Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : FLATBANDS (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental constituents of matter
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 : 1499640.0 €

One spectacular phenomenon in quantum many-body systems is the emergence of non-local quasiparticles with fractional quantum numbers and anyonic statistics. Of fundamental interest, fractionalization also holds promise for fault-tolerant quantum computation motivating the search for such exotic phases of matter. Signatures of this phenomenon remain sparse and mostly restricted to fractional quantum Hall states, despite being predicted to also occur in other systems such as frustrated quantum magnets. An essential feature shared by both systems is the massive ground state degeneracy, or flat band, out of which fractionalization emerges. The underlying non-local topological order of such phases is an outstanding experimental challenge to detect with only local observables. Building on my experience to study "hidden" order in one dimensional systems, I will address the physics of strong correlations in two and three dimensional flatbands using ultracold atoms and the unique probes of atomic physics. I propose in FLATBANDS to build a novel strontium quantum gas microscope to study both fractional quantum Hall states and highly frustrated magnets. I will first rotate mesoscopic dilute Bose gases to mimic the behaviour of electrons in magnetic fields. Using observables down to individual particles, I will study density-density correlations in the lowest Landau level, providing signatures of emerging Laughlin-like states. On the same platform, I will measure spin correlations and detect fractionalization in highly frustrated magnets. Using atoms trapped in programmable tweezer arrays and excited in Rydberg states, I will engineer quantum spin-ice and directly observe the emergence of magnetic monopoles. By following two complementary routes to address strong correlations and topological order, FLATBANDS will open fascinating perspectives with impact in quantum information, quantum computation, and condensed matter physics.

Mots-clés : quantum gases,quantum simulation,quantum gas microscope,strongly correlated systems
Projet ERC : MUTX (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : VKI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149921.0 €

One successful outcome of the AEROSPACEPHYS ERC StG, entitled “Multiphysics models and simulations for reacting and plasma flows applied to the space exploration program,” is the development of a new software library called MUTATION++: MUlticomponent Thermodynamic And Transport properties for IONized gases in C++. The library compiles the state-of-the-art physico-chemical models and algorithms developed by the team into a highly extensible and robust software package to be coupled to simulation tools used by space agencies and industries. The design of the library allows for high-performance integration in material and flow field simulation tools. MUTATION++ is also shipped with several stand-alone tools that provide up-to-date basic data without proper software linking. Such a compromise allows simulation tool users, who do not have access to the source code, to benefit from these models. Taking community development to the next level requires the improvement and enrichment of the software testing framework and database, giving new users development guidelines and technology transfer examples. The MUTX project will allow us to extend the user base of MUTATION++ to the corporate community. This will require the implementation of tests to ensure the preservation of the library functionalities and performance after each new release and on multiple hardware and software platforms. It will also require the addition of databases for real thermal protection materials currently being developed by the space industry in collaboration with the European Space Agency. The demonstration of a transdisciplinary technology transfer will be achieved by implementing a database for biomass pyrolysis simulation. One long-term goal of the MUTX project is to enable the PI and his team to obtain additional funding through participation in research contracts in collaboration with industrial partners using MUTATION++.

Mots-clés : library software,regression testing,physico chemical database,atmospheric entry flows,biomass pyrolysis
Projet ERC : FluidMICS (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : University of Bergen — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1955611.0 €

