Light-driven fabrication: additive technologies enabled by and for photonics – Lightfab Thematic Semester (2027)
  • LIGHTFAB aims to bring together expert scientists, young researchers, and engineers from academia and industry who work at the forefront of materials science, additive manufacturing (AM) and photonics. The goal is to develop a new generation of light-driven AM technologies exploring a dual approach where advanced photonics drives fabrication, and additive manufacturing, in turn, accelerates the evolution of photonics itself. On one hand, advanced light shaping allows photonics to drive additive fabrication by offering unprecedented control over how energy interacts with matter, from nanoscale structuring in polymers to mesoscale sintering of metals and localized melting of glass. On the other hand, additive manufacturing empowers photonics by enabling the direct creation of complex, multiscale, multi-material optical architectures that are unattainable with conventional techniques. This way, LIGHTFAB offers a unique opportunity to showcase emerging applications from integrated photonics to high-precision metal components, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations, inspiring innovations and thus supporting the emergence of a new talents in the field. 
  • Fundings: Complex Systems Academy of Excellence (Université Côte d'Azur)
  • More info: https://lightfab.univ-cotedazur.fr/
  • Contact: Matthieu Bellec
Reciprocity In coherent light transport phenomena – RICOTTA (2025-2029)
  • Multimode optical fibers are the subject of very active research in view of the technological advances expected in the fields of telecommunications and imaging. However, mode dispersion and coupling pose practical implementation problems. RICOTTA is a fundamental project inspired by this issue, which aims to study light scattering in multimode optical fibers with controlled disorder. Scatterers will be photo-inscribed into the fibers using a local direct laser writing device, and the coherent wave transport properties will be measured through the disordered fiber transmission matrix. From the mesoscopic transport literature, it is known that the conductivity of these disordered quasi-1D wires is affected by weak localization, a reciprocity-induced phenomenon. In RICOTTA, we plan to break reciprocity by placing the samples in a magnetic field to induce Faraday effect. This will provide new insights into the transport properties, in addition to the results obtained by measuring other properties such as sample length, number of modes, or disorder intensity. The samples will be characterized by measuring the complete transmission matrix, paving the way for coherent wave control in such systems.
  • Fundings: ANR JCJC
  • More info: https://anr.fr/Project-ANR-24-CE30-7918
  • Contact: Geoffroy Aubry
Structured functional glasses for lasing, sensing and health applications – FunctiGlass (2025-2029)
  • i) Femtosecond laser processing of structured Tm3+ doped tellurite glass-based materials in collaboration with Prof. Laeticia Petit (Tempere University, Finland)
    ii) Inverse design of femtosecond laser written nanostructures in optical fibers to harness light scattering in collaboration with Prof. Antonio Casa Lesina (Hannover University, Germany)
  • Fundings: MSCA Doctoral Network EU program (PI: Wilfried Blanc, Optical fibers and applications team)
  • More info: https://functiglass.eu/
  • Contact: Matthieu Bellec
Wave turbulence and fluids of light – IUF Claire Michel (2023-2028)
Femtosecond laser tuning of nanoparticles in optical fibers – FESTNOS (2024-2027)
  • The growth of optical fibres has always been supported by the development of new manufacturing processes. FESTNOS is part of this context by developing a new process for optical fibres containing nanoparticles. The potential of this new generation of fibres as lasers and sensors has already been demonstrated. Their development remains limited due to the lack of reliable processes to control the nanoparticles, in particular their size and structure, in the fibres. FESTNOS proposes to develop an innovative femtosecond laser bench to modify the characteristics of nanoparticles for fibre lengths ranging from µm to km, with possible variations in the characteristics of nanoparticles over micrometric fibre lengths. This control relies on the ability of such a laser to heat at high temperature with very high spatial resolution (µm3) as nanoparticles can be altered though thermodynamic processes. FESTNOS opens up a new manufacturing avenue that has never been explored before and will offer an innovative solution for real control of the characteristics of nanoparticles in optical fibres. This project will make it possible to envisage new applications for this type of optical fibre. More generally, this laser inscription bench can be applied to other components and have spin-offs for the entire photonics community. This project is in collaboration with Wilfried Blanc from the Optical fibers and applications team.
  • Fundings: ANR PRCE, RIA EU program (VISUAL project)
  • More info: https://anr.fr/Project-ANR-23-CE51-0026, https://horizon-visual.eu/
  • Contact: Matthieu Bellec
Quantum-based integrated sensors for chemical detection – PARADIS (2022-2026)
  • Quantum metrology uses quantum technologies for ultra-precise measurements, with photonic systems being ideal for biology and chemistry due to their non-destructive nature. The PARADIS project aims to develop a hybrid photonic platform (lithium niobate + laser-written glass) to create high-sensitivity quantum sensors, starting with CO2 detection as a proof of concept. It leverages two-photon interferometry and quantum entanglement to overcome technological challenges and enable practical, chip-scale quantum devices. This project is in collaboration with Laurent Labonté from the Quantum photonics and information team.
  • Fundings: AID Astrid program
  • Contact: Matthieu Bellec
Superfluid and turbulent light in complex media – STLight (2021-2025)
  • The STLight project focuses on the experimental study of photonic fluids in disordered environments. Superfluidity, the ability of a fluid to move without friction along a pipe or past an obstacle, is one of the most spectacular features of quantum fluids. In nonlinear optics, it manifests as light propagating without being altered by an inhomogeneous environment. The exact opposite happens in the linear case, where light undergoes spatial localisation in disordered media. The main ambition of the STLight project is to study the transition from spatial localisation to superfluidity in complex, but fully controlled, environments, positioning the project at the edge between quantum hydrodynamics and waves in nonlinear complex media. Strong turbulence in complex media will naturally arise in the system and will be investigated. It will, besides addressing transport in disordered optical systems, significantly benefit in both the nonlinear optics and quantum hydrodynamics communities.
  • Fundings: ANR JCJC
  • More info: https://anr.fr/Project-ANR-21-CE30-0008
  • Contact: Claire Michel
Localization of light in disordered topological metamaterials – LOLITOP (2020-2025)
  • The main objective of the LOLITOP project is to study the interplay between topological physics and disorder-induced effects for light in two-dimensional (2D) metamaterials made of subwavelength resonators. On the one hand, disorder may induce a topologically nontrivial phase – the so-called topological Anderson insulator (TAI). On the other hand, the properties of disorder-induced spatially localized states with energies inside band gaps may depend on the topological indices of adjacent energy bands. The main innovation of the LOLITOP project with respect to the state of the art is the full consideration given to the aspects specific to photonics (polarization of light, resonant nature of scattering, possibility of strong deformations of a lattice) in the study of the impact of disorder on light propagation in topologically nontrivial metamaterials. The main scientific barriers to overcome are due to the needs of adapting the methodology existing to deal with electronic systems to vector electromagnetic waves, and of coping with the fundamental differences between photons and electrons: the absence of charge and the “volatility” of photons that can easily leave the material or be absorbed by it. Fortunately, these difficulties also open a number of new opportunities arising from the possibility of manipulating the polarization of electromagnetic waves (TM or TE) and controlling the number of modes allowed to propagate inside the metamaterial.
  • Fundings: ANR PRCE
  • More info: https://anr.fr/Project-ANR-20-CE30-0003
  • Contact: Fabrice Mortessagne