The joint laboratory NanoLite aims at bringing together one academic laboratory expert in developing laser EUV light sources (LIDYL) and one industrial laboratory specialized in the spatio-temporal shaping of those beams (Imagine Optic). NanoLite will offer on the one hand a legal framework favourable to the valorisation of products stemming from fundamental research by a company and, on the other hand, a physical environment consisting in a fully equipped laboratory with state of the art scientific instruments. This joint laboratory will be implemented at LIDYL, at the Orme des Merisiers site close to the related scientific community and to the most advanced national facilities in the domains of laser optics (ATTOLab, CILEX) and synchrotron radiations (SOLEIL). The central theme of the laboratory will be to develop optical systems oriented towards metrology. Indeed, the extreme ultraviolet spectral range (EUV), especially around 13nm, is critical for multiple fields, from the needs of synchrotron facilities to microelectronics (lithography) through academic research (magnetic domain dynamics imaging,…). The joint laboratory will draw on the complementary expertise of LIDYL in the generation of short wavelength ultrashort and coherent radiations by laser and of IO in characterization and generation of wavefronts (wavefront sensors, optic quality measurements, active optics, …). The joint laboratory proposes: 1. to develop a high performance beamline in the EUV range, with a specific architecture allowing in particular to reach very good emission stability, high average powers and access to a large photon energy range. This first step, because of its characteristics, is per se a first major innovative step. It will thus allow the development and validation of new technological building blocks. This development will rely on the LIDYL expertise, but IO’s equipment and know-how will be crucial to make the beamline stable and reliable. 2. to develop, implement and optimize unique technological blocks from IO know-how in order to improve continuously the beamline performances and capabilities: o In the domain of metrology, new generation wavefront sensors will be developed in the energy range of interest, including new capabilities as measurement on very large numerical aperture beams, spectrally resolved spatial phase characterization and high precision X-EUV optics certification o In the domain of beam shaping, a new generation of active optics optimized for EUV radiation will be developed. This will allow researchers to reach high energy densities through nanofocalization. 3. the ramp-up of scientific and industrial applications from the NanoLite ecosystem, thanks to the beamline: o The beamline operation for high precision, at wavelength metrology of X-EUV optics, in their final configuration, answering thus in the short term to the very large market of synchrotron facility upgrades. o Nanoscale imaging of nanostructured extended samples (holographic masks, meta-materials…) with spatial resolution of the order of 13nm. Additionally, those breakthrough will be applied to femtosecond imaging of ultrafast demagnetization studies, and will ideally complement the experiments performed on ATTOLab. Ultimately, the NanoLite platform raises a significant opportunity to commercialize an experimental workstation for metrology and/or imaging targeting key academic and industrial players in the field.

Optical microscopy constitutes one of the most fundamental paradigms in biological and medical imaging. However, significant challenges remain in regard to the application of optical microscopy to in vivo interrogations. First, the diffusing nature of light propagation in tissue due to random variations of the refractive index, limits in vivo microscopy to superficial depths; within only a few mean free paths (<1mm). Second the invasive nature of fluorescent proteins and probes, allows monitoring of only 1-5 events by spectrally multiplexing different fluorochromes; i.e. performance that is highly incompatible with the targets of functional genomics and proteomics. This proposal aims to develop the next step in optical visualization by addressing these two fundamental limitations of optical imaging, i.e. Depth and Contrast. To achieve this, DynAMic proposes a radically new concept for optical imaging of tissue based on ❶ developing real-time wavefront-shaping adaptive optics for making the performance of any optical system ideal and for the first time in Raman microscopy ❷ reaching tenfold deeper in tissue than conventional optical microscopy by compensating for the refractive index variations using phase and polarization retrieval for inversing light diffusion and ❸ utilize advance image formation to improve the sensitivity and utilization of stimulated Raman scattering for multi-parametric label-free contrast that radically expands at least tenfold the number of labels concurrently retrieved from living systems, linking optical observation to functional proteomic requirements. The new optical imaging ability delivered in DynAMic will be applied to a first target application of ophthalmic imaging, also used as a window to the brain and devastating nervous disease detection, defining the next generation ophthalmology and neurology sensing, disrupting the modus operandi of retinal imaging without disturbing the modus agendi of the end users.

The identification and detection of energetic materials has become a major issue of dual research, both civil and military, for the safety of populations. An important area of ??research in this context is the ability to measure, with the least uncertainty, a set of spectral signatures characterizing explosives or suspicious materials at remote distance. Constructing a prototype instrument for this purpose assumes that it can emit radiation operating in an appropriate spectral range at intensities sufficiently high to interact with the material and to collect the scattered field away from the emitting source. We propose here to deepen the technique of identification by terahertz spectroscopy (THz) of military explosives as well as simulating products. THz waves offer a great selectivity on molecular transitions and many "fingerprints" of explosives belong to this spectral domain. With the new power laser sources available today, their remote identification can become operational in the short term. The ANR / ASTRID project ALTESSE 1 (2015 - 2018) revealed the rich potential of a time-resolved THz spectroscopy using an air plasma formed by two-color femtosecond laser pulses based on the coherent detection of THz radiations issued from a target. Major scientific and technological breakthroughs have been achieved, such as proof of feasibility of a direct THz spectroscopy of explosives at a distance of 15 meters from the laser source, or the measurements of numerous lines of absorption of energetic materials populating the THz region up to the mean infrared ( 10 m in filamentation regime controlled by means of adaptative optics (IO). The first 18 months of the project will be dedicated to laboratory studies in order to increase the emissivity potential of air plasmas in the THz domain. The last 18 months will be devoted to experiments aimed at making reliable THz spectroscopy at remote distances. The success of this project should pave the way for building a demonstrator.

This proposal presents the concept of X-ray Light-Field camera, an optical system based on X-ray wavefront sensor with a specific algorithm that allows getting a 3D image from a single acquisition. The main advantages of this camera are the very important decrease in the X-ray dose sent to the sample /patient and the fast acquisition time allowing us to do real time imaging. Two prototypes, working at two different energy range,s will be ready at the end of the FET-Open VOXEL project. One is working at ~0.4 keV and aims at performing biological cell imaging while the second one, at ~17keV, is focused on the small animal imaging. These prototypes target different markets and therefore different communities. We will also explore the commercial opportunities of medical imaging with X-ray wavefront sensor-based optical systems with the energy around 25-30 keV. The goal of this project is to transform the two X-ray Light Field camera laboratory prototypes into pre-commercial products. The first step is to clarify for each prototype, the markets, the concurrent techniques, the risks (existing patents and regulation) and the specific needs required by the potential end-users. Depending on the research results, some changes might be applied to the prototypes and will be tested during collaboration with potential clients. Then, the results will be widely disseminated using classical channels, such as Imagine Optic’s website, scientific publications and conferences but also more modern channels like tutorial videos and social network announcements. Nowadays, X-ray imaging with wavefront sensors is foreseen to become an important activity at Imagine Optic. It is thus of prime importance to consider the best internal organization to fully reach the potential market. This project will be performed by Imagine Optic, a SME that has a large expertise in launching innovations related to wavefront sensors to the market.