrary units) at the 800th layer of Au as a function on the 2D Brillouin zone (blue hexagon)

ThEoS

The members of ThEoS are theorists who interact with experimentalists and use quantum & classical methods for their research activities: Multiple diffusion and spectroscopy, electronic transport, correlated systems, photo-induced phase transition, fluids at interfaces.