Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : ProExcer (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : Budapest University of Technology and Economics — Pays : Hongrie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : BUTE
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Noise is not just a nuisance; it affects our health. No accepted financial data exist for the treatment costs of noise-related health problems, but several studies prove its direct relation to stress hormone levels or cardiovascular deceases, and many public organizations promote low-noise environment to protect health and comfort. Noise reduction has become major field of manufacturers’ competition: noise level data appear on domestic machines from mixers to dishwashers, brand names with ‘whisper’ or ‘silence’ are popular, aircrafts are successful due to their low noise levels. The efficient way to reduce noise is the elimination of its source that is usually vibration of some machine elements. Vibration elimination is relevant in the development of electric and self-driving cars where control panels and MEMS devices are sensitive for high-frequency excitations in the same way as high-performance machine tools are with aims at (sub)micron cutting precision. Methods of vibration reduction are based on the so-called modal testing that identifies the machines’ dynamic properties like natural frequencies. The test requires accurate broadband excitation. Commercial exciters have several drawbacks; one of these is the limited applicability for moving targets, rotating shafts. In the ERC Advanced Grant “SIREN”, a patent application was submitted and the pre-prototype of a ball shooter was constructed to excite spindles of machining centres by ball impacts. Experiments with the pre-prototype proved that the contact time is one order of magnitude shorter than that of standard impulse tests, while the force signal is near ideal: prall-free impulses with 30 kHz bandwidth were generated. Potential industrial end-users and distributors expressed interest in case a prototype is developed with accurately tuneable impact time/location together with precise online detection of impact direction for moving objects. These tasks form the work packages and deliverables of the proposal.

Mots-clés : noise reduction,vibration elimination,vibration testing,impact exciter,prall free,automatic spatial impulse measurement
Projet ERC : SensStabComp (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Mathematics
Entité participante : Reichman University — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1569500.0 €

Noise sensitivity and noise stability of Boolean functions, percolation, and other models were introduced in a paper by Benjamini, Kalai, and Schramm (1999) and were extensively studied in the last two decades. We propose to extend this study to various stochastic and combinatorial models, and to explore connections with computer science, quantum information, voting methods and other areas. The first goal of our proposed project is to push the mathematical theory of noise stability and noise sensitivity forward for various models in probabilistic combinatorics and statistical physics. A main mathematical tool, going back to Kahn, Kalai, and Linial (1988), is applications of (high-dimensional) Fourier methods, and our second goal is to extend and develop these discrete Fourier methods. Our third goal is to find applications toward central old-standing problems in combinatorics, probability and the theory of computing. The fourth goal of our project is to further develop the ``argument against quantum computers'' which is based on the insight that noisy intermediate scale quantum computing is noise stable. This follows the work of Kalai and Kindler (2014) for the case of noisy non-interacting bosons. The fifth goal of our proposal is to enrich our mathematical understanding and to apply it, by studying connections of the theory with various areas of theoretical computer science, and with the theory of social choice.

Mots-clés : boolean functions,noise stability,noise sensitivity,combinatorics,extremal combinatorics,probabilistic combinatorics,percolation,noisy quantum computing,bosonsampling
Projet ERC : OPTOACOUSTOGENETICS (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : University of Zurich — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UZH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1689061.83 €

Non-invasive observation of fast spatiotemporal activity patterns of large neural populations distributed over entire brains is a longstanding goal of neuroscience. Not only would such abilities significantly promote our knowledge on brain function and its pathophysiology but they are also expected to accelerate development of novel therapies targeting neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. The progress is hampered by the limited capacity of state-of-the-art functional neuroimaging tools, which do not permit simultaneous monitoring of whole-brain activity with an adequate spatiotemporal resolution. Our recently developed five-dimensional optoacoustic tomography technique is ideally poised to overcome these limitations – it has shown excellent capacity for imaging intrinsic contrast in entire brains of vertebrates and rodents non-invasively; delivers unmatched temporal resolution in the milliseconds range for true volumetric imaging in real time; capable of label-free observations of hemodynamic changes and sensitive to genetic markers of neural activity. Yet, several fundamental challenges ought to be addressed before true potential of optoacoustic functional neuroimaging is unveiled. First, optoacoustic monitoring of fast neural activation under physiologically relevant stimuli and in real disease models has not been achieved. Furthermore, a variety of acoustic effects introduced by the skull compromise performance of optoacoustics in transcranial imaging of murine models, further hindering its clinical translation potential. Finally, technology needs to be developed that can deliver information from single neurons while maintaining high volumetric imaging speed. By resolving those challenges, the current project will yield a unique and groundbreaking functional neuroimaging method that can truly transform the existing paradigms in neuroscience by delivering real time information from hundreds of thousands or even millions of neurons simultaneously.

