Research at the Physics Graduate School

Research is conducted by more than 3,000 researchers, engineers and technicians in some forty laboratories on the Paris-Saclay campus. They bring together a very wide range of scientific and technical expertise and professions. They are carried out within multiple collaborations, in Ile-de-France, nationally, Europe or worldwide, and give rise to numerous synergies with the local and national industrial sector. One of the specificities of Paris-Saclay Physics is also the number and diversity of platforms and large research instruments at the cutting edge of what is being done in the world and which have a very high national and international profile. Locally, this research contributes to the training of a thousand master's students and doctoral candidates.

Research in physics at Paris-Saclay is organized into three thematic areas: Physics of Waves and Matter (PhOM), Physics of the 2 Infinites (P2I), and Astrophysics.

Physics of Waves & Matter (PhOM)

This involves the study, description, and application of the principles and phenomena of physics at scales ranging from the atom to the planet, as well as the emergence of complexity in systems with (very) many components, governed by multiple interactions in cooperation or competition. It includes the fields of extreme light, the physics of neutral or ionised dilute media (including atomic physics, molecular physics, and plasma physics), nanophysics, growth and properties of materials, the physics of quantum coherence and correlations (including quantum materials and topology effects), quantum entanglement and technologies, optics and photonics, complex systems and matter. PhOM teams lead research programmes in fundamental and applied physics, experimental as well as theoretical, within their disciplinary field as well as in the broad interdisciplinary context.

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Physique of the 2 Infinities (P2I)

Major questions concern the ultimate and infinitely small components of matter and the fundamental laws governing their interactions, the origin and evolution of the infinitely large components of the Universe, the strong interaction, the emergence of complexity, and the origin of elements in the Universe. Specific fields include particle physics, nuclear physics, astroparticle physics, cosmology, theoretical physics, energy (including nuclear reactor physics) and health. P2I teams are members of the very large, internationally recognised research infrastructures. They possess a unique know-how in cutting-edge technologies and also conduct original interdisciplinary research on societal issues (in particular health and energy).

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Astrophysics

Major questions concern the way the solar system works, the formation and evolution of stars and planetary systems, the formation and evolution of large structures, and the physics under extreme conditions. Specific fields include cosmology, galaxies, high energies, the interstellar medium, extraterrestrial matter, star formation, planetary sciences, solar and stellar physics, astrophysical plasmas. The main methods used are ground and space instrumentation (in the broadest sense, including all phases from the design of detectors and observation instruments to their astrophysical exploitation), data and signal science, numerical simulations, and theory.

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The laboratories