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M2 internship catalog

  • Offer description

    Information about the internship

    • Field / Topic: Condensed matter physics / photoelectrochemistry
    • Research Unit: SPEC/SPHYNX and SPEC/LNO
    • Internship place: CEA Saclay
    • Internship duration: 6 months
    • Level of study: Bachelor + 5 years
    • Training: Master 2 / Engineer
    • Continuation in PhD thesis: YES
    • Application deadline: 01/02/2026

    Internship description

    Short summary

    Production of clean hydrogen by solar water splitting can be improved by controlling charge transfer at the electrode – electrolyte interface. At the interface, the photoanode’s surface potential is responsible for band alignments and bending, and thus for charge separation during the photoelectrochemical reaction. During this internship we propose to growth hetero-structured photoanodes (Fe2O3/FTO and M-OOH/ Fe2O3/FTO with M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu or Zn), to measure their surface potential and to correlate these findings with macroscopic photoelectrochemical activity.

    Extended subject

    Hydrogen production by solar water splitting (SWS) is a very noteworthy concept because it permits the direct storage of solar energy in the H2 chemical bonds. Moreover, it is a clean method and it uses abundant and not-expensive materials as electrodes. The optimization of materials used as photoelectrodes for this reaction represents an important challenge. The interface between the electrodes and the aqueous electrolyte is responsible for the charge transfer efficiency during SWS. Charge transfer at the interface is subject to the alignment between energy bands both in electrode and electrolyte side, and parameter such as surface potential plays a major role on the final band bendings and charge separation.

    This study focuses on the interface between photoelectrode and electrolyte by measuring the surface topography and potential of different heterostructures proposed as photoanodes using an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) coupled to Kelvin Probe Force Microscope (KPFM) on the near field microscopy platform at the SPEC laboratory (IMAFMP). The samples consist of films of transition metal oxyhydroxide (M-OOH with M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu or Zn) obtained by electrodeposition, deposited both on FTO substrate and Fe2O3/FTO photoanode.

    The intern will carry out: i) the growth of Fe2O3 photoanodes and catalysts films by aqueous chemical growth and electrodeposition; ii) Photoelectrochemical characterization of photoanodes (photocurrent and EIS) using the solar water splitting dedicated setup; iii) AFM and KPFM measurements. This study will allow us to correlate the local aspects (nanorods morphology, surface potential) with the macroscopic ones (photocurrent, interface characterization by EIS). Complementary physico-chemical characterizations (MEB, DRX, XPS) are also envisaged. The intern’s work is part of the ANR project OERKOP.

    Keywords

    Surface potential, AFM, KPFM, Solar water splitting, hematite photoanode,

    Candidate profile

    • Scientific skills: material science, condensed matter, photoelectrochemistry
    • Software / calculations : office, python for data treatement and spectra fit
    • Languages : English, French

    LINKS

    Supervisors

    • Cindy L. Rountree ()
    • Dana Stanescu ()

    February 1 2026
    February 15 2026
    6 month
    CEA Saclay, (91) Essonne, France
    Apply for the job

  • Domain, Specialties : PHYSICS
    Keywords: spin waves, surface acoustic waves, nonlinear effects, nanomagnetism

    Research Unit : SPEC/LNO

    Summary

    The objective of this internship will be to demonstrate that the nonlinear regime of magnetization dynamics can be excited by surface acoustic wave.

    Full description

    RF signals are everywhere in today’s connected society. On one side, surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices built on piezo-electric substrates are widely used to distinguish between frequencies. While quite energy efficient, SAW devices mostly operate in narrowband applications and perform linear, frequency-conserving operations. On the other side, magnonic devices rely on the specific properties of spin-waves (SW) in ferromagnetic materials and are highly tunable and nonlinear, but suffer from significant insertion losses. Fortunately, magneto-elastic and magneto-rotation effects can couple the dynamics of magnetization in a thin ferromagnetic film deposited on top of a piezo-electric substrate to the one of its lattice. For instance, we have recently demonstrated that it is possible to excite the linear magnetization dynamics of a ferromagnetic CoFeB nanodisk thanks to SAW electrically actuated in the underlying LiNbO3 substrate [1].

    The objective of this internship will be to demonstrate that this can also be achieved in a nonlinear regime. For this, we will magnetize the ferromagnetic disk in the plane. In this configuration, the precession of magnetization is elliptical, which allows to excite parametrically spin-wave eigenmodes of the disk using an RF magnetic field parallel to the disk’s magnetization with a frequency close to twice the eigenfrequencies [2]. The originality here will be to replace the RF excitation field usually produced by an inductive antenna by the effective tickle and rolling fields associated to the magneto-elastic and magneto-rotation terms active when a SAW is excited in the substrate. These measurements will be performed on samples fabricated in collaboration with another laboratory (C2N) and thanks to a highly sensitive magnetic resonance force microscopy technique developed at SPEC. Micromagnetic simulations using Mumax3 will also be conducted to understand the SAW excitation threshold to be overcome to excite parametric modes in the disk.