Mots-clés : optoacoustic tomography,brain,functional imaging,real time,ultrasound
Projet ERC : XHaLe (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Hannover Medical School — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : MHH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1989250.0 €

Non-neoplastic lung diseases (NNLD), such as COPD and interstitial lung diseases rank second among the causes of death and NNLD appear as a growing EU wide challenge. They are characterized by irreversible remodeling with a relentless loss of lung function and a 5-year survival of only 30%. This dysfunctional reaction to injury can be triggered by particulate matters with macrophages (MO) as the key regulators. Wholesale therapeutic suppression of the inflammome actually increases the risk of death, whereas targeted therapy of signalling cascades by novel pharmaceuticals, e.g. nintedanib, only slows disease progression. Thus lung transplantation remains the ultima ratio. However, available grafts are limited, treatment costs are high and the 5-year survival barely surpasses 50%. Therefore novel approaches to understand, prevent and ultimately cure NNLDs are urgently needed. Towards this goal my group focusses on both, the main effector cell in NNLD, the myofibroblast, and the inflammome and particularly MOs, as these orchestrate both, lung healing and remodeling. Modulating the pulmonary immune system, rather than subduing it, holds significant promise. To this end, we have to understand the very early events in NNLDs. There are 2 major obstacles for efficient research: i) the lack of adequate animal models and ii) the availability of human specimens. Therefore we established a unique platform for NNLD: we utilize fresh explanted human lungs from Europe’s largest LuTx program and set up a singular 24h/7d workflow, ensuring short ischemia and tissue viability. In the last years, we have worked up over 500 lungs, acted as an international multiplier for pulmonary research, patented new imaging techniques and described novel diseases. Our understanding MO biology in NNLDs showed us the great potential in macrophages. Now we are going to use these macrophages as potential therapeutics. Hereby we will make a difference in translational medicine in Europe and the world.

Mots-clés : non neoplastic lung diseases,lung transplantation,lung remodelling,organ dysfunction,macrophages,fibrose
Projet ERC : SOFT (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
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 : 120000.0 €

Non-volatility is the main physical feature that fast memories, such as SRAM, are still lacking. Non-volatile memories could increase computing performance while reducing significantly the power consumption. The only viable option for sub-ns nonvolatile memory is the Spin Orbit Torque Magnetic Random Access Memory (SOT-MRAM). The main roadblock towards the integration of the SOT-MRAM is that the reproducible bipolar switching requires the application of a static in plane magnetic field. “Zero-field” SOT switching is still a challenge, which motivates active research on this topic. Within the “SMART Design” ERC-StG project, we are developing an innovative approach for this problem. We discovered that it is possible to determine the switching polarity by the shape of the magnetic free layer. This approach meets all the physical requirements for the SRAM replacement (scalability, switching time, switching current…), but the nano-fabrication of devices with complex shapes using standard u-v lithography tools is difficult and expensive. Here we propose to develop an innovative fabrication technique, adapted for complex shapes, based on ion irradiation. The technology provider is participating to the project, while the potential end-user of this technology is an external collaborator.