Ongoing global warming is rapidly moving us away from the climate states we are used to and understand from observational time series. This poses the urgent need to extend our “climate memory” by deciphering climate information stored in geologic archives. However, obtaining quantitative estimates for past climate changes is challenging, particularly in terrestrial archives due to common limitations in time coverage, resolution, and chronology. FluidMICS will employ a novel technique to reconstruct past temperatures based on physical properties of relict drip water preserved in cave formations (speleothems). The behavior of such micrometer-scale fluid inclusions during cooling and heating is directly related to the temperature at which the inclusions were once closed off. This physical basis makes the method uniquely robust and distinguishes it from other paleo-thermometers that depend on empirical calibrations. Combined with the distinct advantages of speleothems, which cover long time periods and can be absolutely dated, this approach will lead to unprecedented insights into magnitude, timing, and distribution of past temperature changes, lifting paleoclimate research to a new level. Our pilot data show that the microthermometry method faithfully discloses past temperatures several hundred thousand years ago. In FluidMICS, we will generate a solid understanding of potential non-thermal effects, further increasing precision and accuracy of the reconstructed temperatures, streamlining the analysis, and extending the applicability of the method. These advances will enable us to generate uniquely accurate and precise terrestrial temperature records far back in time that are distributed over large areas of the globe. These new datasets will serve as invaluable resources to better understand the complexities of our climate system under different atmospheric CO2 concentrations and in times of rapid change, and to test climate models used for future projections.

Mots-clés : speleothem,fluid inclusions,temperature reconstruction,petrography,microscopy,quaternary
Projet ERC : TECSOME (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Pompeu Fabra University — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UPF
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Online learning has impacted and changed music education significantly all over the world in the last decade. Music schools and teachers have now access to a much wider audience, increasing their business opportunities specially by overcoming the geographical constraints. However, online music performance education cannot scale to MOOC level given that the student assessments rely on individual instructor review, as is the case in the well known online courses from Berklee Online. The need of a personal assessment procedure limits the growth and expansion of these courses. Our project, TECSOME, will solve this limitation by facilitating the learner’s assessment, making it more automatic and less human-dependent. We will build an automatic assessment system, named Music Critic, around a set of technologies developed within the CompMusic project, targeted at supporting music performance courses and helping them scale up to MOOC level. Music Critic will act as an external assessment tool able to communicate with existing Learning Management Systems (LMS) via the Learning Tool Interoperability standard (LTI). The basic workflow will be: (1) teacher prepares an exercise using the LMS and Music Critic; (2) learner uploads an audio recording of the exercise to the LMS; (3) LMS sends the audio recording to Music Critic, where is analyzed and evaluated; and (4) Music Critic sends the assessment outcome, which includes the evaluation grade and detail feedbacks, to the LMS, where it can be corrected and validated by the teacher before becoming available to the learner. In the CompMusic project we have developed technologies with which to analyze music recordings in various music styles. Some of the technologies are already being exploited in a PoC project, CAMUT, which takes advantage of music analysis technologies that target the Indian musical culture. Now, in TECSOME, we are taking advantage of some complementary technologies centered on measuring music similarity.

Mots-clés : music technology,mooc,music education,automatic student assessment
Projet ERC : STANDBY (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Social World and Its Diversity
Entité participante : Aarhus University — Pays : Danemark — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : AU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1995461.0 €

Online political hostility, such as online hate speech, constitutes a challenge to democracy through negative effects on political participation. The challenge is amplified by widespread apathy among witnesses. While research within political science has focused on the aggressors and explored how politically hostile behavior develops, much less attention is given to bystanders and the potential of pro-social bystander reactions to mitigate the negative impact of online political hostility. This project advances a new research agenda, shifting focus from explaining the anti-social behavior of online political hostility to explaining pro-social bystander reactions and their consequences. Advancing the social-psychological study of bystanders, the project develops a new inter-disciplinary theory of pro-social bystander reactions, theorizing bystander decision-making in the context of online political hostility, and its short- and long-term consequences. In addition to theoretical innovation, the project breaks new methodological ground by combining survey and behavioral experiments with a longitudinal design, and developing an innovative methodology for bystander research: The Immersive Bystander Video Environment. The key empirical contributions of the project are to ground this new research agenda in real-time observations and first-hand experiences of bystander reactions to political hostility; to conduct a series of innovative survey and behavioral experiments, exploring the causes and consequences of pro-social bystander reactions; and to establish proof-of-concept as to which interventions can encourage pro-social bystander reactions. The project is unique in its scientific ambition: it addresses the challenge to democracy from online political hostility by turning attention to the unexplored role of bystanders in mitigating its immediate negative impact, and in longer-term prevention by strengthening norms of civility in political interactions.

