Quelques nouvelles !

From left to right: Anna, Anne-Laurence, John, Gabriel, Alaric, Nicolas, Dominic. Merci John pour avoir organiser cette journée.

Our CFI team grant entitled "Platform for the quantum engineering of low-dimensional materials" was funded at the level of 8.6M$! This proposal includes growth and deposition systems, a significant upgrade to a LEEM microscope, a time-resolved PEEM, a system for pump-probe spectroscopy and coherent optical control, a pulsed and CW EPR, and an ultralow temperature transport system. Bon, je m'en vais au lab m'amuser un peu.

NSERC granted us the funds to acquire a turn-key hands-free narrow linewidth tunable Ti:S along with a resonant second harmonic generator. It will enable high-resolution spectroscopy on impurity defects, quantum dots, and other low-dimensional structures. Furthermore, in collaboration with Stephane and Denis, this tool will provide the means to address several opportunities in the field of quantum optics (efficient spin-photon interfaces, laser cooling in the quantum regime, and quantum spectroscopy techniques). Sur les 60 projets soumis à ce concours, nous avons été classé premier!

Another gift from the very generous folks at NSERC : a turn-key cryostat for high spatial resolution microscopy on 2D materials, singles emitters, hybrid and inorganic materials. Bravo à Stéphane et Denis!

Anne-Laurence and Jean-Francis have published their beautiful polarization-resolved Raman data in Nano Letters. All three reviewers strongly appreciated our work and expressed extremely positive comments. We confirm that anonymous peer evaluation process can sometimes be heartwarming and uplifting. Bravo Anne-Laurence et Jean-Francis!

Philippe has successfully defended his thesis. The jury's decision was "Accepted as is" instead of the usual "Accepted with minor corrections". I had never seen that in 11 years of evaluating theses at Polytechnique and elsewhere. This degree of perfection, from our very own Phillipe, was simply astonishing. Philippe has received a NSERC posdoctoral fellowship and is now postdoc at the CNRS-Marcoussis in the group of J. Bloch. Vive les polaritons!

Philippe has demonstrated that we could intialize the spin of a hole with high fidelity (> 98%) on an ultrafast timescale (< 150ps) without the need for an external magnetic field. This is the fastest and most convenient way to initialize spin in a semiconductor nanostructure. Bravo Philippe!

Gabriel has successfully defended his thesis. Here is an excerpt taken from the repport from the external examiner: "En résumé, les travaux très originaux présentés par M. Gabriel Éthier-Majcher dans un manuscript tout à fait remarquable sont de très grande valeur scientique, et méritent indiscutablement [...] l'obtention du diplôme de doctorat. Gabriel received a NSERC postdoctoral fellowship and is now postdoc in the group of M. Atatüre at the prestigious University of Cambridge.

This year we went hiking in Sutton. From left to right: Osswa, Philippe, John, Jean-Francis, Dominic, Gabriel, Anne-Laurence, Alaric. La vue était splendide.

Jean-Francis and John just started their M.Sc. Jean-Francis works on black phosphorus and John on plasmonic antennas for 2D materials. Bienvenue dans notre équipe!

For the second year in row, we went to majestic Mont-Tremblant, for another hike. From left to right: Kaustubh, Ganesh, Gabriel, Philippe, Dominic, Sébastien, Jean-Francis, Anne-Laurence, and Alaric. Il y avait tant de moustiques qu'il fut difficile de rester immobile pour la photo!

We've got three interns this summer: Dominic from Polytechnique, Ganesh from Bhopal and Kaustubh from Chennai (Madras). Bienvenue au laboratoire de spectroscopie!

Our paper on 2D phosphane is finally out and the media coverage has been great! Bon travail à l'équipe!

In collaboration with Stéphane Kena-Cohen's group, we got the funds to buy a streak-camera . This will allow time-resolving ultra-fast phonemea with at picosecond resolution. Excellent travail Stéphane.

Anne-Laurence receives the prestigious Vanier scholarship from NSERC. She will start her Ph.D. in September and she will work on the quantum control of isoelectronic impurties based qubits. Félicitations Anne-Laurence!

Philippe's paper in PRB was shortlisted by editors and referees for its interest and clarity. The paper is presented on PRB's main page with a short description of the work. Referees can say nice things after all! Does anybody know what the intricate symbol mean?

Gabriel was selected Chercheur étoile by the FRQNT. He received this honor (along with a cash prize) at the Gala Reconnaissance . That is an awesome bowtie Gabriel!

Vipin Kumar is a visiting Ph.D. students from India. He will work on setting up several optical experiments based on a supercontinuum laser for the study of 2D materials. Fearless Vipin traded balmy Guwahati for fridgidly cold Montréal. He survived the transition, but he has not yet fully recovered from the initial thermal shock. Bienvenue Vipin!

One of ours received the Chercheur étoile award from FRQNT. The official announcement has not be made yet, more details to come in February.

A nice view from the trail Le centenaire. From left to right: Nico, David, Ying, Anne-Laurence, Alaric, Gabriel, Matthias, Philippe, Élissa, and Sébastien.

Anne-Laurence and Alexandre did excellent presentations at the first IPS conference held at Michigan State University. The conference guest of honnor, Mildred Desselhaus, publicly praised Anne-Laurence's presentation: " We heard yesterday a great talk on the symmetry of black phosphorus... ". Bon travail Anne-Laurence!

INTRIQ funds the work of Philippe on spin relaxation of charged excitons bound to Te isoelectronic centers in ZnSe. In collaboration with F. Beaudoin et B. Coish de McGill.

FRQNT is funding Alaric's on 2D semiconductors. Félicitations Alaric! ... et merci.

Gabriel's fantasitic data on optical control of excitons revealed the suprinsingly high dipole moment of excitons bound to isoelectronic centers. Quantum control experiments are difficult, but the results are so beautiful!

FRQNT now funds our research on 2D semiconductor materials, which includes transition metal dichalcogenides, 2D-phosphane (black phosphorus) and metal chalcogenides. In collaboration with R. Martel and P. Desjardins.

Gabriel M. got hired by ESI-PyroPhotonics, a subsidiary of the ESI making high power UV lasers. Félicitations Gabriel!