A. Clark 1

Section de Physique – University of Geneva

http://www.unige.ch/sciences/physique/index.html

- Département de physique théorique (DPT)

- Départment de physique de matière condensée (DPMC)

+ lead house MANEP (NCCR Excellence Centre)

- Département de physique nucléaire et corpusculaire (DPNC)

- Groupe de physique appliquée (GAP)

Département d’Astronomie – University of Geneva

- Observatoire de Genève

- Integral Science Data Centre (ISDC)

- CAP (a new initiative loosely linking DPT, DPNC, ISDC)March 2011

A. Clark 2

Bologna System

- 6 semester Bachelor

- 2 semester course work + 1 semester thesis Master

- 3 year Doctorate ( typically 4 years, maximum 5 years)

Bachelor courses include 2 years of general courses and laboratory. The third year includes introductory courses in each of

– Astronomy and Cosmology

– Nuclear and Particle Physics

– Condensed Matter Physics

– A wide range of optional and advanced courses

– The ERASMUS program is widely used for student exchange

Master and Doctoral programs available in each of the departments, with specialisation in the research programs of the department and specialised advanced course work

– Exchanges and equivalences between different universities are now widely encouraged

– Excellence Bursaries are now available (Faculty of Science)

March 2011

Teaching

A. Clark 3

Øystein Fischer (head Manep)– scanning tunneling spectroscopy of novel superconductors, the high Tc family and the

recently discovered Iron Pnictides

Thierry Giamarchi– Condensed matter theory, emphasis on strongly correlated systems, high Tc

superconductors, quantum magnetism, electronic structure, cold atomic gases

Didier Jaccard– Electronic correlations under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure

Alberto Murpurgo– Quantum electronic measurements including new nano-electronic applications

René Flükiger (emeritus)– Superconducting wire development (including high Tc) for MRI magnets etc with emphasis

on high magnetic fields

Patrycia Paruch– Ferroelectric domain walls (disordered systems)

– Combining ferroelectric oxide thin films with carbon nanotubes etc

Christoph Renner– Correlated electron systems and exotic quantum properties in low dimension systems

Jean-Marc Triscone– Interface physics with thin oxide films – high Tc and also exotic magnetic, ferroelectric and

semiconducting oxides

Dirk van der Marel (Director)– Optical techniques to study electronic excitations in correlated systems

All these Faculty are part of the Swiss-wide MANEP consortium

March 2011

DPMC – Activities

A. Clark 4

Øystein Fischer (head Manep)– scanning tunneling spectroscopy of novel superconductors, the high Tc family and the

recently discovered Iron Pnictides

Thierry Giamarchi– Condensed matter theory, emphasis on strongly correlated systems, high Tc

superconductors, quantum magnetism, electronic structure, cold atomic gases

Didier Jaccard– Electronic correlations under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure

Alberto Murpurgo– Quantum electronic measurements including new nano-electronic applications

René Flükiger (emeritus)– Superconducting wire development (including high Tc) for MRI magnets etc with emphasis

on high magnetic fields

Patrycia Paruch– Ferroelectric domain walls (disordered systems)

– Combining ferroelectric oxide thin films with carbon nanotubes etc

Christoph Renner– Correlated electron systems and exotic quantum properties in low dimension systems

Jean-Marc Triscone– Interface physics with thin oxide films – high Tc and also exotic magnetic, ferroelectric and

semiconducting oxides

Dirk van der Marel (Director)– Optical techniques to study electronic excitations in correlated systems

All these Faculty are part of the Swiss-wide MANEP consortium

March 2011

DPMC – Activities

A. Clark 5

MaNEP – Materials with Novel Electronic Properties.

• http://www.manep.ch/

• Network of 250 top scientists working in Swiss universities, institutes of technology and industrial laboratories.

• Part of NCCR Program of the Swiss National Science Foundation launched in 2001 to promote long-term research projects of strategic importance for the future of Swiss science, economics and society.

Materials:

• High Tc superconductors

• Materials with very large magneto-resistance

• Ferroelectric materials

• Fullerenes and nanotubes

• Intermettallic and organic metals

http://www.manep.ch/fr/research-programmes/research_projects.html

http://www.manep.ch/fr/research-programmes/techniques_and_know-how.html

March 2011

MANEP – Electronic Materials of the Future

8 projects

(previous slide)

A. Clark 6

http://theory.physics.unige.ch/

FacultyMarkus Büttiker – Physique mésoscopique, transport électrique.

