Harald BruneOriginaire de Münich en Allemagne, né en 1961, Harald Brune obtient son diplôme en physique de l'Université Ludwig Maximilians en 1989. Après une thèse en chimie physique à l'Institut Fritz-Haber de la Société Max-Planck à Berlin il obtient son titre de docteur ès sciences en 1992. Dès cela, il rejoint le groupe du Prof. K. Kern à l'Institut de physique expérimentale à l'EPFL. En 1995 il est chercheur invité à Copenhague travaillant en modélisation chez le Prof. J. Nørskov. De retour à l'EPFL, il se voit décerné le prix Latsis EPFL 1996 pour ses études par microscopie à effet tunnel de processus atomiques déterminants la croissance cristalline de couches minces. En 1998 il obtient son habilitation (venia legendi) en Physique et est nommé Maître d'enseignement et de recherche (MER) en nanophysique à l'EPFL. La même année il recoit une offre de Professeur Ordinaire (C4) de l'Université Philipps de Marburg. Début 1999 il réfuse cette offre et accepte un poste de Professeur Extraordinaire à l'EPFL et s'installe au sein de l'Institut de la Physique des Nanostructures. Il est nommé Professeur Ordinaire en 2005. Sa recherche porte sur les propriétés physiques (en particulier le magnétisme et la structure électronique) de nouvelles formes de la matière condensée comme des nanostructures et des couches ultra-minces. Il s'intéresse également à la catalyse hétérogène sur des systèmes inspirés dans leur composition et taille par celle des sites actives dans les enzymes en biologie. Il enseigne la Physique Générale pour ingénieurs, la Physique des matériaux solides pour physiciens, les méthodes expérimentales pour physiciens, ainsi que la Physique des surfaces, interfaces et nanostrcutures à l'école doctorale.
Quy Ong KhacExpertise
Nanoparticle characterizationSurface and interface scienceAnalytical ultracentrifugationCryogenic electron tomographyScanning tunneling microscopy
Current Work
Cryogenic Transmission Electron Tomography (Cryo-ET): Developed Cryo-ET methods as quantitative thermodynamic tools. Studied interaction potentials and other thermodynamic properties of nanoparticles and proteins. Key publications: Ong Q. et al. Materials Horizons, 2022Ekaterina P., Ong, Q. et al. ACS Nano, 2026Analytical Ultracentrifugatio
Thorsten SchmittTeaching & PhD PhD Students Zhijia Zhang Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Yi Tseng Courses Neutron and X-ray Scattering of Quantum Materials PHYS-640 Neutron and X-ray scattering are some of the most powerful and versatile experimental methods to study the structure and dynamics of materials on the atomic scale. This course covers basic theory, instrumentation and scientific applications of these experimental methods.
Anna Fontcuberta i Morral2014 Associate Professor at the Institut des Matériaux, EPFL
2008 Assistant Professor Tenure Track at the Institut des Matériaux, EPFL
2009 Habilitation in Physics, Technische Universität München
2005-2010 Marie Curie Excellence Grant Team Leader at Walter Schottky Institut, Technische Universität München, on leave from Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, France)
2004-2005 Visiting Scientist at the California Institute of Technology, on leave from CNRS; Senior Scientist and co-founder of Aonex Technologies (a startup company for large area layer transfer of InP and Ge on foreign substrates for the main application of multi-junction solar cells)
2003 Permanent Research Fellow at CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, France
2001-2002 Postdoctoral Scholar at the California Institute of Technology
Study of wafer bonding and hydrogen-induced exfoliation processes for integration of mismatched materials in views of photovoltaic applications
Sponsor: Professor Harry A. Atwater
1998-2001 PhD in Materials Science, Ecole Polytechnique
Study of polymorphous silicon: growth mechanisms, optical and structural properties. Application to Solar Cells and Thin Film Transistors
Advisor: Pere Roca i Cabarrocas
1997-1998 Diplôme dEtudes Approfondis (D.E.A.) in Materials Science at Université Paris XI, France .
