| Jeudi 30 juillet 2026 | 14h45 | ARC 233 | Sinja Bächtle & Caitlin Turney (Hahn-Schickard, Freiburg, Germany) | Introducing the nanodiagBW Cluster with Recent Research Advances | Nanopore sensing has evolved over the past three decades into a powerful platform for label-free, single-molecule analysis. Originally established for nucleic acid sequencing, continuous advances in biological and solid-state nanopores have broadened its capabilities to encompass proteins and diverse biomolecular targets. These innovations are enabling increasingly sophisticated analytical applications while bringing nanopore technologies closer to routine clinical use.In this talk, we will introduce the nanodiagBW cluster, an interdisciplinary research community dedicated to advancing the development of nanopore technologies. Through collaboration across disciplines, nanodiagBW seeks to connect fundamental research with translational applications, fostering collaborations that address key challenges in nanopore sensing. We will highlight recent advances from our laboratories with specific focus on translational applications for nanopore sensing. | Vincent Tabard-Cossa |
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| Lundi 31 août 2026 | 14h45 | ARC 233 | Renaud Bachelot (Université de Technologie et Troyes & Université Paris-Saclay) | Recent advances in hybrid plasmonic nanosources of light | Rapid growth of the nanophotonics area requires the development of advanced nanosources of light whose geometry must be scalable with nanophotonic devices and whose tunability must be simple and efficient. Over the past two decades, hybrid plasmonic nanosources based on energy transfer between metal nanoparticles and semiconductor quantum dots/nanocrystals (QDs) or organic dyes have turned out to constitute a promising solution of efficient optical nanosources. We will discuss the different regimes of coupling between an active medium and a metallic nanoparticle that is seen as a nanocavity or a nanoantenna, and will stress the importance to control the nanoscale spatial distribution, and related symmetry, of the active medium. In microscale optoelectronics, the possibility to precisely control the spatial distribution of the active medium leads to optimization of systems and devices. At the nanoscale, this issue still constitutes a challenge.We studied and exploited the nanoscale spatial positioning of semiconductor quantum emitters in the close vicinity of metal nanostructures. The control relies on plasmon-assisted nano-polymerization of a photosensitive formulation that hosts nano-emitters. In addition to offering a promising platform for nanochemistry, this approach enables the design of the symmetry of the medium surrounding plasmonic nano-antenna. Through selected examples, we will show that this approach has opened many new avenues and exciting concepts, such as - Polarization-sensitive photoluminescence - Lifetime engineering - Control of the local space symmetry group- Single photon switch that is driven by polarization | Pierre Berini |
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| Mardi 15 septembre 2026 | 14h45 | ARC 233 | Frank Niklaus (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Micro and Nanosystems, Stockholm, Sweden) | Scalable Approaches for Fabrication Solid-State Nanopore | Solid-state nanopores in ultrathin membranes offer powerful platforms for single-molecule sensing, filtration, energy conversion, and ionic electronics. However, scalable fabrication of sub-10-nm pores with precisely controlled geometries remains challenging. In this talk I will present several approaches for scalable nanopore fabrication that have been developed in my group. In one approach, we use stress-induced mechanical ripping to form nanopores through the controlled removal of nanoscale membrane volumes. This method enables sub-10-nm pores at densities exceeding 10^5 pores per cm^2, and is compatible with diverse ultrathin membrane materials including Si, SiGe, and Cr, down to 2-nm-thick suspended HfO2 membranes. It also allows the realization of triangular, V-shaped, L-shaped, and I-shaped nanopores with features as small as 4 nm. In addition, I will present other methods for scalable nanopore fabrication developed in my group. | Vincent Tabard-Cossa |
