Stéphane Berciaud

Stéphane Berciaud has been assistant professor at Université de Strasbourg since 2010 and obtained his “habilitation” in 2013. He studied at the physics department of école normale supérieure (ENS) Cachan and obtained a Master’s in quantum physics in 2002. His PhD work (2003- 2006 at Université Bordeaux 1) was dedicated to single nano-object optical detection and spectroscopy methods. SB then focused on the optical and optoelectronic properties of low-dimensional carbon nanostructures (carbon nano-tubes and graphene) during two postdoctoral visits: first, at Université Bordeaux 1 in 2007, then at Columbia University from 2007 to 2010. He held a CNRS-University chair from June 2010 until June 2015, which helped him develop an independent research activity within the Nanodevices team at Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg. His research interests cover the vibrational, optical, optoelectronic and optomechanical properties of low-dimensional materials, including graphene, carbon nanotubes, semiconductor nanostructures and transition metal dichalcogenides, as well as heterostructures based on these materials.

Graphene, as a two-dimensional material with unique electronic, optical and mechanical properties, represents an outstanding platform to explore new opto-electromechanical interactions. Our project aims at developing a novel experimental approach, combining state of the art know-how in graphene science, nanomechanics, optomechanics, and quantum photonics, in order to investigate and control the (yet unexplored) quantum nano-optomechanical dynamics of graphene.

The heart of the project relies on the design and imple- mentation of novel, ultra-sensitive nano-optomechanical measurement methods that make it possible to address the graphene acousto-optical dynamics in real-time and close to the photon-counting regime. This system will enable the investigation of the fundamental links between the microscopic and macroscopic vibrational states of graphene, tackling a number of primary questions such as the identification, the origin and the control of quantum decoherence processes at the macroscopic level.