Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : BOLD (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Universitat Politècnica de València — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : UPV
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 300000.0 €

Searching for neutrinoless double beta decays (NLDBD) is the only practical way to establish if the neutrinos are their own antiparticles, a discovery of enormous importance for particle physics and cosmology. Due to the smallness of neutrino masses, the lifetime of NLDBD is expected to be much longer than the ones from the noise associated with the natural radioactive chains. A positive identification of NLDBD decays requires finding a signal that cannot be mimicked by radioactive backgrounds. In particular, the NLDBD decay of Xe-136 could be established by detecting the doubly ionized daughter atom, Ba2+ created in the decay. Such a detection could be achieved via a sensor made of a monolayer of molecular indicators. The Ba2+ would be captured by one of the molecules in the sensor, and the presence of the single Ba2+-complexed indicator would be subsequently revealed by a fluorescent response after interrogation with a laser system. Our proposed sensor is based on a new type of molecular bicolor fluorescent indicators, able to shift their emission spectra when complexed with Ba2+. The interrogation and detection system will be based in fast, two photon absorption microscopy. The primary goals of this proposal are: 1, a full demonstration of the feasibility of a sensor capable of detecting single Ba2+ ions in a High Pressure Xenon Chamber (HPXe), and 2) the construction of a large HPXe demonstrator, the BOLD detector, which will implement a full Barium Tagging Detector System and will demonstrate the feasibility of building a background-free experiment at the ton-scale, with large discovery potential.

Mots-clés : neutrinoless double beta decay,supramolecular chemistry,barium tagging,lasers,ion beams,sensors,particle physics,instrumentation
Projet ERC : BOLD (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : University of Manchester — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2105500.0 €

Searching for neutrinoless double beta decays (NLDBD) is the only practical way to establish if the neutrinos are their own antiparticles, a discovery of enormous importance for particle physics and cosmology. Due to the smallness of neutrino masses, the lifetime of NLDBD is expected to be much longer than the ones from the noise associated with the natural radioactive chains. A positive identification of NLDBD decays requires finding a signal that cannot be mimicked by radioactive backgrounds. In particular, the NLDBD decay of Xe-136 could be established by detecting the doubly ionized daughter atom, Ba2+ created in the decay. Such a detection could be achieved via a sensor made of a monolayer of molecular indicators. The Ba2+ would be captured by one of the molecules in the sensor, and the presence of the single Ba2+-complexed indicator would be subsequently revealed by a fluorescent response after interrogation with a laser system. Our proposed sensor is based on a new type of molecular bicolor fluorescent indicators, able to shift their emission spectra when complexed with Ba2+. The interrogation and detection system will be based in fast, two photon absorption microscopy. The primary goals of this proposal are: 1, a full demonstration of the feasibility of a sensor capable of detecting single Ba2+ ions in a High Pressure Xenon Chamber (HPXe), and 2) the construction of a large HPXe demonstrator, the BOLD detector, which will implement a full Barium Tagging Detector System and will demonstrate the feasibility of building a background-free experiment at the ton-scale, with large discovery potential.

Mots-clés : neutrinoless double beta decay,supramolecular chemistry,barium tagging,lasers,ion beams,sensors,particle physics,instrumentation
Projet ERC : PISSARRO (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ETH Zurich
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999400.0 €

Second order nonlinear processes, such as second-harmonic or difference-frequency generation, are key for frequency metrology and quantum optics applications. The successful integration of such functionalities, consequential of material 2nd order nonlinear susceptibility χ(2), is essential to obtain compact and low power devices. Unfortunately embedding 2nd order nonlinear effects on chip poses a fundamental challenge captured by the following dogma: materials with the best photonic integration capabilities exhibit negligible χ(2). Recent research by the PI proves this dogma flawed and shows that 2nd order nonlinearities can be unlocked in silicon nitride (SiN) waveguides by all-optical means, a result that is a significant departure from other existing approaches. PISSARRO will develop waveguides for χ(2) based effects and confront the limitations imposed by fabrication, resonant structures, or phase-matching constraints, thus seeking optimal trade-offs. By leveraging the linear properties and fabrication flexibility of SiN waveguides, the synergy between optically induced electric field from multi-photon absorption, large material 3rd order nonlinearity and waveguide engineering will be exploited, to overcome the initial low efficiency. The objectives are far beyond the state-of-the-art by providing all-optical control, flexibility and extended operation bandwidth. The project will build on the in-depth optical characterization of the microscopic nature of optically-induced 2nd order nonlinearity in SiN to take integrated 2nd order nonlinear devices to new frontiers. PISSARRO promises substantial impact in the domains of communication, metrology and quantum optics by providing novel CMOS-compatible photonic devices. Designed waveguides will not only lead to the integration of stabilized octave spanning combs for precise frequency references, but also introduce a path towards dynamic on-chip quantum state generation and unconstrained frequency conversion.