1993-1997 BA in Physics at Universitat de Barcelona
Philippe BuffatBorn in Lausanne (Switzerland) in 1942. EPUL physics engineer diploma in 1967 and EPFL PhD in physics in 1976. From 1966 he studies at the Experimental Physics Laboratory (Prof. J.P. Borel) the physical properties peculiar to the very small size metal crystals and gets a PhD degree for his thesis "Abaissement de la température de fusion de petits cristaux d'or par effet de taille thermodynamique" (Lowering of the melting temperature of small gold crystals by thermodynamic size effect). In 1971, he starts to develop an electron microscopy facility available to all EPFL students and researchers (nowadays Centre Interdisciplinaire de Microscopie Electronique CIME) that he manages till 2007. In parallel he teaches the principles of electron microscopy and the Experimental methods of physics at the Physics/Basic Sciences School (SB). In addition, he trains a large part of the facility users. Honorary professor BS/EPFL he carries-out a free-lance research at CIME and in collaboration with the Institute of Crystallography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ICRAS, Moscow) and the International Centre of Electron Microscopy for Material Science (IC-EM AGH Krakow) This activity covers all the techniques related to transmission and scanning electron microscopy applied to materials science and solid-state physics. His interest is directed towards the structure of nanocrystals, their size effects and behavior under strong electron irradiation, the phase transitions in perovskites, the characterization of nanophases, multilayer and interface structures of crystalline materials and bioceramics. More recently a large research part has moved to understanding/pointing-out the adequacy between the limits of the instruments and their interpretation means in regard of their use in a multiusers facility with a large turnover and a wide range of materials/structures. He is past-president (2006-2007) of the Société Française des Microscopies (Sfµ), honorary member of the Sfµ and of the Swiss Society of Optics and Microscopy (SSOM).
Francesco StellacciFrancesco Stellacci graduated in Materials Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano in 1998 with a thesis on photochromic polymers with Prof. Giuseppe Zerbi and Mariacarla Gallazzi. In 1999 he moved to the Chemistry Department of the University of Arizona for as a post-doc in the group of Joe Perry in close collaboration with the group of Seth Marder. In 2002 he moved to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an assistant professor. He was then promoted to associate without (2006) and with tenure (2009). In 2010 he moved to the Institute of Materials at EPFL as a full Professor. He holds the Alcan EP Chair. Francesco was one of the recipients of the Technology Review TR35 "35 Innovator under 35" award in 2005, and the Popular Science Magazine "Brilliant 10" award in 2007. He has been a Packard Fellow starting 2005.
Jürgen BruggerI am a Professor of Microengineering and co-affiliated to Materials Science. Before joining EPFL I was at the MESA Research Institute of Nanotechnology at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, and at the Hitachi Central Research Laboratory, in Tokyo, Japan. I received a Master in Physical-Electronics and a PhD degree from Neuchâtel University, Switzerland. Research in my laboratory focuses on various aspects of MEMS and Nanotechnology. My group contributes to the field at the fundamental level as well as in technological development, as demonstrated by the start-ups that spun off from the lab. In our research, key competences are in micro/nanofabrication, additive micro-manufacturing, new materials for MEMS, increasingly for wearable and biomedical applications. Together with my students and colleagues we published over 200 peer-refereed papers and I had the pleasure to supervise over 25 PhD students. Former students and postdocs have been successful in receiving awards and starting their own scientific careers. I am honoured for the appointment in 2016 as Fellow of the IEEE “For contributions to micro and nano manufacturing technology”. In 2017 my lab was awarded an ERC AdvG in the field of advanced micro-manufacturing.
