AN LCF PH. D. STUDENT HONORED
PARTNER NEWS
NEWS www. institutoptique. fr
In brief
For the second consecutive year, the Institut d’ Optique hosted the Fête de la Science at two of its campus, in Paris-Saclay and Bordeaux. Throughout these two events, children, students and families have had the opportunity of discovering photonics through immersion in labs and experimentations with our students.. The Fête de la science isan oppprtunity for Institut d’ Optique to reaffirm each year its commitment to promoting science an sharing scientific knowledge with society.
AGENDA
SC12 – Optronic Systems 25 – 27 November and 9 – 11 December 2026
EF1 – Optics Without Equations 1 – 3 December 2026
CO1 – Optical Design of Imaging Systems with Ansys Zemax OpticStudio – Beginner Level 1 – 4 December 2026
CO 2 VIS – Optical Design of Visible Imaging Systems with Ansys Zemax OpticStudio – Advanced Level( Online) 8 – 10 December 2026
EF10 – Laser Safety Training: Level 2 – Technical, Scientific and Maintenance Personnel 9 – 10 December 2026
CONTACT
Clémentine Bouyé, Head of communication clementine. bouye @ institutoptique. fr
2026 Branco Weiss Fellowship:
Innovative Research at the Intersection of Photonics and Life Sciences Recognized
Nathan Ronceray, a postdoctoral researcher at the Laboratoire Photonique Numérique et Nanosciences( LP2N), has been awarded a prestigious 2026 Branco Weiss Fellowship. He joins a group of eight young researchers and becomes only the second researcher based in a laboratory in France to receive this distinction.
His research is focused on communication between plant cells. His goal is to better understand how plants coordinate organism-wide responses. He is particularly interested in plasmodesmata – nanometer-scale channels that cross cell walls and allow molecules to be exchanged between neighboring cells. To study these exchanges, Nathan Ronceray is developing a super-resolution microscope that can track individual fluorescent molecules crossing these channels directly in living roots. This method will make it possible to identify which channels are active, how often molecules cross, and how long each crossing takes. The project’ s goal is to make this molecular traffic through plasmodesmata directly measurableand quantifiable in order to better understand how plants coordinate their growth and adapt to their environment, particularly under stress conditions. The project will be based at the Laboratoire Photonique Numérique et Nanosciences( LP2N) at the Institut d’ Optique d’ Aquitaine, in partnership with the Laboratoire de Biogenèse Membranaire.
L ' ORÉAL-UNESCO FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE AWARD:
AN LCF PH. D. STUDENT HONORED
Britton Hofer, a doctoral student at the Laboratoire Charles Fabry( Institut d’ Optique / CNRS / Université Paris-Saclay), is one of the 35 winners of the 20th edition of the L’ Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science France Award. This honor recognizes her work on isolating and controlling atoms using light.
As a researcher in the Quantum Optics group at the Laboratoire Charles Fabry, Britton Hofer focuses her research on studying the interactions between light and atoms. During her doctoral research at the Institut d’ Optique, she developed an experiment using lasers to isolate and control atoms one by one. The goal is to better understand how atoms interact with light— specifically, how they absorb and then re-emit photons, and how multiple atoms can collectivily react. Eventuality, her research could contribute to the development of new quantum technologies, such as more precise atomic clocks, gravitational detectors, or quantum computers. This award also highlights the importance of women’ s representation in research. Britton Hofer hopes to encourage young girls to find their place in science:“ I am proud to be a woman in science, to have persevered despite my doubts. […] I hope, in my own small way, to encourage young girls and help them feel that they belong.”
© Marc Grémillon
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