Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Wideband Integrated Photonics For Accessible Biomedical Diagnostics (WIPFAB)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Systems and communication engineering
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2017-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3062006.0
EU funding (EUR): 3062006.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Photonic technologies are set to revolutionise our access to chemical and biochemical information, driven by demand for fast, low-cost, automated chemical analysis in applications from food safety, water quality, security, personal and preventative medicine, pharmacogenetics to point-of-care diagnostics. The low cost and robustness of microfabrication approaches which enabled the mobile phone and digital camera are expected to lead to similarly widespread deployment of chemical and bioanalytical microsystems. Optical techniques play a major role in quantitative chemical analysis and are the mainstay of detection in “lab-on-chip” systems, but the degree of optical functionality integrated in these systems remains extremely limited, and they have yet to benefit fully from the recent massive growth in photonics communications technologies. Photonic technologies for telecommunications operate in the near infra-red (NIR) wavelength region from 800nm – 1800nm, driven by the spectral transmission window in silica optical fibre. However, the ideal molecular “fingerprint” region for biochemical analysis is dominated by the mid infra-red (MIR) spectral region. Biosensor and lab-on-chip research and commercialisation have both been severely hampered by the lack of an integrated photonic platform which can operate over both the NIR and MIR spectral ranges, and which would enable new opportunities for sensitive, selective, label-free biochemical analysis. This programme sets out to advance the frontiers of biophotonics research in MIR materials systems, integrated photonic components for biochemical analysis and nanostructured photonic materials for light control. New approaches to clinical point-of-care diagnostics will be enabled by realising a mass-manufacturable monolithically-integrated photonics/optofluidic technology for chemical and biochemical analysis in the near and mid-infrared, exploiting advanced spectroscopic techniques for accessible biomedical diagnostic

Keywords: integrated optics,optical waveguides,biosensors,lab-on-a-chip,biomedical diagnostics,mid infra-red
Ultra-luminous supernovae : understanding their nature and cosmic evolution (ULTRAS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Universe sciences
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2017-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2315044.01
EU funding (EUR): 2315044.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Until the last few years, all of the exploding stars in the Universe were thought to be of two types : core-collapse of a massive star or thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf. The advent of wide-field synoptic sky surveys has opened up a new parameter space which allows very large volumes of the Universe to be searched for explosive stars. A new class of "ultra-luminous" supernovae have been discovered that challenge our physical understanding. These optical transients are typically 20-100 times brighter than normal supernovae and the physical mechanism that produces their huge luminosity is not well understood. A proportion of them may be “pair-instability” supernovae, which have been predicted only to exist in the early Universe and result from the evolution of Population III metal free stars. The existence of this ultra-luminous population of explosions in the nearby Universe is now certain, but what their nature is and what fraction really are “pair-instability” supernovae remains to be determined. The Pan-STARRS is a novel wide-field synoptic telescope survey which sweeps the sky to find moving objects and optical transients. I have secured leadership roles in the survey which will allow me to quantify this population of ultra-luminous supernovae at low and high redshift and to uncover their true nature. This will pave the way for searching for them at the highest redshifts with future space missions, possibly pushing into the era of reonization at z ~ 6, and determining whether the first supernovae in the Universe can be observed. Theoretical calculations for the number of Population III supernovae (from the first stars) have predicted low numbers of detections. The recent surprising discovery that these pair-instability supernovae may exist in the local Universe, and appear confined to low-metallicity galaxies, could potentially alter these predictions dramatically.

