ISMO

The Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay (ISMO – UMR 8214) is a research unit created in 2010, associated with the CNRS and the Université Paris-Sud, from the merger of three Orsay laboratories: the Laboratoire de Photophysique Moléculaire [LPPM (UPR3361)], the Laboratoire des Collisions Atomiques et Moléculaires [LCAM (UMR8625)] and the Laboratoire d’Interaction du rayonnement X avec la Matière [LIXAM (UMR8624)].

ISMO’s ambition is to become a center of excellence in its three main scientific fields: molecular physics and its applications, nanosciences, and physics for biology, based on a common foundation corresponding to two types of approach: photophysics (a large part of the light spectrum, from X-rays to the infrared, is used to probe the dynamics induced by the optical excitation of the systems under study) and imaging: optical and local probe. ISMO is at the interface of many fields: astrophysics, atmospheric chemistry, biology, medicine… Several value-adding initiatives are underway.

ISMO’s experimental research is supported by a wide range of equipment (lasers, spectrometers, particle beams, multi-channel detectors, scanning tunneling microscopes and super-resolution microscopes, a light line in partnership with SOLEIL, etc.). It is complemented by a theoretical activity, which benefits from access to both internal and external computing resources.

ISMO has a staff of 175 (permanent and non-permanent): 81 permanent researchers or teacher-researchers, 47 PhD students and 8 post-docs, divided into 6 scientific teams. They benefit from the expertise of 39 IT and administrative staff (including 4 fixed-term contracts and 2 apprentices) organized into 6 shared services.

ISMO is a member of the “Friedel Jacquinot” (FFJ) and “Chimie-Physique de Paris-Saclay” (CPPS) research federations. It is heavily involved in the “PALM” and “NANOSACLAY” LABEXs. It reports to the “PhOM” and ‘Chimie’ departments of the Université Paris-Saclay, and is involved in the “Ondes et matière” (EDOM) and “Chimie” (2MIB) doctoral schools. Similarly, at CNRS, its positioning in physical chemistry leads it to be associated with the Institut de Physique (principal) and the Institut de Chimie (secondary).

Since 2018, ISMO members have moved into the new 520 building in the Belvedere district, where they have joined the FAST, LAC, LPS, LPTMS laboratories, within the CPMR (Centre de Physique Matière-Rayonnement).

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