Mots-clés : online political hostility,pro social bystander reactions,bystander effect,hate speech
Projet ERC : QuadraComb (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Université Libre de Bruxelles — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ULB
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1579213.0 €

Optical frequency combs are made of thousands of equally spaced spectral lines, each an ultra-stable laser in its own right. They act as “spectral rulers” against which unknown optical frequencies can be measured, and they have had a revolutionary impact on numerous fields ranging from the detection of extra-solar planets to precision metrology, winning its inventors a Nobel prize in 2005. Traditionally, frequency combs have been generated by ultrashort pulsed lasers, but in 2007 an important observation changed the research landscape: a continuous-wave laser coupled into a microscopic resonator was shown to spontaneously transform into thousands of comb lines via third-order nonlinear optical effects. I believe that yet another revolution lies at the horizon. Specifically, recent experiments have alluded to the possibility of realizing optical frequency combs purely through second order (quadratic) nonlinear effects. The intrinsic features of the second order nonlinearity hold promise to deliver access to new regions of the electro-magnetic spectrum beyond all conventional frequency comb technologies. But unfortunately, experimental investigations are scarce and the physics that underlie frequency comb formation in quadratic resonators is poorly understood. The goal of the QuadraComb project is to pursue a complete characterization of frequency comb generation in dispersive quadratically nonlinear resonators. I plan to (i) develop theoretical models to describe quadratic frequency combs, and (ii) develop novel platforms for the experimental realization of quadratic frequency combs.

Mots-clés : parametric oscillators and amplifiers,optical resonators,frequency conversion
Projet ERC : PhotonCount (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : VU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 147500.0 €

Optical methods and fluorescent proteins to probe and manipulate cellular and subcellular processes have proven to be a major driving force behind many recent breakthroughs in biology and medicine. Recent developments in photonics have led to increased spatial and temporal resolution and now allow the study of single identified synaptic contacts between neurons as well as large-scale neuronal networks. Brain tissue strongly scatters light. Thereby, the amount of light emitted by fluorescent probes in small structures inside neuronal tissue that reaches the microscope objective is small. Fluorescence imaging in living tissue, as I use in my ERC-funded research program, is therefore limited by low signal-to-noise levels. One approach in increasing the level of such weak fluorescence is to increase the excitation power, but this has the undesirable effect of bleaching the fluorescence faster and damaging the cell. Another approach is to optimize the fluorescence collection by using high-end microscope objectives in the 20,000 eur range with improved light transmission, high numerical aperture and low magnification that can collect fluorescence more efficiently. Although these objectives brought a significant improvement to imaging applications, physical limitations in their design cannot offer anymore a similar qualitative improvement as previously. Since there is a great need to further improve biological imaging, the present proof of concept application aims to achieve this by developing advanced, but low-cost, electronics for the optical detection of weak fluorescence signals through Photon Counting, and bring this technology to the market.

Mots-clés : optical imaging,fluorescence,signal detection,microscopy
Projet ERC : ClinAO (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : University of Oxford — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 149850.0 €

Optical microscopes are one of the key tools that that guide a surgeon during the most complicated surgeries and provide the necessary feedback. State-of-the-art confocal laser scanning microscopes and endoscopes provide the most reliable images for diagnostic purposes. However, they are not yet capable enough to be used intraoperatively for high-resolution fluorescence imaging in some of the most complicated surgeries. Ideally, the surgeon needs to see the tissue in three dimensions at cellular resolution. In principle, such images can be generated by a confocal fluorescence microscope, but a key obstacle limiting new applications is that these microscopes are prone to the detrimental effects of aberrations. This means that only the upper layers of cells can be seen clearly. We propose a new technology for surgical microscopes that will use adaptive optics to correct for problematic tissue-induced aberrations. Aberration correction will enable deeper penetration with reduced imaging times that are required for real time feedback and sharper cellular level images with better contrast. Adaptive optics has already enabled aberration correction in research microscopes, however such technology is not yet available for use in the clinic. We propose to develop new generation of adaptive optical confocal fluorescence microscopes and endoscopes for intraoperative use in the clinic. The proposed microscope will enable more effective removal of abnormal tissues and reduced surgery times. The resulting shorter and more successful surgery will have manifold benefits to health and quality of life, not to mention economic savings. The new prototype microscopes will form the basis of future commercial development to disseminate this technology widely.