    This internship will take place in the context of the recently funded project NELSON (« Non-Linear Surface acoustic wave platform enabled by spin wave hybridizatiON ») by the French ANR.

    [1] R. Lopes Seeger et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 176704 (2025)
    [2] T. Srivastava et al., Phys. Rev. Appl. 19, 064078 (2023)

    Location

    CEA Saclay, Site de l’Orme des merisiers (91) Essonne, France

    Internship conditions

    • Internship duration: 6 months
    • Level of study: Bac+5
    • Training: Master 2
    • Continuation in PhD thesis: Yes
    • Application deadline: 1 février 2026

    Experimental skills

    Language: English

    Useful methods and technics: Hyperfrequencies, magnetic force microscopy, micromagnetic simulations

    Computer languages and software: Python programming, lock-in measurements

    Links

    Supervisor

    Grégoire de Loubens
    Phone: +33 1 69 08 71 60
    Email :

    Head of the laboratory SPEC/LNO : Michel Viret

    January 30 2026
    February 2 2026
    6 month
    CEA Saclay, Site de l’Orme des merisiers (91) Essonne, France
    Apply for the job

  • Domain, Specialties : Condensed matter physics
    Keywords: spin waves, surface acoustic waves, nonlinear effects, nanomagnetism

    Research Unit : SPEC / LNO

    Summary

    The objective of this internship will be to demonstrate that the nonlinear regime of magnetization dynamics can be excited by surface acoustic waves.

    Full description

    RF signals are everywhere in today’s connected society. On one side, surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices built on piezo-electric substrates are widely used to distinguish between frequencies. While quite energy efficient, SAW devices mostly operate in narrowband applications and perform linear, frequency-conserving operations. On the other side, magnonic devices rely on the specific properties of spin-waves (SW) in ferromagnetic materials and are highly tunable and nonlinear, but suffer from significant insertion losses. Fortunately, magneto-elastic and magneto-rotation effects can couple the dynamics of magnetization in a thin ferromagnetic film deposited on top of a piezo-electric substrate to the one of its lattice. For instance, we have recently demonstrated that it is possible to excite the linear magnetization dynamics of a ferromagnetic CoFeB nanodisk thanks to SAW electrically actuated in the underlying LiNbO3 substrate [1].

    The objective of this internship will be to demonstrate that this can also be achieved in a nonlinear regime. For this, we will magnetize the ferromagnetic disk in the plane. In this configuration, the precession of magnetization is elliptical, which allows to excite parametrically spin-wave eigenmodes of the disk using an RF magnetic field parallel to the disk’s magnetization with a frequency close to twice the eigenfrequencies [2]. The originality here will be to replace the RF excitation field usually produced by an inductive antenna by the effective tickle and rolling fields associated to the magneto-elastic and magneto-rotation terms active when a SAW is excited in the substrate. These measurements will be performed on samples fabricated in collaboration with another laboratory (C2N) and thanks to a highly sensitive magnetic resonance force microscopy technique developed at SPEC. Micromagnetic simulations using Mumax3 will also be conducted to understand the SAW excitation threshold to be overcome to excite parametric modes in the disk.

    This internship will take place in the context of the recently funded project NELSON (« Non-Linear Surface acoustic wave platform enabled by spin wave hybridizatiON ») by the French ANR.

    [1] R. Lopes Seeger et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 176704 (2025)
    [2] T. Srivastava et al., Phys. Rev. Appl. 19, 064078 (2023)

    Location

    CEA Saclay, Site de l’Orme des merisiers (91) Essonne, France

    Internship conditions

    • Internship duration: 6 months
    • Level of study: Bac+5
    • Training: Master 2
    • Continuation in PhD thesis: Yes
    • Application deadline: 2 février 2026

    Experimental skills

    Language : English

    Useful methods and technics: hyperfrequencies, magnetic force microscopy, micromagnetic simulations

    Computer languages and software: Python

    Links

    Supervisor

    Grégoire de Loubens
    Phone: 01 69 08 71 60
    Email :

    January 30 2026
    February 2 2026
    6 month
    CEA Saclay, Site de l’Orme des merisiers (91) Essonne, France
    Apply for the job

  • Domain, Specialties : Molecular physics
    Keywords: polymerization, optics, nanophotonics, plasmonics, local probes, AFM, STM

    Research Unit : SPEC / LEPO

    Summary

    The manufacture of high-quality 2D materials is an important challenge in nanotechnology. Molecular self-assembly makes it possible to create promising supramolecular structures, but these are not stable. The internship aims to study the photo-crosslinking of such assemblies to make them stable, by playing with the degrees of freedom of light.

