Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - FEMTO-ST (CNRS)
CNRS is a French national center for fundamental and applied scientific research. It hires approximately 32 000 people and has a total budget exceeding 3 billion euros. The research covered by CNRS encompasses all fields from human sciences to mathematics, biology or engineering. 21 Nobel and 12 Field medal laureates are members of laboratories funded bv CNRS.
The project will be realised at FEMTO-ST Institute (http://www.femto-st.fr/en/), which is funded jointly by CNRS and University of Bourgogne Franche-Comté. The research carried out at FEMTO-ST covers all engineering sciences: photonics, mechanics, energy, automatics, informatics and nanotechnology. FEMTO-ST is the largest CNRS-funded institute in France for engineering, with 750 people. The Optics department is internationally recognised for several broad themes in photonics: non-linear optics, nano-optics, nonlinear dynamics, optoelectronics and ultrafast laser materials processing, the latter 3 themes are integrated within the OPTO team led by Dr François Courvoisier .
A key element in the research developed at FEMTO-ST dealing with ultrafast laser processing is the expertise in beam shaping. Our developments using spatial light modulators and numerical modelling allowed FEMTO-ST to create a new paradigm is laser processing where the ablation of transparent materials is first seen as energy deposition in the materials bulk. FEMTO-ST is a recognised leader in beam shaping for so called non-diffracting Bessel beams and accelerating beams, which respectively enable highly controlled energy deposition along lines and curved paths. Dr François Courvoisier, who developed this topic since 2008 was awarded the Aimé Cotton prize of the French Physical Society (SFP) in 2015 and an ERC consolidator grant, PULSAR, the same year. The latter project aims at understanding the fundamentals of laser-plasma interaction to develop faster laser processing technologies.
Collaborators:
François Courvoisier
Aurélie Sabanovic