LKB - Polarised Helium, Quantum Fluids and Solids

Research

News and Events

Text books

          Franck Laloë has published revised and expanded editions, as well as translations, of two of his last books.

PhD student

Zeyuan ZHANG has joined the group on Feb. 2022. She actively contributes to the HELPING project.

A relire

Dans le contexte du Prix Nobel de Physique 2022 décerné à A. Aspect, J.F. Clauser et A. Zeilinger, on peut relire avec intérêt l’article de Franck Laloë sur l’argument EPR.

PhD defense

Lionel DJADAOJEE has defended his PhD thesis on April 16, 2023 : “Spectroscopie Brillouin de l’hélium superfluide métastable”, <tel-04076130>

Post-doc

Hadi LOUTFI has joined the group on Oct. 2021. He actively contributes to the MARGIN project.

The MARGIN project (2020-2022)

MAgnetic Resonance studies of Gas diffusion In Nanoporous materials.
LKB (Coord. P.-J. Nacher) – MRS Lab, Kazan Fed. Univ. (Coord. M. Tagirov))

Project homepage  – Project overview
The Post-Doc position is now closed.

In memoriam

Philippe Jacquier, leader of the “Quantum solid and liquid helium” team since 2003, passed away on Jan.24, 2019.

Read more

Philippe has battled against disease for many years with impressive courage and steadfast determination. He was an excellent teacher and a passionate researcher. The group will long miss his deep sense of humour and friendship, as well as the enthousiasm, the inventiveness, the curiosity, and the broad knowledge that made working with him so pleasant every day.

Short text (in French) by Antoine Heidmann, Director of the LKB.Ph. Jacquier’s scientific homepage

People

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Polarised He & quantum fluids
Quantum solid & liquid He
  • Franck Laloë
  • Pierre-Jean Nacher
  • Geneviève Tastevin
  • Polar. 3He - Other People
  • Hadi LOUTFI
  • Zeyuan ZHANG
  • Jules Grucker
  • Solid 4He - Other people

JOB OFFERS

 

We are always looking for brillant motivated scientists to join our group.
Check the open positions displayed below (use the L/R arrows to navigate in the carousel). Send us your CV for application.

Master 2 (2023-2024)

Study of Rabi oscillations using optically detected NMR in polarised helium gas

Pulses of resonant ac fields are generically used to control the internal state of 2-level systems. The driven travel on the Bloch sphere is a standard (but approximate!) textbook item. Optical monitoring of actual trajectories will provide new insight on recent NMR investigations of deviations due to (often unavoidable) additional components of the oscillating field.

Download a 1-page description of the project.

Please contact us for more information.

Master 2 (2023-2024)

Brillouin gain spectroscopy of superfluid helium-4 using a
single pulsed laser.

Low temperature helium 4 is a pivotal model system for condensed matter investigations. The Quantum Liquids and Solids group has launched an experimental investigation of liquid and solid helium-4 in their metastable state. Focused (1 MHz) acoustic waves are used to periodically drive the system far out of equilibrium. Sensitive optical tools allow time-resolved measurements of the changes in density and compressibility induced in the medium.

Recently, a pulsed Brillouin laser spectroscopy technique has been developed to measure of the speed of sound in the liquid phase. The test setup involves pump and probe beams that are delivered by distinct laser sources. The goal of the internship project is to develop a single-laser Brillouin gain spectrometer and to obtain a spectral resolution smaller than the natural Brillouin linewidth in superfluid helium-4. This spectrometer may then be used to probe the metastable states of liquid and solid helium-4 during a longer term (PhD) project.
.

Download a 1-page description of the project.

Please contact us for more information.

Master 2 / Opening for PhD

Hyperpolarisation of 3He at low/moderate magnetic field

 

Skilled and motivated students are welcome to join our investigations of polarisation dynamics in He gas discharges at low and moderate magnetic fields. Type of work: Experimental, numerical, theoretical. (This topic is open for PhD). Please contact us for more information.

Master 2 / Opening for PhD

Low field MRI - Polarised helium-3

M2 position : Open

Relying on the team’s experience in low-field NMR and in preparation and use of hyperpolarised ³He  gas, new investigations of constrained or restricted gas diffusion within micro- or nano-scale open systems have been launched. They involve high-porosity ordered Al2O3 aerogels as well as gratings of quasi-2D slabs.

Download a 1-page description of the project

Skilled and motivated students are welcome to join our investigations on low field MRI with laser-polarised ³He gas or thermally-polarised water samples. Work may focus on the impact of concomitant field gradients on image quality. Another objective may be to investigate the short-pulse limit and revisit the Bloch-Siegert effect in pulsed NMR. (This topic is open for PhD.).

Please contact us for more information.

Recent Papers

A. Maul, P. Blümler, P.-J. Nacher, E. Otten, G. Tastevin, and W. Heil

Phys. Rev. A 98, 063405 (2018)

V.V. Kuzmin, P.-J. Nacher

J. Magn. Reson. (2020) 310 : 106622

L. Djadaojee and J. Grücker

Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 125301 (2022)

Jules Grucker

J. Low. Temp. Phys. 197, 149–166 (2019)

G. Tastevin and F. Laloë

Comptes-Rendus Acad Sci. France 22, 99 (2021)

F. Laloë

The Oxford handbook of The history of quantum interpretations, chapter 1. , (O Freire Jr Editor, 2022)

T. R. Gentile, P. J. Nacher, B. Saam, and T. G. Walker

Rev. Mod. Phys. 89, 045004 (2017)

M.E. Hayden and P.-J. Nacher

Magn. Reson. Imaging Handbook, 1, CRC press, 2016 (Ed. Luca SABA)

CONTACT

Département de Physique Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, F-75231 Paris Cedex 05  

  •  Jules Grucker  : jules.grucker at lkb.ens.fr
  • Franck Laloë : laloe at lkb.ens.fr
  • Pierre-Jean Nacher : nacher at lkb.ens.fr
  • Geneviève Tastevin : genevieve.tastevin at lkb.ens.fr