Keywords: supernovae,optical transients
Smart Gates for the "Green" Transistor (SMARTGATE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Systems and communication engineering
Countries involved: Greece
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2016-07-31
Duration (months): 55.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1221611.0
EU funding (EUR): 1221611.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Ultra-low voltage/power operation is expected to be an important requirement for future nanoelectronics allowing more dense and fast circuits on one hand and enabling the operation of energy efficient intelligent autonomous systems on the other. In present day devices quite a lot of power is consumed during switching since it requires a minimum bias of 60 mV on the gate to overcome a potential barrier and increase the transistor current by a decade, a process which is fundamentally limited by thermal Boltzmann statistics. We propose the development of novel negative capacitance “smart” gates with a positive feedback and internal amplification to overcome the “Boltzmann tyranny” and obtain steeper slope “green” transistors capable of operating at very low voltage. Metallic systems with a low density of states could provide the required dominant negative contributions to the capacitance due to strong carrier correlation effects. Such metallic systems made of 2D Dirac fermions with linear dispersion bands are supported in graphene and on the surface of the newly discovered topological insulators having the very interesting property that they offer a nearly zero density of states at the band crossing near the charge neutral point. We propose here the graphene and Bi2Se3-based topological insulators as the key components of the targeted “smart” gates. We aim at developing complex gate structures facing the challenges of growth of high purity and high crystalline quality graphene and Bi2Se3 thin films in combination with conventional dielectrics and metals on Si semiconductor in an effort to obtain the required properties and ensure their robust functionality at room temperature. Possible negative capacitance effects will be investigated in terms of generic capacitor electrical characterization, while transistor devices with optimum smart gates will be fabricated to prove the principle of steep slope switching.

Keywords: topological insulators,quantum capacitance,graphene,negative capacitance,molecular beam epitaxy,low power fiield effect transistors
An astronomical perspective on Earth's geological record and evolution of life (ASTROGEOBIOSPHERE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: ERC Advanced Grant Interdisciplinary Panel
Countries involved: Sweden
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2017-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1950000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1950000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project will develop the use of relict, extraterrestrial minerals in Archean to Cenozoic slowly formed sediments as tracers of events in the solar system and cosmos, and to decipher the possible relation between such events and evolution of life and environmental change on Earth. There has been consensus that it would not be possible to reconstruct variations in the flux of different types of meteorites to Earth through the ages. Meteorite falls are rare and meteorites weather and decay rapidly on the Earth surface. However, the last years we have developed the first realistic approach to circumvent these problems. Almost all meteorite types contain a small fraction of spinel minerals that survives weathering and can be recovered from large samples of condensed sediments of any age. Inside the spinels we can locate by synchrotron-light X-ray tomography 1-30 micron sized inclusions of most of the other minerals that made up the original meteorite. With cutting-edge frontier microanalyses such as Ne-21 (solar wind, galactic rays), oxygen isotopes (meteorite group and type) and cosmic ray tracks (supernova densities) we will be able to unravel from the geological record fundamental new information about the solar system at specific times through the past 3.8 Gyr. Variations in flux and types of meteorites may reflect solar-system and galaxy gravity disturbances as well as the sequence of disruptions of the parent bodies for meteorite types known and not yet known. Cosmic-ray tracks in spinels may identify the galactic year (230 Myr) in the geological record. For the first time it will be possible to systematically relate major global biotic and tectonic events, changes in sea-level, climate and asteroid and comet impacts to what happened in the larger astronomical realm. In essence, the project is a robust approach to establish a pioneer "astrostratigraphy" for Earth's geological record, complementing existing bio-, chemo-, and magnetostratigraphies.

Keywords: meteorite flux,cosmic-rays,solar-system gravity perturbation,sea-level change,asteroid impacts,galactic year,extraterrestrial spinels,evolution of life,chromite,micrometeorites
Diffraction Based Transmission X-ray Microscopy (D-TXM)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Materials and Synthesis
Countries involved: Denmark
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-10-01
End date: 2017-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2499860.0
EU funding (EUR): 2499860.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The aim of this project is to develop a diffraction based transmission X-ray microscope, d-TXM, for non-destructive structural characterization of polycrystalline materials such as metals, ceramics, semiconductors, dust, soil and rocks, and for R&D applications in e.g. the energy-, electronics- and environmental sectors. Uniquely, d-TXM will be able to visualise the grains inside 100 micrometer thick specimens with a spatial resolution of 10-30 nm. Up to a thousand grains may be mapped simultaneously in three dimensions with respect to morphology, phase, orientation and local stress-state. Furthermore, the method will be sufficiently fast to enable the acquisition of 3D movies of the time evolution of the structure in nano-materials and components during synthesis, processing or operation. During the last decade the applicant pioneered and matured a set of X-ray based methods for 3D studies of polycrystals on the micrometre scale. For this achievement, he is recognized as a worldwide leading figure in X-ray instrumentation for structural materials, situated at a nodal point between materials, X-ray physics, applied mathematics and crystallography. The underlying vision of d-TXM is similar to this past work, but in terms of optics the microscopy approach is radically different and the spatial resolution will be two orders of magnitude better. In this project, the scientific potential will be demonstrated by means of applications to selected issues in metallurgy. Being able to directly observe the evolution of the individual crystalline elements, our understanding of processes such as plasticity and phase evolution can be greatly enhanced. Dissemination to other fields will take place via an advisory board of future users and a workshop. Continuity of the project is ensured by the technique being implemented at the European Synchrotron Research Facility.