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| Jeudi 17 septembre 2026 | 14h45 | ARC 233 | David Cooke (McGill University) | Terahertz Probes of Quantum Materials: Spectroscopy and Microscopy | Terahertz (THz) radiation, with photon energies spanning meV scales and field oscillation periods of picoseconds, offers a natural probe of the low-energy excitations and coherent dynamics that govern quantum materials. In this talk, I will survey two complementary directions in my research program that use THz pulses to interrogate matter on femtosecond time scales and nanometer length scales. The first is ultrafast THz spectroscopy — linear and nonlinear — applied to a range of correlated and quantum materials. We discuss two cases: 1) thermoelectric SnSe where a light-induced electronic phase transition occurs signaling the transition to a new structural phase and hinting at the creation of a light-induced topological crystalline insulator and 2) photocatalytic CeO2 where electron-phonon coupling can be seen directly as the renormalization of the Born effective charge associated with a strongly coupled optical phonon. The second explore extreme light-matter coupling in atomically sharp metal nanotips illuminated with THz pulses. Using intense THz pulses, we induce sub-cycle field emission from the tips and accelerate them to keV scale energies in < 10 fs. This scheme is being used to construct a novel lens-less time-resolved electron microscope based on point-projection in the new Quantum Dynamics Laboratory at McGill. | Jean-Michel Ménard |
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| Jeudi 24 septembre 2026 | 13h | STM 364 | Noriaki Horiuchi (Nature Photonics) | How to get published in Nature Research journals | Nature Research journals (such as Nature, Nature Photonics, Nature Physics, etc.) are some of the most prestigious and important scientific publications in the world today. To maintain the quality and high impact factor of each journal, the editors rigorously select papers that provide conceptual or technological breakthrough according to stringent acceptance criteria and a unique reviewing process. In this talk, I will explain the general criteria for getting published in Nature Photonics and provide some advice for submission. This information should also be helpful when submitting to other Nature Research journals, as they share a similar review process and acceptance criteria. | Paul Corkum |
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| Lundi 5 octobre 2026 | 13h | ARC 233 | Alison Sweeney (Yale University) | Is Stealthy Hyperuniformity the Physical Mechanism of Living Structural Color? | Structural color and transparency are familiar phenomena in life, found in mammals, birds, insects, and even bacteria. We recently found that broad class of optical materials found throughout the tree of life likely achieves this optical behavior via "disordered stealthy hyperuniform" organization. We use microscopy, molecular dynamics modeling, techniques of inverse thermodynamics, and light-scattering techniques to probe the structure and thermodynamic origins of these apparently exotic materials. These materials are not active and function at equilibrium, they can have near-flawless optical properties, and given their disordered, often liquid nature are defect-tolerant and self-healing, but cannot currently be duplicated by engineers. We aim to extract principles of material design and assembly from nature to inspire novel synthetic hyperuniform materials with perfect bandgaps, defect tolerance, and self-healing abilities. | Vincent Tabard-Cossa |
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| Jeudi 8 octobre 2026 | 14h45 | ARC 233 | Isaac Li (University of British Columbia - Okanagan) | Probing and Programming Molecular Forces with DNA | In his famous 1959 lecture, Richard Feynman presaged nanotechnology, proclaiming that there was plenty of room at the bottom. I will describe work that we are doing at NIST to develop atom-scale, quantum, solid-state devices in silicon, realizing Feynman’s vision for technology at the smallest scales. I will explain how and why we make solid-state devices that are only a few atoms in size, placed one-by-one with near atomic-scale precision, and I will describe the quantum physics that is revealed by these devices. As an example, I will focus on our work using tunneling, RF and optics to probe strongly correlated many-body systems. | Vincent Tabard-Cossa |
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| Jeudi 22 octobre 2026 | 14h45 | ARC 233 | Yi Li (Argonne National Laboratory) | On-chip hybrid magnonic systems for quantum information science | Recently, hybrid dynamic systems based on magnetic materials have attracted increasing interests as a new branch in quantum information science. Magnetic excitations, or magnons, are collective excitation of magnetic moments with frequency in the range of GHz to THz. They are promising for coherent information transfer between distinct physical platforms, making them promising for exploring potentials in quantum sensing and quantum transduction. In this talk, we will discuss two superconducting hybrid magnonics circuit platforms for implementing on-chip hybrid magnonic system. In the first platform, we embed single-crystal yttrium iron garnet (YIG) spheres in superconducting coplanar resonators. We demonstrate strong magnon-photon coupling at cryogenic temperature, and time-domain magnon interference between the two remotely coupled YIG spheres mediated by microwave photons [3]. In the second platform, we build superconducting coplanar resonators directly on top of YIG films grown on Y3Sc2Ga3O12 (YSGG) substrates, and demonstrate strong coupling between propagating spin waves and microwave photons in the resonator at cryogenic temperatures. Our results introduce the first all-on-chip superconducting hybrid magnonic circuit base on low-damping YIG spheres and thin films, which will become the next-generation circuit platform for exploring propagating-magnon-based quantum information science. | Hang Chi |
