The Strasbourg Institute of Material Physics and Chemistry (IPCMS—french: Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg) is a joint research unit between the

French National Center for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

(CNRS) and the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

. It was founded in 1987 and is located in the district of Cronenbourg in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

History

The IPCMS was born from a reflection initiated in the early eighties on the need to refocus and coordinate research in the

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

condensed matter Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases which arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms. More generally, the su ...

and

materials Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geologic ...

. In the context of the then emerging Materials Center in Strasbourg, a first reorganization project for condensed matter physics was formalized in 1983. Then, in the same years, the strategic importance of materials for innovation is recognized, justifying the extension of the initial project to chemists, to constitute the backbone of the future institute by bringing together physicists and chemists on the objective of designing and studying new materials (metals, ceramics, ...) for their electronic properties (magnetic, optical, dielectric, etc.). CNRS-ULP-EHICS joint unit, the IPCMS is officially created in 1987 with François Gautier as Director and Jean-Claude Bernier as Deputy Director. Originally located on five different sites of the University of Strasbourg, it was in 1994 that members of the IPCMS were grouped together in the current building on the Campus of Cronenbourg. The IPCMS is then organized into five research groups around three types of materials - polymers and organic materials, metallic materials, ceramics and inorganic materials - and two topics of study:

nonlinear optics Nonlinear optics (NLO) is the branch of optics that describes the behaviour of light in ''nonlinear media'', that is, media in which the polarization density P responds non-linearly to the electric field E of the light. The non-linearity is typic ...

and

optoelectronics Optoelectronics (or optronics) is the study and application of electronic devices and systems that find, detect and control light, usually considered a sub-field of photonics. In this context, ''light'' often includes invisible forms of radiat ...

on one hand, surfaces and interfaces on the other hand.

Research

The multi-disciplinary nature of the IPCMS is expressed by leading activities in spin electronics,

magnetism Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles ...

, ultra-fast optics, electron microscopy and local probes,

biomaterial A biomaterial is a substance that has been engineered to interact with biological systems for a medical purpose, either a therapeutic (treat, augment, repair, or replace a tissue function of the body) or a diagnostic one. As a science, biomateria ...

s as well as in the synthesis and characterization of functional organic, inorganic or hybrid materials. All scales are considered from the isolated molecule to organized

nanostructure A nanostructure is a structure of intermediate size between microscopic and molecular structures. Nanostructural detail is microstructure at nanoscale. In describing nanostructures, it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dimens ...

s on surfaces and single or two-dimensional objects, up to nano-devices. To carry out these studies, the institute has an important instrumental park for the fabrication and characterization of materials at all scales. The developments are also based on recognized theoretical skills. The projects LabEX NIE and EquipEX UNION and UTEM that the IPCMS directs reflect the recognized position of the laboratory. Located on the Campus of Cronenbourg, IPCMS is affiliated with the institutes of physics and chemistry of the CNRS as well as the Faculty of Physics and Engineering, it is also affiliated with the European School of Chemistry, Polymers and Materials (ECPM), Télécom Physique Strasbourg, and the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Strasbourg. The IPCMS is very attached to maintain strong links with the industrial laboratories carrying out research in its fields of competence.

Departments

The IPCMS now employs a staff of 240 including about 80 researchers and teacher-researchers and 60 technical and administrative engineers, whose activities are divided into five departments: *Department of Inorganic Materials Chemistry (DCMI) *Department of Organic Materials (DMO) *Department of Magnetism of NanoStructured Objects (DMONS) *Department of Ultrafast Optics and Nanophotonics (DON) *Department Surfaces and Interfaces (DSI) Ipcms entrée

Awards

* In 2008 Jean-Yves Bigot receives the

CNRS silver medal The CNRS Silver Medal is a scientific award given every year to about fifteen researchers by the French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherch ...

, in 2009 he is also the recipient of an Advanced Grant ATOMAG from the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

(ERC), and in February 2016 he received the Jean Ricard Award from the

Société Française de Physique The Société Française de Physique (SFP), or the French Physical Society, is the main professional society of French physicists. It was founded in 1873 by Charles Joseph d'Almeida. History The French Physical Society is a state-approved non-p ...

(SFP). * In 2013 Guillaume Schull is a laureate of the ERC Consolidated APOGEE. * July 2019, Ovidiu Ersen is the winner of the Grand Prize Raimond Castaing of the Société Francaise des Microscopies.

Notes

References

External links

Department pages:
DCMI website

DMO website

DMONS website

DON website

DSI website
{{authority control Physics institutes Chemistry organizations Nanomaterials Research institutes in France University of Strasbourg 1987 establishments in France Educational institutions established in 1987 Buildings and structures in Strasbourg