Claudia de Rham – Cosmologie, Univers primordial, énergie sombre, dimensions supplémentaires et gravité massive.

Ruth Durrer Cosmologie et Physique des particules.

Jean-Pierre Eckmann Physique Mathématique. Systèmes dynamiques de dimension infinie. Systèmes hors equilibre. Problèmes mathématiques en biologie.

Michele Maggiore: Ondes gravitationnelles. Cosmologie de l'Univers primordial.

Marcos Mariño Beiras Aspects mathématiques de la théorie des cordes et de la théorie quantique des champs, théorie des cordes topologiques, théorie topologique des champs quantiques, gravité quantique, méthodes non-perturbatives en théorie quantique des champs.

Eugene Sukhorukov Mesoscopic systems away from equilibrium: Shot noise, electron counting statistics, quantum measurement, and electronic entanglement.

Peter Wittwer Physique Mathématique. Mécanique des fluides. Equations à dérivées partielles.

March 2011

DPT – Activities

A. Clark 7

http://dpnc.unige.ch/

Astroparticles – Martin Pohl (+ Maurice Bourquin emeritus)– AMS on the Space Station

– POLAR to measure the polarisation of high energy gamma ray bursts

– CTA project +……

– Close links to ISDC in context of CAP (new professorship appointment imminent)

Neutrinos – Alain Blondel– T2K experiment (Japan) – including NA61 experiment at CERN

– MICE experiment (UK)

– European R&D towards future neutrino beams

Large Hadon Collider and ATLAS – Allan Clark (+ MP)– ATLAS experiment – construction, physics analyses

– R&D on silicon detectors towards future Collider activities

– M. Nessi is Adjunct Professor, G. Iacobucci will soon join the Faculty

– VERY strong links to CERN

– Very strong links to other Swiss HEP institutes (CHIPP)

March 2011

DPNC – Activities

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Biophotonics – Jean-Pierre Wolf

– applications of ultrafast spectroscopy for biological, medical, and environmental research

– novel experimental schemes to control molecular dynamics in biological systems

– study non-linear phenomena induced by very intense femtosecond lasers, including atmospheric phenomena

Optics – Nicolas Gisin

– Quantum cryptography and quantum communication

– Nonlocality and entanglement

– Quantum memories

– Fibre optics

Superconducting materials

– (see work of Flükiger in DPMC and Manep)

Quantum Electronics

– (see work of Morpurgo in DPMC and Manep)

Climate Change and Climate Impact – Martin Beniston

– Part of Institute of Environmental Studies, with Earth Science

– Member of NCCR on Climate Change, and other FP7 etc programs

– Main thrust is climate data analysis and regional climate modelling

March 2011

GAP – Activities

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Extra-solar Planets and Stellar Kinematics – Stéphane Udry (+ Michel Mayor)– Search for extra-solar planets (+ discovery of first extra-solar planet, 51 pegasi b)

– Rotational velocity measurements (HARPS)

– A lead institute in the ESA PLATO initiative

Stellar Evolution– Georges Meynet– Star rotation, stellar evolution modelling, nucleosynthesis etc

Extragalactic Modelling and Observation– Daniel Schaerer– Gravitational lensing for distant galaxies etc

Photometry and Gaia – Gilbert Burki– Star variability, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), Gamma-ray bursts, etc

ISDC- INTEGRAL Science Data Centre – Thierry Courvoisier – AGN’s, stellar variability, young star evolution

– Integral (Data centre) –”high energy” gamma rays, gamma bursts, etc

– Very high energy astrophysics with gamma rays (CTA project)

– Acceleration mechanism of cosmic rays

– Participation in Plank, Gaia, Polar, Astro-H

– Future participation in EUCLID

– http://www.unige.ch/sciences/astro/

– Extensive use of international facilities (La Palma, la Silla ESO etc)

– Close collaboration with EPFL (Georges Meylan, weak lensing)

and with cosmology (DPT) as well as particle physics (DPNC) leading to CAP

March 2011

ASTRONOMIE – Activities