Special issue of Comptes Rendus Physique on phononic crystals

The May 2016 issue of Comptes Rendus Physique, an international peer-reviewed journal of the French Academy of Sciences published by Elsevier, is devoted to phononic crystals. The special issue was coordinated by Vincent Laude, a research director at CNRS and a member of the Micro Nano Sciences & Systems department of FEMTO-ST.

Phononic crystals are artificial periodic structures that can alter efficiently the flow of sound in air, of acoustic waves in fluids, or of elastic waves in solids. They were introduced about twenty years ago and have gained increasing interest since then, both because of their amazing physical properties and because of their potential applications. The topic of phononic crystals stands at the cross-road of several fields of physics - condensed matter physics, wave propagation in inhomogeneous and periodic media - and engineering - acoustics, ultrasonics, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. Phononic crystals cover a wide range of scales, from meter-size periodic structures for sound in air to nanometer-size structures for information processing or thermal phonon control in integrated circuits. They furthermore offer a practical implementation for the paradigms of acoustic metamaterials. The articles in this special issue illustrate several of these aspects.

Comptes Rendus Physique is an international journal of the French Academy of Sciences, published under the direction of Catherine Bréchignac.

The May 2016 issue is composed of 8 articles preceded by a foreword by the topical coordinator, Vincent Laude.
The special issue can be accessed online on Elsevier's website: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/aip/16310705

Giacomo Clementi, grand prize i-PhD
For his work on Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3), which has led to the design of original and efficient devices for the recovery of vibratory energy by the piezoelectric effect, in particular for connected objects.
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Understanding energy transfers during photosynthesis
Using three pigments manipulated by scanning tunneling microscopy, researchers from IPCMS and FEMTO-ST are studying energy transfers between molecules to gain a finer understanding of the photosynthesis mechanism in plants. This work is published in Nature Chemistry.
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International Day of Light on May 16th
This year, the Student Chapter of FEMTO-ST organizes on this occasion a photo contest on the theme ′′ Light phenomena in everyday life ".
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AMAROB labelled Deep Tech company
Spin off of FEMTO-ST, Amarob technologie has received the Deep Tech company label awarded by Bpifrance.
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New platform to support the design and optimization of fuel cell hybride system and battery
Virtual FCS" is the first freely accessible online simulation platform to support fuel cell manufacturers and users.

Supported by a European funding, "Virtual FCS" has for French partner the University of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté through the FEMTO-ST institute and the FC-LAB
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ThermoBot : micro robots that walk on water
Imagine, a robot, the size of a fly, walking on the surface of the water and pursued by a laser beam. One could believe in a science fiction scenario...
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Recognizing liars from the sound of their voice ?
Scientists have prouved that the intensity, speed and pitch of the speaker's voice automatically influences our perception of the reliability and honesty of his or her speech. This work is published in the prestigious journal "Nature Communications"
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European project for the development of sustainable and high-performance bio-based composites
Led by FEMTO-ST and supported by the University of Franche-Comté, the « SSUCHY » R&D project which brings together 17 European partners is entering its final phase. The project is now quite advanced.
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Understanding the cytotoxicity of metallic nanoparticles
A recent study published in the journal "Chemical Science" and involving FEMTO-ST gives new insights into the understanding of the mechanisms of DNA alteration in cells by metallic nanoparticles.
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Artificial intelligence for next-generation ultrafast photonics
How can machine learning and associated methods improve the development of next-generation laser sources and revolutionize applications where ultrafast light plays a central role?
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