Mots-clés : nonlinear processes,waveguides
Projet ERC : RELOS (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : Aarhus University — Pays : Danemark — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : AU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 198315.0 €

Sediments preserve a history of the evolution of the Earth’s surface and its response to a changing climate – a history that can only be read reliably if we know the age of the sediments. Luminescence dating is widely used in quaternary geology and archaeology, and is applicable to almost all sediments from the last 0.5 Ma – it dates the last time the sediment grains were exposed to daylight. RELOS will improve the reliability of luminescence dating by determining the sources of unexpected spread (over-dispersion) in measured doses derived from sand-sized grains. New hypotheses concerning charge imbalance, charge transport and dose calibration of luminescence signals will be tested by: (i) quantifying the effect of grain size and irradiation geometry/quality on grain-to-grain dose dispersion, and particularly the importance of charge particle equilibrium at these scales; (ii) quantifying dispersion arising from grain-to-grain variations in environmental dose rate; (iii) developing measurement procedures giving the same luminescence response per unit dose as in nature; (iv) developing a dispersion budget and new conceptual/numerical models for luminescence production based on (i) to (iii); and (v) testing the results of these investigations using well-defined natural samples. This project investigates fundamental issues of charge (de)trapping and recombination at small scales that have been completely ignored in previous studies, and problems of luminescence response that are sidestepped in the literature, in part by the unsatisfactory approach of arbitrary data rejection. These studies will result in major improvements in our understanding of the small-scale dosimetry of mixed radiation fields and a step change in the reliability of single-grain luminescence ages. The project links these fundamental studies to clear outcomes of considerable potential value to a variety of fields including earth sciences, archaeology and palaeoanthropology.

Mots-clés : luminescence dating,charge movement,charge trapping,single grain,quartz,feldspar,exo electrons,natural radioactivity,micro xrf,minimum age model,finite mixture model
Projet ERC : SENSES (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1781893.0 €

Seemingly unrelated experiments such as electrolyte transport through nanotubes, nano-scale electrochemistry, NMR relaxometry and Surface Force Balance measurements, all probe electrical fluctuations: of the electric current, the charge and polarization, the field gradient (for quadrupolar nuclei) and the coupled mass/charge densities. If only we had the theoretical tools to interpret this “electrical noise”, we would open complementary windows on ionic systems. Such insight is needed, as recent experiments uncovered unexpected behaviour of ionic systems (electrolytes, ionic liquids), which question our understanding of these “simple” fluids and call for a fresh theoretical perspective. This project aims at providing an integrated understanding of fluctuations in bulk, interfacial and confined ionic systems. For modelling, the key challenge is to quantitatively predict the phenomena underlying the various sources of noise: coupled diffusion, long-range electrostatic interactions & hydrodynamic flows, short-range ion-specific effects (solvation, ad/desorption). Using molecular and mesoscopic simulations, I will provide a unified theoretical framework enabling experimentalists to decipher the microscopic properties encoded in the measured electrical noise. I will achieve this by addressing four interlinked questions corresponding to the above-mentioned experiments: 1) What is the microscopic origin of the “coloured” noise of electric current through single nanopores/tubes? 2) What do the charge fluctuations of an electrode tell us about the properties of the interfacial electrolyte? 3) What information can NMR relaxometry provide on the multiscale dynamics of individual ions? 4) Could collective fluctuations in concentrated electrolytes explain long-range forces between surfaces? Each question is in itself an exciting challenge, but addressing them simultaneously is the key to a global understanding of these liquids which play a crucial role in biology and technology.
Projet ERC : Weakinteract (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1472425.0 €

