July 11, 2024 will remain in the memories of CEA researchers: on that day, Anne L’Huillier and Pierre Agostini, laureates of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics, each handed over one of their Nobel medals to the Iramis/Lidyl laboratory, where they have worked throughout their scientific careers.
To succeed, research work requires a stimulating environment, with at first daily exchanges with close colleagues, as well as efficient technical and administrative support, and state-of-the-art equipments… It is with this recognition of all that the CEA-LIDYL laboratory has contributed to the success of their work, rewarded by the Royal Swedish Academy, that Anne L’Huillier and Pierre Agostini, laureates of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics, have decided to hand over it a copy of their prestigious medal.
In 1987, Anne L’Huillier discovered the generation of high-order harmonics on one of the lasers of the Lidyl laboratory (then known as SPAM). In 2001, Pierre Agostini succeeded after many major scientific breakthroughs during his career from 1968 to 2002 in this very same laboratory, in measuring the duration of laser pulses in the attosecond range (10-18 s); pulses which, at such short durations, are necessarily composed of a large set of high-order harmonics. Since then, the field of attosecond physics has opened up to a broad community, with dozens of laboratories worldwide pursuing this type of research in atomic and molecular physics, solid state physics, chemistry, biology and materials science. It is also at the heart of the PEPR Luma, which supports projects on light-matter interactions.
Pierre Agostini and Anne L’Huillier hand over one of their Nobel medals to CEA-Lidyl
© L. Godart (CEA-Lidyl)
The presentation of the medals took place in the Lidyl conference room, now named “Agostini-L’Huillier”, which was also the venue for another ceremony, when Anne L’Huillier presented Pierre Agostini with the medal of Commandeur de l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur. The award ceremony was attended by Serge Haroche and Gérard Mourou, two other French Nobel Prize winners in physics in the field of light-matter interaction, as well as numerous colleagues.
The ceremony was attended by two other Nobel Prize winners in Physics: Serge Haroche (2012) and Gérard Mourou (2018), as well as Anne-Isabelle Etienvre, Director of Fundamental Research at CEA (CEA-DRF), and numerous representatives of the national and international scientific community. L. Godart (CEA-Lidyl).
“Your choice to receive this very high distinction from the French Republic here, where your research has been carried out, is an immense honor for us all. It testifies to the attachment and recognition you have for the CEA, our laboratory and the teams who have worked alongside you”, declared Catalin Miron, Director of Lidyl. An honor also shared by Anne-Isabelle Etienvre, Director of Fundamental Research at the CEA, who also paid tribute to the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics: “I thank you for your various statements on the importance of fundamental research; I thank you for these words which will resonate for the next generations; and I thank you for having maintained close links with our laboratory over all these years, which illustrates perfectly that fundamental research is a long-term activity in science.”
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