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| Vendredi 23 octobre 2026 | 14h45 | ARC 233 | Detlev Grützmacher (Peter Grünberg Institute-9, Semiconductor Nanoelectronics, Science Centre Jülich) | Induced superconductivity in magnetic topological insulator – superconductor hybrid devices | Terahertz (THz) radiation, with photon energies spanning meV scales and field oscillation periods of picoseconds, offers a natural probe of the low-energy excitations and coherent dynamics that govern quantum materials. In this talk, I will survey two complementary directions in my research program that use THz pulses to interrogate matter on femtosecond time scales and nanometer length scales. The first is ultrafast THz spectroscopy — linear and nonlinear — applied to a range of correlated and quantum materials. We discuss two cases: 1) thermoelectric SnSe where a light-induced electronic phase transition occurs signaling the transition to a new structural phase and hinting at the creation of a light-induced topological crystalline insulator and 2) photocatalytic CeO2 where electron-phonon coupling can be seen directly as the renormalization of the Born effective charge associated with a strongly coupled optical phonon. The second explore extreme light-matter coupling in atomically sharp metal nanotips illuminated with THz pulses. Using intense THz pulses, we induce sub-cycle field emission from the tips and accelerate them to keV scale energies in < 10 fs. This scheme is being used to construct a novel lens-less time-resolved electron microscope based on point-projection in the new Quantum Dynamics Laboratory at McGill. | Pawel Hawrylak |
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| Jeudi 5 novembre 2026 | 14h45 | ARC 233 | Shulabh Gupta (Carleton University) | From Electromagnetic Fundamentals to Functional Metasurfaces: A Journey Across Frequency Scales | Nature Research journals (such as Nature, Nature Photonics, Nature Physics, etc.) are some of the most prestigious and important scientific publications in the world today. To maintain the quality and high impact factor of each journal, the editors rigorously select papers that provide conceptual or technological breakthrough according to stringent acceptance criteria and a unique reviewing process. In this talk, I will explain the general criteria for getting published in Nature Photonics and provide some advice for submission. This information should also be helpful when submitting to other Nature Research journals, as they share a similar review process and acceptance criteria. | Jean‑Michel Menard |
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| Jeudi 12 novembre 2026 | 14h45 | ARC 233 | François X. P. Bourassa (Princeton University) | Biophysical and computational roles of neuropeptides in neuronal networks | Structural color and transparency are familiar phenomena in life, found in mammals, birds, insects, and even bacteria. We recently found that broad class of optical materials found throughout the tree of life likely achieves this optical behavior via "disordered stealthy hyperuniform" organization. We use microscopy, molecular dynamics modeling, techniques of inverse thermodynamics, and light-scattering techniques to probe the structure and thermodynamic origins of these apparently exotic materials. These materials are not active and function at equilibrium, they can have near-flawless optical properties, and given their disordered, often liquid nature are defect-tolerant and self-healing, but cannot currently be duplicated by engineers. We aim to extract principles of material design and assembly from nature to inspire novel synthetic hyperuniform materials with perfect bandgaps, defect tolerance, and self-healing abilities. | André Longtin |
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| Jeudi 19 novembre 2026 | 14h45 | ARC 233 | Garnett W. Bryant (National Institute of Standards and Technology) | Atom-based Si quantum solid-state devices: Building Feynman’s room at the bottom one atom at a time | In his famous 1959 lecture, Richard Feynman presaged nanotechnology, proclaiming that there was plenty of room at the bottom. I will describe work that we are doing at NIST to develop atom-scale, quantum, solid-state devices in silicon, realizing Feynman’s vision for technology at the smallest scales. I will explain how and why we make solid-state devices that are only a few atoms in size, placed one-by-one with near atomic-scale precision, and I will describe the quantum physics that is revealed by these devices. As an example, I will focus on our work using tunneling, RF and optics to probe strongly correlated many-body systems. | Pawel Hawrylak |
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