Discover the CNRS Physics Silver and Bronze Medals for 2026

As a specialist in X-ray imaging, Virginie Chamard develops methods for probing matter at the nanoscale. At the Fresnel Institute in Marseille, where she is a research director at the CNRS, she has developed “Bragg ptychography,” a diffraction imaging method that enables the study of complex crystals. By combining experimental expertise with algorithmic processing, she is able to observe their structure and deformations with unprecedented precision.

She is particularly interested in biominerals—such as shells, corals, and calcifying microorganisms—and seeks to understand how these structures form and assemble. Through collaboration with physicists, chemists, and biologists, she explores how living organisms develop complex structures with optimized properties. Her work opens up new avenues, particularly in biomimicry, for designing materials inspired by these natural architectures.

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Stopping light to improve the flow of quantum information: this is at the heart of Julien Laurat’s research. His goal is to build quantum networks capable of connecting computers, sensors, and quantum communication devices, ranging from laboratory-scale setups to long-distance networks.

At the Kastler Brossel Laboratory (LKB) in Paris, this quantum optics specialist and professor at Sorbonne University is developing devices capable of controlling photons by causing them to interact with laser-cooled atoms. This research is leading, for example, to quantum memories that enable the synchronization of operations—a capability central to networks.

Over the past decade, he has added nanophotonic devices to his toolkit, which allow for better confinement of light and enhance its interactions with cold atoms. This is a long-term research effort at the intersection of fundamental physics and cutting-edge engineering.

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A soft matter specialist at the Physics Laboratory of the ENS de Lyon (LPENSL), Sébastien Manneville studies these materials with puzzling properties, which can behave as both solids and liquids depending on the stresses applied to them. As a professor at ENS Lyon, he develops experimental tools that combine mechanical measurements and ultrasonic imaging to probe their behavior as they flow. He studies their transformations at the mesoscopic level, where structures of intermediate size—between molecules and the material itself—form.

His work highlights the complex phenomena—involving instabilities, heterogeneities, and non-equilibrium transitions—that govern the initiation of motion or the breakdown of these systems. Understanding these mechanisms opens up new possibilities in many fields, ranging from solid-state batteries to bio-based materials, including the agri-food and nuclear sectors, and for the design of optimized materials that are more resource-efficient.

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Delphine Marris-Morini has been a professor at Paris-Saclay University since 2015 and conducts her research at the Center for Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies (C2N). Her work focuses on silicon photonics, integrated optics, and electronic materials with the aim of developing optical components for telecommunications and spectroscopy. In particular, she is one of the pioneers of high-speed silicon optical modulators based on variations in free carrier density, a technology that has become an industry standard. “My research showed that silicon could be useful in optics. This has gained significant traction, particularly among telecommunications companies.” In fact, his research has a direct impact on the high-tech sector through ongoing collaborations, notably with STMicroelectronics.

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An expert in quantum dot microscopy, Aurore Finco maps the magnetic fields of complex materials at the nanoscale—far beyond the scope of a simple, uniform magnet. As a research fellow at the CNRS’s Charles Coulomb Laboratory (L2C) in Montpellier, she observes structures invisible to the naked eye, where fields coil into spirals, for example, or form knots in even more complex patterns. To reveal them, she relies on an atomic defect in the diamond used as a probe, which is capable of imaging these magnetic textures without disturbing the materials.

She then adapted this technique to observe magnetic fluctuations and excitations, and to better understand how they arise in complex systems such as two-dimensional magnets or antiferromagnetic materials. At the intersection of instrument development and fundamental physics, her research opens up new avenues of research, particularly in spintronics.

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Anaïs Gauthier explores a world that seems familiar—bubbles, droplets, soap films—but whose physics never ceases to surprise. As a research fellow at the CNRS at the Rennes Institute of Physics (IPR), she focuses on interfaces, where fluids and particles interact and give rise to unexpected behaviors. At the intersection of fluid mechanics and soft matter, she seeks to understand how small-scale phenomena determine the remarkable macroscopic properties of these systems.

To this end, she develops innovative experimental approaches and designs devices that enable the measurement of interface properties that were previously nearly impossible to quantify. This research has applications in a wide range of fields, from the food industry to materials science, including the treatment of foams in industrial processes and the study of phenomena occurring on the ocean’s surface.

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Observing how light emerges from matter, on a scale of a few nanometers and over a few nanoseconds: this is the challenge facing Sophie Meuret. A specialist in the interaction between electrons and semiconductors at the Center for Materials Development and Structural Studies (CEMES) in Toulouse, the CNRS researcher is developing electron microscopy techniques capable of tracking these phenomena in real time. By measuring, in particular, the time that elapses between the excitation of a material by an electron and the emission of light, she gains insight into the mechanisms at work in the interactions between atoms, electrons, and photons. Her research thus helps to link the optical properties of materials to their structure.

In addition to potential applications for LEDs, nanolasers, and single-photon sources, this research is leading to technology transfers for next-generation electron microscopy instruments. These advances are based on the collaborative effort that is essential to her work—and which she particularly values—ranging from instrument design to materials development.

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As a particle physicist, Huasheng Shao develops computational methods and numerical codes to interpret data from major experiments conducted at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). As a research fellow at the CNRS’s Laboratory of Theoretical and High-Energy Physics (LPTHE) in Paris, he works to improve the accuracy of predictions made by the Standard Model of particle physics, particularly for complex processes such as the production of Higgs boson pairs.

He is also interested in quarkonia, systems consisting of pairs of heavy quarks bound by the strong interaction. These particles serve as ideal probes for exploring certain hard-to-reach intermediate energy scales. Through his work, Huasheng Shao is helping to make full use of LHC data and to test the limits of the Standard Model.

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