    Full description

    The interaction between a material and its environment occurs primarily at its surface. Nano-structuring this surface makes interactions more selective and allows new optoelectronic properties to be obtained. High-quality two-dimensional (2D) materials are therefore an important scientific goal. One promising approach is the self-assembly of molecules on a crystalline substrate. This method is flexible and allows to obtain a wide variety of organized 2D supramolecular networks with promising properties for optoelectronics and sensing. However, these assemblies are based on non-covalent bonds, making them fragile and thermally unstable.

    To strengthen these networks, one solution is to bond the molecules together on the surface, thus creating a covalent 2D network. This covalent network formation can be achieved by heating under ultra-high vacuum. However, this method can cause defects in the surface. An interesting alternative is to use light to trigger the cross-linking of the network, which allows for new control parameters: wavelength and polarization of light. We propose to create such molecular assemblies under ambient conditions and characterize them using optics and scanning probe microscopies.

    This internship will aim to:

    • Characterize molecular assemblies synthesized by project partners, in air or at the liquid–solid interface, using scanning probe microscopies (scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) ).
    • Monitor their evolution under light excitation to demonstrate localized photochemical cross-linking under ambient conditions.

    Location

    CEA Saclay, Site de l’Orme des merisiers (91) Essonne, France

    Internship conditions

    • Internship duration: 6 months
    • Level of study: Bac+5
    • Training: Master 2
    • Continuation in PhD thesis: Yes
    • Application deadline: 3 mars 2025

    Experimental skills

    Language : English

    Useful methods and technics:

    • Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)
    • Atomic force microscopy (AFM)
    • Optical microscopy
    • Absorption spectroscopy
    • Raman spectroscopy

    Computer languages and software: Python

    Links

    Supervisor

    Simon Vassant
    Phone: +33 1 69 08 95 97
    Email :

    Head of the laboratory SPEC / LEPO

    Ludovic Douillard
    Phone: +33 1 69 08 36 26

    January 30 2026
    February 2 2026
    6 month
    France
    Apply for the job

  • Domain, Specialties : Theoretical physics, quantum mechanics
    Keywords: quantum vacuum ; electromagnetic fluctuations ; electron-positron pairs; quantum friction

    Research Unit : SPEC / SPHYNX

    Summary

    Electromagnetic fluctuations of quantum vacuum and blackbody radiation induce friction forces at the atomic level. This internship is devoted to considering quantum fluctuations of virtual particle-antiparticle pairs as well. The physical model developed at SPHYNX should evolve to include those fluctuations in the calculation of dissipative forces.

    Full description

    Quantum fluctuations induce conservative macroscopic forces such as the Casimir effect. They could also cause dissipative forces, termed vacuum (or quantum) friction. Up to now, this friction effect has been calculated with consideration of the electromagnetic fluctuations only, i.e. without taking into account the Dirac Sea. This project is devoted to the extension of our research in this direction: electrons, as main contributors of the matter-field interaction, also interact with electron-positron virtual pairs in the quantum vacuum. How much of quantum friction, at zero or finite temperature, could be due to this type of interaction? A first step will be adapting the present semi-classical framework to include vacuum polarization and pair creation. In doing so, one will encounter finite frequency cut-offs, traditionally linked to virtual pair creation; thus one will determine a friction component linked with the finite cut-off of Fourier integrals. On this research path, one shall pay attention to maintaining the mathematical coherence of the whole framework. A longer-term goal remains a complete and consistent quantum relativistic treatment of quantum friction at the atomic level.

    Location

    CEA Saclay, Site de l’Orme des merisiers (91) Essonne, France

    Internship conditions

    • Internship duration: 4 months
    • Level of study: Bac+5
    • Training: Master 2
    • Continuation in PhD thesis: Yes
    • Application deadline: 1 avril 2026

    Experimental skills

    Language : English

    Useful methods and technics:

    • differential equations
    • formal calculus
    • QED

    Computer languages and software: Mathematica ; python ; LaTeX

    Links

    Site web du laboratoire : https://iramis.cea.fr/spec/

    Personal web page of supervisor: Herve Bercegol

    Supervisor

    Herve Bercegol (SPEC/SPHYNX)
    Phone: 06 17 91 24 79
    Email :

    January 30 2026
    February 2 2026
    4 month
    CEA Saclay, Site de l’Orme des merisiers (91) Essonne, France
    Apply for the job

  • Internship offer description

    • Field / Topic: Condensed matter physics/ photoelectrochemistry
    • Research Unit: SPEC/LNO
    • Internship place: CEA Saclay
    • Internship duration: 6 months
    • Level of study: Bachelor + 5 years
    • Training: Master 2 / Engineer
    • Continuation in PhD thesis: YES
    • Application deadline: 30/01/2026

    Internship subject

    Description:    

    Mechanisms underlying the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the photoanode/electrolyte interface remain poorly understood. This lack of clarity hinders the critical knowledge leap required for efficient water splitting and the production of clean hydrogen. Advanced operando spectromicroscopy approaches — such as Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy (STXM) and ptychography — provide a key opportunity to elucidate the role of each relevant parameter (morphology, structure, chemical coordination, etc.) at the nanoscale and during the photoelectrochemical reaction.