Mots-clés : spin orbit torque,magnetic random access memory,ion irradiation
Projet ERC : NEUTRINO (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Delft University of Technology — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU Delft
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1337907.0 €

Nonlinear effects are ubiquitous in many modern technology fields such as photonics and hydromechanical engineering. The standard method to deal with nonlinear effects is to use linear approximations because they are simple to work with. Engineers typically consider nonlinear effects a nuisance that cannot be dealt with in exact terms. This intuition is deeply engrained in the collective subconscious, but it is not always correct -- not all nonlinearities are equally bad. Many practically important nonlinear systems can be approached using so-called nonlinear Fourier transforms, which offer simple closed-form descriptions for nonlinear phenomena that are difficult to work with in the conventional time- or frequency-domain, similar to how the conventional Fourier transform simplifies the analysis of linear systems. Today, almost fifty years after the discovery of the first nonlinear Fourier transform by Gardner et al., nonlinear Fourier transforms have been studied intensively in mathematics and physics. However, despite many potential applications, they have not yet found widespread use in engineering. The lack of efficient numerical algorithms for the computation of nonlinear Fourier transforms similar to the celebrated fast Fourier transform is the major roadblock. I have recently been able to present the first “fast nonlinear Fourier transforms”, but most of this work so far was concerned with signals that obey vanishing boundary conditions. This is the simplest, but not the practically most relevant case. Periodic and Dirichlet boundary conditions occur frequently in practical applications, but their treatment is much more difficult. I aim to push nonlinear Fourier transform into engineering practice by developing fast nonlinear Fourier transforms for two prototypical applications, fiber-optic communications and water-wave data analysis.
Projet ERC : Chi2-Nano-Oxides (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
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 : 1500000.0 €

Nonlinear optics is present in our daily life with applications, e.g. light sources for microsurgery or green laser pointer. All of them use bulk materials such as glass fibers or crystals. Generating nonlinear effects from materials at the nanoscale would expand the applications to biology as imaging markers or optoelectronic integrated devices. However, nonlinear signals scale with the volume of a material. Therefore finding materials with high nonlinearities to avoid using high power and large interaction length is challenging. Many studies focus on third order nonlinearities (described by a χ(3) tensor) present in every material (silicon, graphene…) or on metals for enhancing nonlinearities with plasmonics. My approach is to explore second-order χ(2) nanomaterials, since they show higher nonlinearities than χ(3) ones, additional properties such as birefringence, wide band gap for transparency, high refractive index (n>2), and no ohmic losses. Typical χ(2) materials are oxides (BaTiO3, LiNbO3…) with a non-centrosymmetric crystal used for wavelength conversion like in second-harmonic generation (SHG). The key idea is to demonstrate original strategies to enhance SHG of χ(2) nano-oxides with the material itself and without involving any hybrid effects from other materials such as plasmonic resonances of metals. First, I propose to use multiple Mie resonances from BaTiO3 nanoparticles to boost SHG in the UV to NIR range. Up to now, Mie effects at the nanoscale have been measured in materials with no χ(2) nonlinearities (silicon spheres). Second, since χ(2) oxides are difficult to etch, I will overcome this fabrication issue by demonstrating solution processed imprint lithography to form high-quality photonic crystal cavities from nanoparticles. Third, I will use facet processing of single LiNbO3 nanowire to obtain directionality effects for spectroscopy on-a-chip. This work fosters applications and commercial devices offering a sustainable future to this field.

Mots-clés : perovskite nanomaterials,lithium niobate,barium titanate,mie scattering,dielectric particle,solution processed photonic crystal,nanoimprint lithography,nanowire,ultrafast photonics
Projet ERC : SCEON (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : Dutch Research Council — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : NWO
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2495625.0 €

Novel developments in optical technology increasingly depend on control of light at the nanoscale. To study light at this small length scale it is essential to employ techniques that can excite and image light at the nanoscale. In recent years, my group has explored cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy for this purpose. Based on the exciting potential of this technique, I propose to design and construct a new time- and angle-resolved CL microscope that exploits the primary electron beam as a coherent optical excitation source with deep-subwavelength spatial resolution. We will use the new instrument to address four challenges that will provide new insight in the behaviour of light at the nanoscale. Specifically, we will: (1) use CL microscopy to excite and characterize ultra-short wavelength-plasmons on graphene. We will create 3D tomographic reconstructions of the local optical density of states in resonant plasmonic and dielectric nanostructures. (2) determine 2D and 3D spatially-resolved ultrafast carrier recombination processes in resonant semiconductor photovoltaic nanostructures and reveal the radiative properties of single quantum emitters. (3) develop CL momentum spectroscopy to reveal embedded eigenstates in dielectric photonic crystals and topological photonic protection in complex three-dimensional architectures. (4) develop CL polarimetry in combination with phase-resolved CL detection to study electric and magnetic polarizabilities in nanoscale light emitters and to control the orbital angular momentum of light. The proposed program will firmly establish time- and angle-resolved CL imaging spectroscopy as a key deep-subwavelength nanoscopy tool to investigate the interplay of electric and magnetic fields that constitute light at the nano scale, and will enable applications in photovoltaics, solid-state lighting, photonic and optoelectronic integrated circuits, quantum communication, sensing and metrology.