Self-assembly is a fundamental process by which individual subunits organize into ordered supramolecular entities, usually through weak interactions. A longstanding goal is to engineer synthetic self-organized structures, often inspired by protein assemblies found in the context of living cells, to design materials of high potentiality, e.g. drug delivery, scaffolding or electronic applications. There is a tremendous interest in physical chemistry to understand the role of weak interactions at the supramolecular interfaces. However, self-organizations usually form soft material, lacking crystalline order and at the same time exhibiting poor solubility. As a consequence, standard techniques for structural investigation such as X-ray crystallography or solution NMR usually fail or deliver only partial information, preventing an atomic-level understanding and therefore the design of new architectures. The Weakinteract project aims at developing NMR spectroscopy in the relevant supramolecular solid-state for those non-crystalline and insoluble self-organizations. Weakinteract will exploit strategic isotope labeling, state-of-the-art solid-state NMR methods and integration of hybrid approaches to elucidate the assembly mechanisms, revealing the weak interactions at the supramolecular interfaces. The project comprises three different aspects of growing complexity: (1) Elaboration of a proof-of-concept for atomic resolution structure determination of self-assembled nanotubes in hydrogel form. (2) Determination of the structural basis for bacterial filaments (3) Investigation of the phenomenon of heterogeneous supramolecular templating, in the context of amyloid fold initiation. One major aim of Weakinteract is to provide a robust approach dedicated to chemists, biophysicists and structural biologists in order to tackle weak interactions in the relevant assembled state, ultimately delivering atomic level structures and an understanding of the assembly process.

Mots-clés : supramolecular assemblies,electron conduction,amyloid fibrils,nanowire
Projet ERC : Self-Control (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Entité participante : Universität Hamburg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UHH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498625.0 €

Self-control is at the heart of human nature and enables us to resist temptations. Several clinical disorders are characterized by an inability to control oneself, e.g. addiction and other impulse-related disorders. Since these psychiatric diseases are highly debilitating and cause substantial economic costs, any means of enhancing self-control is of high value for society at large. To date the view prevails that inhibition and therewith self-control is untrainable. Contrary to this, the applicant has gathered data demonstrating that healthy older participants can be trained in inhibition using a game-like self-control training. Trained participants showed transfer to an untrained inhibition task and brain structural plasticity in right inferior frontal gyrus, a brain region associated with inhibition of prepotent actions. The main goal of this research program is, to develop and optimize this promising self-control training and investigate its effectiveness in real-life self-regulation problems in the healthy population (dieting and quitting to smoke) as well as in patients suffering from alcohol addiction. The expected impact of this innovative research program is high. Its results will be ground-breaking for basic science as well as for the treatment of patients with alcohol addiction. The final outcome of this project is going to be a freely distributed app encompassing the optimized self-control training, adaptable to the temptations that the trainee wants to gain control about, and therewith enable the general population to counteract self-regulation problems. Since self-control has sparked the interest of multiple disciplines, that have unfortunately so far developed their concepts fairly independently, the results of this research proposal will pave the way to integrate the knowledge gained from experimental, clinical, and social psychology. But most importantly, this self-control training will enable everyone to improve their capacity for self-regulation.

Mots-clés : self control,self regulation,inhibition,brain plasticity,training,neuroimaging,addiction
Projet ERC : TRIFECTs (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Entité participante : Heidelberg University — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1998500.0 €

Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) combine solution-processability, large carrier mobilities, narrow emission linewidths and environmental stability for optoelectronic devices with light-emission in the near-infrared (800-1800 nm, e.g., for optical data communication and bio-imaging) when sorted by (n,m) species. The recent availability of highly pure, monochiral semiconducting SWNTs as bulk materials allows us to employ and further tailor their charge transport and light emission properties and thus enables their application in practical devices. Two new emissive species - charged excitons (trions) and bright sp3-defects - were recently discovered in SWNTs and have fundamentally changed our notions about SWNT luminescence. Both show red-shifted, narrow and enhanced emission. However, very little is yet known about their photophysical properties and especially their interactions with each other and their environment (e.g., in devices). Their emissive properties could potentially be tailored by external magnetic fields, dielectric environment and additional functional groups. Strong light-matter coupling in suitable optical cavities could be applied to create trion-polaritons in SWNTs as new low-mass charge carriers in polaritonic devices. Trions and emissive sp3-defects are not limited to SWNTs and hence these concepts could be transferred and applied to other low-dimensional semiconductors. The goals of this project are to - understand and use trions and trion-polaritons for light emission and polaritonic charge transport, - understand and tune the interactions of sp3-defects with charges and trions in SWNTs, - modify and apply sp3-defects for enhanced light emission from SWNTs in optoelectronic devices, - explore trions in new low-dimensional materials (e.g., graphene nanoribbons and novel monolayered semiconductors).

Mots-clés : carbon nanotubes,sp3 defects,quasiparticles,trions,polaritons,charge transport,light emission,magneto optics
Projet ERC : Ne2DeM (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ESPCI PARIS-PSL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1493479.0 €

Semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) have size tuneable optical features. Among them, nanoplatelets (NPLs) are 2D NCs with especially well controlled optical features. As a result, these are the semiconductor nanoparticles with the narrowest luminescence signal, which make them very appealing for light emission application and in particular large gamut displays. In the Ne2DeM project, the NPLs will be used as a platform for the design of a new generation of light emitters which applications span from display lightning, to infrared sensing or 3D imaging displays. The development of a new tool box based on NPLs will be the main ambition of the Ne2DeM project. More specifically I intend to develop three new functionalities to NPLs dedicated to light emission. First, I aim to synthesize particles with dual green and red narrow emissions. This goal relies on the design of a new highly complex 2D heterostructure that will be used as light down converter for white light production with an easier integration than the current technology or materials. The second objective will relate to expanding the wavelength range in the infrared where light can be emitted from NPLs while preserving narrow and fast luminescence. Such short-wave infrared source will be suited in applications such as biolabeling and active imaging. Finally, I intend to develop NPL with circularly polarized emission. To do so, I will develop enantioselective synthesis of 2D NPLs and control the folding of these lasts. This provides high potential for 3D imaging display. The targeted materials are highly promising to bring back Europe into the market of NC for light emission, while it remains currently uninvolved at the industrial scale. Beyond the development of a new generation of NCs, Ne2DeM also aims to develop new original method for in-situ investigation of the NC growth and to investigate the development of materials electronic structure to fasten their integration into devices.

Mots-clés : nanocrystals,light emitters,colloidal synthesis
Projet ERC : QUANtIC (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : Technical University of Munich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TUM
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1743850.0 €

Semiconductor nanowires (NW) hold very strong potential to advance fundamental and applied research towards new classes of quantized heterostructures in an inherently one-dimensional (1D) geometry. As such, they offer unique possibilities for tunable charge carrier and optical confinement, as well as significant design freedom as optical resonators and waveguides for deterministic integration of isolated emitters into photonic and quantum optical circuits with widespread functionalities. The vast potential of deterministic and ultrascaled quantum-NW optical cavities linked with integrated photonic circuits has, however, remained a widely unexplored area. The vision of this project is to enter the ultimate regime of strongly confined semiconducting quantum NWs and exploit their advanced intrinsic properties to enable integrated photonic circuits with unprecedented functionalities in information technology and sensing. Based on my strong track record in the field of NWs, my goals follow along the following foundational objectives: (A) Realize deterministic, monolithic NWs on integrated photonic hardware with tailored properties in the quantum-confinement regime (quantum-NWs) (B) Exploit quantum confinement phenomena to develop new and high-efficiency ultrascaled classical and non-classical emitters on-chip, including dielectric & metal-cavity NW-lasers (photonics), NW-quantum cascade lasers (sensing) & single and entangled photon emitters (quantum information processing). (C) Explore coupling and interaction effects of quantum NW emitters on integrated SOI-based waveguides and circuits for all-optical routing, feedback and switching. This high-risk yet feasible project will allow for the first time to access ultra-precise semiconducting quantum NWs, where their quantized electronic structure can be mapped onto a specific quantum optical response, leading to unique discoveries in integrated photonics, quantum communication and sensing.