Institut Fresnel (IF/AMU)

About IF:

The Institut Fresnel (IF) is a research laboratory created in 1999 with the aim of federating on the Campus de l'étoile (Marseille Saint Jérôme) all the skills in optics, electromagnetism and photonics, image and signal. This Institute emerged from the merger of three research units associated with the CNRS, the University of Aix-Marseille (AMU) and the École Centrale Marseille (ECM). The Institute has been directed successively by Claude Amra (2000-2008), Hugues Giovannini (2008-2012), Stefan Enoch (2012 to 2019) and Sophie Brasselet (from 2020).

The Institut Fresnel is a Joint Research Unit (UMR 7249) and currently includes 195 researchers, teacher-researchers and PhD students divided into 14 research teams. Its dominant scientific themes relate to optics and imaging, more specifically in the fields of Photonics, Electromagnetism, Image Processing, Signal Processing, Metamaterials, Random Waves, Advanced Imaging, Biophotonics, Biomedical Imaging, Nanophotonics, Plasmonics, Optical Components, Damage and Laser processes. Since 2015, the Institut Fresnel has a "Photonic Space" where all the optical filter manufacturing units (Optical Thin Films) are gathered. Since September 2010, the laboratory is finally the coordinator of the Erasmus Europhotonics program led by Aix Marseille University and funded by the European Union.

Source: Wikipedia (2022).

Editorial:

Since its creation in 2000, the Institut Fresnel has progressively grown with a high scientific expertise in various topics related to the physics of waves. More recently, the lab has been joined by other activities in biology, biophysics and biomedical sciences, with a strong link to imaging.

The research topics of the lab cover today four axes: electromagnetic modeling and simulation, nanophotonics and optical components, information processing and random waves, and advanced imaging and life Science. The synergies between these axes are very strong and give rise to novel projects, often at the frontier between different disciplines. These projects can be fundamental or applied, with a strong potential for innovation, which the lab supports through several technological platforms.

The Institut Fresnel is supported by several institutions, Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS and Centrale Marseille. Nearly two hundred persons work today in the lab, with a total budget of about 9 M€.

I invite you to browse through this website to discover or better know the Fresnel Institute, its people, its activities and its news. 

Sophie Brasselet

Director of the Fresnel Institute

Source: Institut Fresnel website (2022)

Aix-Marseille University (AMU)

About AMU:

Aix-Marseille University (AMU; French: Aix-Marseille Université; formally incorporated as Université d'Aix-Marseille) is a public research university located in the Provence region of southern France. It was founded in 1409 when Louis II of Anjou, Count of Provence, petitioned the Pisan Antipope Alexander V to establish the University of Provence, making it one of the oldest university-level institutions in France. The institution came into its current form following a reunification of the University of Provence, the University of the Mediterranean and Paul Cézanne University. The reunification became effective on 1 January 2012, resulting in the creation of the largest university in the French-speaking world, with about 80,000 students. AMU has the largest budget of any academic institution in the Francophone world, standing at €750 million. It is consistently ranked among the top 200 universities in the world and is ranked within the top 5 universities in France according to ARWU, USNWR, and CWTS.

The university is organized around five main campuses situated in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille. Apart from its major campuses, AMU owns and operates facilities in Arles, Aubagne, Avignon, Digne-les-Bains, Gap, La Ciotat, Lambesc and Salon-de-Provence. The university is headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Marseille.

AMU has produced many notable alumni in the fields of law, politics, business, science, academia and arts. To date, there have been four Nobel Prize laureates amongst its alumni and faculty, as well as a two-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, four César Award winners, multiple heads of state or government, parliamentary speakers, government ministers, ambassadors and members of the constituent academies of the Institut de France.

AMU has hundreds of research and teaching partnerships, including close collaboration with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). AMU is a member of numerous academic organisations including the European University Association (EUA) and the Mediterranean Universities Union (UNIMED).

Source: Wikipedia (2022)