Institut de Physique et Chimie des Materiaux de Strasbourg,  IPCMS, Strasbourg, France

Institut de Physique et Chimie des Materiaux de Strasbourg – IPCMS. Since its creation in 1987, The IPCMS is a multifield research centre dedicated to the elaboration and study of new materials. It aggregates chemists and physicists who conjugate their skills for opening new fields of investigation, quite particularly in the field of the nanosciences. The experimental and theoretical works realized in the Institute cover to a large extent fundamental research and aim at the understanding of the chemical and physical mechanisms on the base of observed macroscopic properties. The development of nanomaterials and nanosciences is for the laboratory a strong issue. It takes advantage of very good collaborations with local partners, as evidenced by the sharing of equipments and skills within the consortium "Nanosciences & nanotechnologies". Together with other laboratories in Strasbourg and Nancy, the institute has been recognized by the French research ministry as a landmark nanotechnology centre in the eastern part of France. This position is strengthened by the closeness of Rhenan centres of excellence in the field of nanosciences (Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Basel). The Institute is involved in several training programs proposed by ULP, ECPM and ENSPS. The fields covered deal with the physics and chemistry of materials, which are treated both from the fundamental and applied points of view. Members of the institute participate to ULP also, through animation of a Doctoral School and a Condensed Matter LMD, and the organization of scientific meetings and trainings for knowledge transfer.
The IPCMS is involved in several training programs proposed by ULP, ECPM and ENSPS. The fields covered deal with the physics and chemistry of materials, which are treated both from the fundamental and applied points of view. Members of the institute participate to ULP also, through animation of a Doctoral School and a Condensed Matter LMD, and the organization of scientific meetings and trainings for knowledge transfer. The IPCMS have a 5 research groups: The organic materials group (GMO) activities cover a field that spams the conception-synthesis to the shaping of molecular/supramolecular materials chosen for their peculiar electrical or optical properties; The group of Non-linear Optics and Optoelectronics (GONLO) has a strong activity in laser time resolved spectroscopy. A particular interest is in the study of the relaxation processes at the femtoseconde scale of the electrons and spins in metal and semiconducting nanostructures, as well as in excited states of polymers and biomolecules. The optoelectronic properties of organic materials are studied from the point of view of both their nonlinear optical properties and the development of devices for integrated optics; The activity of the Group of the Inorganic Materials (GMI) is aimed at the synthesis through a bottom-up approach and the study of nanostructured materials - nanoparticles, multilayers, microporous materials - and hybrid organic-inorganic compounds. The studies go from magnetic and magneto-optics properties to magneto-transport with a specific emphasis on the correlations between structures and properties; The works of the Surfaces and Interfaces Group (GSI) deal with the growth and the correlations between structure and properties of ultrathin films. The study of nucleation processes of surfaces, growth of carbon nanotubes, self-organization of metal or molecule-based clusters, and the correlations with the magnetic properties are the major objectives of this group. In the same time, important studies of modelling by molecular dynamics are being developed.
Expertises of IPCMS: Functional polymers, X-ray analysis, Materials preparation, Optics and lasers, Materials and magnetism, Near field microscopy, Electron microscopy.

Curriculum Vitae of the contact person

Dr Ovidiu ERSEN has been engaged as an assistant professor at Louis Pasteur University of Strasbourg since 2003. He joined the Surfaces and Interfaces Department of IPCMS, in order to contribute to the creation of a competitive team with research topics dedicated mainly to the chemical and structural studies of nanomaterials using transmission electron microscopy technique in its various modes. In particular, during the years spent at IPCMS since his arrival, his project was related to the implementation of a new characterisation tool to study nanomaterials, namely the electron tomography in bright or dark field mode. The good achievement of this first project as well as the implementation of a new competitive microscope at IPCMS incites him to approach a new challenge as his main research topic: the development of electron tomography in analytic mode.