    This internship is part of a project aimed at exploiting operando methods recently implemented at the STXM instrument (HERMES beamline, SOLEIL synchrotron), within the framework of the ANR OERKOP grant. Homemade micro-photoelectrochemical cells, compatible with the commercial Protochips cell holder, will be used. These cells enable photoanode materials to be grown directly on glassy carbon working electrodes using well-established chemical deposition methods developed in our group¹⁻³. Existing operando spectromicroscopy methods will be complemented by the development of a time-resolved scheme in the millisecond/second range to track transitory reversible effects during the OER.

    Missions:

    The intern will work at the HERMES beamline (SOLEIL synchrotron) in close collaboration with a post-doctoral researcher and a PhD student. He/she will actively participate in running operando STXM electrochemical experiments. He/she will develop several skills in:

    • Sample synthesis using established methods (aqueous chemical growth, hydrothermal mineralization, dip coating).
    • Material characterization (X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, UV-vis absorption, SEM).
    • Photoelectrochemical characterization (linear sweep voltammetry, cyclic voltammetry).
    • Spectromicroscopy using the STXM instrument at the HERMES beamline.

    The intern will have access to state-of-the-art instruments and cutting-edge methods (operando, ptychography) developed recently.

    This internship may lead to a PhD thesis, subject to funding from EDPIF doctoral school at Paris-Saclay University.

    Keywords : Solar water splitting, hematite photoanode, X-rays spectromicroscopy, operando

    Links

    Candidate profile

    • Scientific skills: material science, condensed matter, photoelectrochemistry
    • Software / calculations : office, python for data treatement and spectra fit
    • Languages : English, French

    Supervisors

    February 1 2026
    March 1 2026
    6 month
    CEA Saclay, Site de l’Orme des merisiers (91) Essonne, France
    Apply for the job

  • Topic, Specialties: PHYSICS
    Key words: magnetic sensor, leakage fields

    Hosting unit: SPEC/LNO

    Magnetic mapping using magnetoresistive magnetic sensors

    Abstract

    The aim of the internship is to optimize the magnetoresistive sensors, the 3D probe and the scanner of the setup developed in the laboratory and allowing the quantitative and vectorial measurement of leakage fields emitted by various samples ranging from paleomagnetic rocks to RF absorbing materials.

    Detailed subject

    This internship is part of the ANR MOOSAIC project, which aims to address the problem of non-destructive evaluation of the local magnetic properties (DC and AC) of microstructured, inhomogeneous materials (e.g. paleomagnetic rocks and RF-absorbing petals). It tackles this problem by developing a 3D scanner, consisting of 4 giant magnetoresistance (GMR) sensors, capable of measuring stray magnetic fields emitted by material surfaces in both DC and AC modes, rapidly, vectorially and quantitatively over large areas (several mm² ) with a spatial resolution of ten microns. The aim is to optimize the setup for determining DC and AC magnetic properties, to design a model for reconstructing the field and magnetic properties of the sample, and to apply it to two case studies in geology and physics.

    The aim of the internship will be to optimize the GMR sensors and 3D probes used to carry out the magnetic mapping, in terms of leakage field reduction, accuracy of sensor positioning on the probe, stability under temperature and field disturbances, AC measurements, scan height control and determination of the 3D probe sensitivity matrix. GMR deposition and cleanroom fabrication, characterization and optimization by magnetometry, magneto-transport and noise measurements, and 3D probe assembly will be carried out during the internship. Part of the optimization of the setup and its instrumentation may also be carried out during the internship.

    Internship location

    CEA Saclay, (91) Essonne, France

    Internship conditions

    • Duration: 6 months
    • Level of education required: Bac + 5
    • Training : Engineer/Master 2
    • Possibility of undertaking a doctoral thesis after the internship: Yes
    • Application deadline: February 1, 2026

    Skills required

    • Methods, techniques : Magnetic mapping, micro-fabrication, instrumentation
    • Language : English

    Useful links

    Internship coordinator

    Aurélie Solignac
    Tel : 01 69 08 95 40
    Email :

    January 30 2026
    February 3 2026
    4 month
    10 month
    CEA Saclay, Site de l’Orme des merisiers (91) Essonne, France
    Apply for the job