Mots-clés : microscopy,optics,adaptive optics,surgery
Projet ERC : 3DPRINTEDOPTICS (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : University of Stuttgart — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Optics is abundant in today’s world. Smartphone cameras, optical sensors for autonomous driving, virtual and augmented reality, medical imaging technology, and many more areas all require tailored optical sensors. In most cases, the optical sensors are still based on classical optical systems. For instance, high-end cameras or high-quality endoscopes still utilize classical glass optics. The related markets have sizes of several tens of billion USD and grow with double digit rates. For all applications, size is the limiting factor. There is a tremendous demand for imaging capabilities using optics at sizes below 1 mm, with the quality of classical optics, i.e., correction of aberrations, extremely high transmission, and broadband operation. Key features include also zooming, focusing, and f-number variation, as well as customized fields of view to realize foveated imaging and multi-aperture, multi-lens systems. Ideally, such optical systems provide 180° field of view with simultaneous zooming capabilities. Here, we propose a novel type of micro-optics that is extremely flexible, can be created at demand, possesses unprecedented functionality, and delivers solutions to problems that could not be solved before. The basic building block at the heart of our problem solution is the use of 3D printed microoptics by femtosecond direct laser writing. This method has all features to fulfil the above-mentioned requirements: It takes only a day from the idea to concept, optical design and simulation, and to manufacturing and testing, i.e., to generate a working prototype. Our method will create a new class of optical elements, which enable the smallest microscope objective in the world on the tip of an optical fiber with unprecedented imaging accuracy and functionality, such as focusing and zooming capability.

Mots-clés : micro optics,3d printing,nanophotonics,imaging,endoscopy,optical sensors
Projet ERC : SubNanoOptoDevices (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Italian Institute of Technology — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499500.0 €

Optoelectronic devices are at the core of today’s information revolution, bridging digital electronics and optical fiber telecommunications. However, there is a worrisome disparity in the scaling of global internet traffic (growing at 60% rate every year) and the capacity of the optical network (with growth rate of just 20%). Therefore, there is a need for new miniaturized optoelectronic technologies, and integration on silicon is a must. The objective of this project is to address this issue with a new technology for ultrafast optoelectronic components based on low-dimensional materials to achieve increased data rate and reduced footprint and power consumption. It will explore a radically new way to engineer the electrical and optical properties of these materials (specifically 2D materials and van der Waals heterostructures), to achieve, for instance, optical modulators with tunable operation wavelength and unprecedented modulation speeds and footprints. One key innovation of this approach is the use of a new gate oxide nanolamination technique able to apply a periodical electrostatic field (with sharp variations below 1 nm) on any 2D material to modify and dynamically tune their band structures. These superlattices are expected to show tunable optical properties, quantum confinement and intersubband transitions, which will pave the way to new optoelectronic components such as modulators, photodetectors, tunable lasers and light emitting diodes. This approach can be used to achieve improved coupling with polaritons in 2D materials as well, which will enhance light-matter interactions reducing the footprint of the devices. The fabrication is compatible with multiple substrate materials, including silicon and III-V semiconductors. The project will focus on large area devices operating at room temperature and integrated on silicon, to ease the subsequent implementation of this groundbreaking technology into large scale production.

Mots-clés : nanotechnology,2d materials,band structure,optoelectroncs,polaritons