Mots-clés : nanophotonics,cathodoluminescence,subwavelength imaging
Projet ERC : NMRNTECH (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : University of Stuttgart — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometry is the most widely used method in the spectrometry market. With applications in various areas such as geo exploration, material quality control, drug development, and biomedical imaging, NMR provides rich spectroscopic information of the structure for material analyses. Therefore, for advancing human health and science, NMR spectrometry and also microfluidics are widely adopted technologies in studying biological processes and thus utilised in many biomedical applications. However, given its low sensitivity, the technique is only applicable to large specimens. This proof-of-concept project develops novel atomic-size defect centres in diamond, which are superior to the current state-of-the-art magnetic field sensors in terms of spatial resolution, sensitivity and rugged design. Initial tests with single sensing defects confirm estimates on the achievable spatial resolution down to a few nanometers and reduction of volumetric sensitivity by factor of 108 as compared to the existing technologies. Through achieving this level, we are able to bring the full functionality and integration of NMR, i.e. molecular specificity to micro analytics. Therefore, the improvement of NMR sensitivity and the development of nanoscale NMR imaging, promises revolutionary impacts on the areas of bioscience and spectrometry technology, which in turn enables new applications in areas such as nanotechnology and bioanalytics. In this project, we’ll (1) demonstrate integration of a diamond-based NMR sensor into a microfluidic device and in magnetic storage system. To best prepare for the post-PoC commercialisation we’ll (2) test the NMR device in real-life industrial application, i.e. in characterization of hard-dick’s write-head. Moreover, we’ll also (3) carry out pre-commercialisation and networking activities, and (4) plan for the commercialisation of the novel NMR microfluidic sensor technology.

Mots-clés : atomic scale diamond magnetometers,optical defect centres,high magnet field sensitivity,nanometer scale resolution,micro fluidic sensors,write head,hard disk drives,commercialisation
Projet ERC : HyperULFNMR (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Entité participante : Max Planck Society — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : MPG
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a powerful technique that is widely applied for chemical analysis, structural biology and for medical imaging. Despite its versatility, NMR is inherently insensitive. To overcome sensitivity challenges, hyperpolarization methods were developed that enhance NMR signals by over 10,000-fold. Hyperpolarized molecules have mainly been used in standard high-field imaging as contrast agents to directly observe metabolism. Most of the contrast agents have a traceability of up to 3 minutes until the hyperpolarized signal is depleted, limiting the scope of applications. Contrast agents that are observable for longer time periods (> 10 minutes) hence promise new opportunities to probe physiological function in vivo, exceeding the state-of-the-art. Long hyperpolarization storage is especially possible in many chemicals species at ultra-low magnetic fields (< 10 millitesla), more than 1000-fold lower than typical NMR systems. My overarching goal is to introduce a novel concept of functional contrast agents using the advantages of ultra-low field (ULF) NMR spectroscopy. I will show that these contrast agents are even of interest for cancer diagnostics. In addition to a long traceability, different structural information of molecules become available in the ULF regime that I am planning to explore to design contrast agents: Changes of electron-mediated couplings between nuclear spins of different elements can be determined with unprecedented precision in the ULF regime. I have already extensively worked on this challenge and have constructed ULF-NMR devices and analyzed how molecules change their coupling patterns under ULF conditions. In addition, I have made great progress in designing molecules that can be hyperpolarized and the polarization stored for tens of minutes. Success in this project will open a gate towards better functional magnetic resonance, both for research purposes and for affordable cancer diagnostics.

Mots-clés : low field nmr,ultra low field  ulf,hyperpolarization