Keywords: x-ray diffraction,nano-science,microscopy,tomography,synchrotron,tem,metals,plastic deformation
Detecting massive-planet/brown-dwarf/low-mass-stellar companions with the beaming effect (BEAMING)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Universe sciences
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2016-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1737600.5
EU funding (EUR): 1737600.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

I propose to lead an international observational effort to characterize the population of massive planets, brown dwarf and stellar secondaries orbiting their parent stars with short periods, up to 10-30 days. The effort will utilize the superb, accurate, continuous lightcurves of more than hundred thousand stars obtained recently by two space missions – CoRoT and Kepler. I propose to use these lightcurves to detect non-transiting low-mass companions with a new algorithm, BEER, which I developed recently together with Simchon Faigler. BEER searches for the beaming effect, which causes the stellar intensity to increase if the star is moving towards the observer. The combination of the beaming effect with other modulations induced by a low-mass companion produces periodic modulation with a specific signature, which is used to detect small non-transiting companions. The accuracy of the space mission lightcurves is enough to detect massive planets with short periods. The proposed project is equivalent to a radial-velocity survey of tens of thousands of stars, instead of the presently active surveys which observe only hundreds of stars. We will use an assortment of telescopes to perform radial velocity follow-up observations in order to confirm the existence of the detected companions, and to derive their masses and orbital eccentricities. We will discover many tens, if not hundreds, of new massive planets and brown dwarfs with short periods, and many thousands of new binaries. The findings will enable us to map the mass, period, and eccentricity distributions of planets and stellar companions, determine the upper mass of planets, understand the nature of the brown-dwarf desert, and put strong constrains on the theory of planet and binary formation and evolution.

Keywords: extra-solar planets---close binary stars---spectroscopic binaries
Discrete Quantum Simulator (DQSIM)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Fundamental constituents of matter
Countries involved: Germany,Germany
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2017-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2575573.0
EU funding (EUR): 2575573.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

We propose to build a two-dimensional (2D) discrete quantum simulator based on ensembles of ultracold neutral atoms. In this system all degrees of freedom will be controlled at the quantum limit: the number and positions of the atoms, as well as their internal (qubit) and vibrational states. The dynamics is implemented by discrete steps of spin-dependent transport combined with controlled cold collisions of the atoms. Although numerous theoretical studies have considered this architecture as the most promising route to quantum simulation, it has not yet been realized experimentally in all essential aspects. This simulator allows us to study dynamical properties of single-particle and many-body systems in engineered 2D environments. In single particle discrete systems, also known as quantum walks, we plan to investigate transport properties connected to graphene-like Dirac points, and localization phenomena associated with disorder. In the many-particle setting we will realize 2D cluster states as needed for measurement-based quantum computation, as well as simple quantum cellular automata.