Hubert GiraultEducation: 1979 - Engineering diploma from Grenoble Institute of Technology. FRANCE. 1982 - PhD- Department of Chemistry, University of Southampton. Thesis entitled : Interfacial studies using drop image processing techniques. Positions : 1982 - 1984 SERC Research Fellow. University of Southampton. 1984 - 1985 CNRS Research Fellow. University of Southampton. 1985 - 1992 Lecturer in Physical Chemistry, University of Edinburgh. 1992 - Professor of Physical Chemistry, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. 2011 - 2014 Dean of Bachelor and Master studies Hubert Girault is the author of 2 textbooks, the co-author of about 600 scientific publications with more than 20'000 citations and the co-inventor of more than 15 patents. During his academic career, he has supervised 70 PhD students. 30 alumni of his laboratory are now Professors. Honours: Faraday medal 2006, Royal Society of Chemistry, Fellow of the International Society of Electrochemistry 2007, Reilley Award 2015. Fellow of the Electrochemical Society (USA), Shikata International medal, Polarography Society of Japan. Associate editor of Chemical Science
Harm-Anton KlokExpertise
Polymer design at nanoscaleBiologically-inspired polymers
Mission
Research at the Laboratory of Polymer (LP) focuses on the development of novel advanced polymeric materials with potential applications in optics, electronics or medicine. The philosophy is that precise control over nanoscale structure is an important prerequisite to tailor polymer properties. To this end, a “bottom-up” approach is followed, which starts with designing a new material at the molecular level, in order to be able to pr
Victor Carle Adrien BoureauExpertise
Aberration-corrected TEM and STEMQuantative microscopyElectron diffractionStrain mapping (GPA, precession 4D-STEM)Electric and magnetic field mapping (electron holography, DPC, 4D-STEM)
Teaching & PhD Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Pierpaolo Ranieri Courses Scanning and Analytical Transmission Electron Microscopy MSE-735 This intensive course discusses advanced TEM techniques such as: scanning TEM; analytical TEM using EELS and EDX; aberration corrected imaging; and image s
Kumar Varoon AgrawalExpertise
Prof. Kumar Varoon Agrawal leads research at EPFL on advanced membrane materials and processes for energy-efficient molecular separations. His work focuses on atomically thin porous graphene film, and two-dimensional zeolite & metal–organic framework membranes that enable selective transport of gases and ions, with applications in carbon capture, hydrogen purification, ammonia separation, and resource recovery. By combining materials chemistry, nanofluidics, transport phenomena, atomistic simulati
Thomas La GrangeExpertise
Electron Microscopy, Aberration Correct Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy, Electron Diffraction, Ultrafast Transmission Electron Microscopy, Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy, Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy, Materials Science, High-speed deformation, Dislocation Dynamics, Skyrmionics, Martensitic Phase Transformation Theory, Solidification
Expertise
Electron Microscopy, Aberration Correct Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy, Electron Diffraction, Ultrafast Transmission Electron Micro
Paul Joseph DysonPaul Dyson joined the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering at the EPFL in 2002 where he heads the Laboratory of Organometallic and Medicinal Chemistry and between 2008 and 2016 chaired the Institute. He has won several prizes including the Werner Prize of the Swiss Chemical Society in 2004, the Award for Outstanding Achievements in Bioorganometallic Chemistry in 2010, the Centennial Luigi Sacconi Medal of the Italian Chemical Society in 2011, the Bioinorganic Chemistry Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2015, the European Sustainable Chemistry Award of the European Chemical Society in 2018 and the Green Chemistry Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2020. He is also a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher and has an H-index >110 (web of science and google scholar). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2010, a Fellow of the European Academy of Science in 2019 and a life-long fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2020. Over the years he has held visiting professorships at the University of Bourgogne, University of Pierre et Marie Curie, University of Vienna, University of Rome Tor Vergara, Chimie Paristech and Shangai Jiao Tong University.Since 2016 he has been Member of the Council of the Division of Mathematics, Natural and Engineering Sciences at the Swiss National Science Foundation.Between 2016-2021 he has been Member of the Council of the Division of Mathematics, Natural and Engineering Sciences at the Swiss National Science Foundation. In 2021 he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Basic Sciences.
Olivier MartinOlivier J.F. Martin received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in physics in 1989 and 1994, respectively, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. In 1989, he joined IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, where he investigated thermal and optical properties of semiconductor laser diodes. Between 1994 and 1997 he was a research staff member at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETHZ). In 1997 he received a Lecturer fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). During the period 1996-1999, he spent a year and a half in the U.S.A., as invited scientist at the University of California in San Diego (UCSD). In 2001 he received a Professorship grant from the SNSF and became Professor of Nano-Optics at the ETHZ. In 2003, he was appointed Professor of Nanophotonics and Optical Signal Processing at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL), where he is currently head of the Nanophotonics and Metrology Laboratory and Director of the Microengineering Section.
