Christophe Salomon


Christophe Salomon is a :Category:French physicists|French physicist. Specialist in quantum optics and cold atoms, Christophe Salomon is interested in the superfluidity of quantum gases and in the measurement of time using atomic clocks. A pioneer in this disciplinary field, he has helped to give France a world leadership position in the field.

Biography

From 1973 to 1976, he was a student at the École centrale des arts et manufactures in Paris. He then defended his postgraduate thesis in 1979. He joined the CNRS in 1980 as a research fellow at the Laser Physics Laboratory, University of Paris-Nord.
In 1984, he completed a thesis in high-resolution laser spectroscopy and then embarked on a post-doctoral fellowship at JILA, University of Colorado.
Fascinated by the first work in the United States on the manipulation of objects and atoms by laser, Christophe Salomon was introduced to these new techniques at the University of Colorado, before joining the first research group in France on cold atoms, created by Claude Cohen-Tannoudji at the École normale supérieure. He is currently CNRS research director at the Kastler Brossel laboratory. "As a physicist and experimenter, I appreciate the privilege of being able to work in total freedom on exploratory subjects and the profound joy of discovery when the signals sought in a team, after several months of hard work, appear for the first time on a computer screen! »
In 1985, he was a CNRS research fellow at the Kaslter Brossel laboratory, École normale supérieure de Paris. In 2000, he became research director at the CNRS, head of the "Cold Atoms" group with Jean Dalibard and, in 2008, head of the "Ultra-Cold Fermi Gas" group at the Kastler Brossel laboratory.

Scientific work

Cooled by light very close to absolute zero, atomic gases have very low thermal agitation, and can be used to measure time, space and gravitation with high accuracy. In collaboration with André Clairon, Christophe Salomon developed the first cesium clock operating as an atomic fountain. These ultra-precise clocks are now the foundation of international atomic time and advanced technologies such as GPS. Christophe Salomon has also been involved in the European space project ACES/PHARAO. This project aims to study the functioning of atomic clocks in space, in the absence of gravity, in order to carry out more precise tests of Einstein's general relativity.
Below the microkelvin, atoms also reveal spectacular quantum behaviours, such as Bose-Einstein condensation or superfluidity, the transport of particles without friction. Christophe Salomon and his team were the first to observe the Bloch oscillations of ultra cold atoms and the solitons of matter waves. They also played a decisive role in understanding the relationship between the superfluidity of Cooper pairs for attractive interacting fermions and the Bose-Einstein condensation of these strongly related pairs. This work paved the way for quantitative N-body physics in the regime of strong correlations, a subject that is currently undergoing rapid development.
He has written and co-authored nearly 150 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, the main ones being as follows:
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He has also written or participated in the writing of popular science articles to make his science more accessible:
  1.    J. Dalibard, C. Salomon: Trapping neutral atoms with electromagnetic fields. Europhys. News, 19 p. 68-72
  2.    A. Aspect, J. Dalibard, C. Salomon: Channels of light for atoms. Research, 19 p. 401
  3.    A. Appearance, C. Salomon: Laser-cooled atoms: towards the microkelvin. Images of Physics,
  4.    C. Salomon, B. Lounis, J. Reichel, A. Clairon, P. Laurent, A. Nadir: laser-cooled atoms: towards an ultra-stable cesium clock. Revue Scientifique et Technique de la Défense, p. 113
  5.    A. Bugler, E. de Clercq, C. Salomon: The measurement of time on earth and in space. For science, 190, p. 82
  6.    M. Dahan, C. Salomon: Bloch's oscillations. For Science, 261, 84,
  7.    C. Salomon: The measurement of time: a cold revolution. Bulletin de la Société Française de Physique, 112, 34, Special notebook Nobel Prize in Physics 1997
  8.    C. Salomon : Cold atoms in space and atomic clocks. in ESA book, A world without gravity, Research in Space for Health and Industrial Processes, p. 292-304, ed. G. Seibert, ESA-SP1251
  9.    S. Reynaud, C. Salomon, P. Touboul: Gravitation under surveillance. For Science Special Issue Dec 2004
  10.    F. Chevy, C. Salomon: ultra-cold fermion gases. - Images of physics CNRS 2005, p. 90-97
  11.    F. Chevy, C. Salomon: Superfluidity in Fermi gases. - Physics World 18, n°3, March 2005, p. 43-47
  12.    Participation in the development of a film on A. Einstein "1905, année lumière" 52 minutes, co-production SCÉRÉN-CNDP / France 5, Broadcast on France 5, Wednesday 14 December 2005, at 20h 55 then on several television channels, every year since 2005.
  13.    C. Salomon: repulsion between cold atoms increases their cohesion. La Recherche, n°400, September 2006
  14.    W. Ertmer, E. Rasel, C. Salomon, S. Schiller, G. M. Tino and L. Cacciapuoti: Cold atoms and precision sensors in space. Europhysics News, 39-3, p. 33,
  15.    C. Salomon, interview for humanity Sunday, November 2009.
  16.    C. Salomon: Measuring Time with Atoms. for Science, No. 397, November 2010, pp. 72–78
  17.    C. Salomon: light, cosmos and ultra-cold matter. participation in a book "the greatest of all chance", ed. Belin, 2010
  18.    A reference of time in space, La Recherche, interview, special issue on time, December 2016
  19.    Bernard Valeur, book on light, published by Flammarion. Two pages on "Light for measuring time". 2016.

    Honours and Awards