Keywords: quantum simulator,spin-dependent transport,physics in 2 dimensions,cluster states
Understanding ion transport in nanoporous carbons; application to energy storage and sustainable development (IONACES)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Materials and Synthesis
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2017-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1494050.4
EU funding (EUR): 1494050.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Electrochemical Double-Layer Capacitors Electrochemical Capacitors (EDLC) are promising devices for clean energy storage applications. In EDLCs, the charges are stored electrostatically at the electrolyte / electrode interface, which confers them high power and cycling capabilities. Until recently, it was believed that charge storage in porous carbon EDLC electrodes could be achieved only if the pore size of the carbon was larger than the electrolyte ions with their solvation shells. Using Carbides Derived Carbons (CDCs) which have controlled pore sizes between 0.6 nm and 1.1 nm, we recently demonstrated that high capacitive performances could be obtained when the pore size is smaller than the solvated ion size. The origin of this capacitance increase is still unclear despite important modelling efforts achieved by many research groups. Using our fine-tuned, controlled pore size CDCs carbons with narrow pore size distribution, we propose here an integrated approach combining the use of experimental electrochemical methods (EQCM, EIS, CV…) and in-situ analytical techniques (NMR, XRD), to computational modelling (Molecular Dynamics, Monte Carlo and Reverse Monte Carlo methods) to elucidate the ion transport and adsorption mechanisms inside nanopores. A direct application of this fundamental approach concerns the energy storage with supercapacitors. Thanks to the unique features offered by the CDCs, we propose to develop the next generation of high-energy density micro-supercapacitors from bulk CDC films. The evidence of the increase of the capacitive ion adsorption associated with ion partial desolvation in micropores is also of great interest in different areas such as water desalination. CDCs, which have demonstrated volumetric capacitance improvement of 100% compared to activated carbon for supercapacitor application, are appealing materials for water desalination applications, which will be the last part of the project.

Keywords: microporous materials,energy storage
Theory of Two-Dimensional Materials: Graphene and Beyond (GRAPHENE AND BEYOND)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Condensed matter physics
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-10-01
End date: 2013-10-31
Duration (months): 13.0
Total project cost (EUR): 430271.0
EU funding (EUR): 430271.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This projects aims to explore physics of the new class of materials: atomically thin films of layered crystals. Graphene, because of its extraordinary electronic properties, will be a major focus of this project. In view of application of graphene in electronics, we shall model electronic transport and dynamical properties of devices based upon epitaxial graphene (monolayer and bilayer), graphene deposited on atomically flat substrates, and chemically modified graphene. In the family of graphene, the bilayer allotrope is the less understood, though it has already been discovered to have quite unique electronic properties, and we shall develop theories of the electron-electron correlation effects, quantum transport and quantum Hall effect in bilayer graphene. But beyond graphene, we shall also investigate electronic properties of ultrathin films of hexagonal boron nitride on account of its insulating and optical properties, and on account of their use in hybrid devices such as graphene/h-BN based transistors. In parallel, we shall search for new opportunities in the world of two-dimensional materials beyond graphene. For this, we shall model theoretically electronic properties, correlations effects, optical properties, and electronic transport properties of single layers and bilayers of hexagonal transition-metal dichalcogenides with a broad range of composition and ultrathin films of bismuth-based trichalcogenides.

Keywords: graphene,quantum transport
ProofCert: Broad Spectrum Proof Certificates (PROOFCERT)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Computer science and informatics
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2016-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2201589.0
EU funding (EUR): 2201589.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

There is little hope that the world will know secure software if we cannot make greater strides in the practice of formal methods: hardware and software devices with errors are routinely turned against their users. The ProofCert proposal aims at building a foundation that will allow a broad spectrum of formal methods---ranging from automatic model checkers to interactive theorem provers---to work together to establish formal properties of computer systems. This project starts with a wonderful gift to us from decades of work by logicians and proof theorist: their efforts on logic and proof has given us a universally accepted means of communicating proofs between people and computer systems. Logic can be used to state desirable security and correctness properties of software and hardware systems and proofs are uncontroversial evidence that statements are, in fact, true. The current state-of-the-art of formal methods used in academics and industry shows, however, that the notion of logic and proof is severely fractured: there is little or no communication between any two such systems. Thus any efforts on computer system correctness is needlessly repeated many time in the many different systems: sometimes this work is even redone when a given prover is upgraded. In ProofCert, we will build on the bedrock of decades of research into logic and proof theory the notion of proof certificates. Such certificates will allow for a complete reshaping of the way that formal methods are employed. Given the infrastructure and tools envisioned in this proposal, the world of formal methods will become as dynamic and responsive as the world of computer viruses and hackers has become.

Keywords: proof certificates,theorem proving,model checking,proof theory