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Fundamental Research Division
The DRF at the CEA assemble approximately 6,000 scientists since January 2016.
In collaboration with scientists from the Frédéric-Joliot Institute, a team from IRAMIS has developed a microfluidic device coupled with a mass spectrometry technique. The scientists were able to multiply the analysis sensitivity by thirty compared to the current state of the art, as shown by a spectrum obtained using this process on a deposit of a model peptide of a few femtomoles (10-15).
Designed to equip the FRESCA2 testing station at CERN (Facility for the Reception of Superconducting Cables), the niobium-tin dipole magnet of the same name has reached a record 13.3 T magnetic field for a 100 mm aperture. It was designed and developed as part of a collaboration between IRFU and CERN. The objective is a magnetic-field homogeneity 1% over a length of 540 mm.
Researchers from the Institut de biologie François-Jacob and their partners have shown that multiple prion variants can coexist and manifest themselves under different clinical forms depending on the transmission conditions.
Physicists from IRAMIS were successful in producing images of the antiferromagnetic order in bismuth ferrite by generating a second harmonic using a femtosecond laser. This result is the first step towards the control of these materials which are seen as promising for data storage applications.
To ascertain the "strangeness" property of the proton, an international collaboration including IRFU has produced, starting from protons, other particles containing a "strange" quark and characterized them. These high-precision measurements carried out at CERN in Geneva will lead to a better understanding of the contribution of strange quarks to the nucleon's spin.
The heat waves experienced in Europe in 2017 were a result of global warming induced by human activities. Every summer, there is now a 10% chance of seeing a summer as hot as 2017, as shown by an international collaboration involving researchers from LSCE.
The cow could be a relevant model to study human genetic abnormalities, as demonstrated in an international study involving scientists from the François-Jacob Institute.
A collaboration involving IRAMIS has characterized the paradoxical properties of ionic liquids— electrolytes which appear as either strong or weak depending on the scale that they are probed—and inferred a path to improve their electrical conductivity. Confined in carbon nanotubes, the electrolyte under scrutiny is very stable at high temperature and could be put to good use in batteries or fuel cells.
The WEST tokamak is now equipped with an infrared thermographic endoscope developed by IRFM. Its very high spatial resolution (100 microns) will enable researchers to study the thermal behavior of a critical component in ITER, the divertor, in great detail.
A team of scientists from the Frédéric-Joliot Institute and their partners have shown that a genetic variant associated with multiple psychiatric disorders alters a prefrontal-limbic network, that is suspected to increase the risk of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
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CEA is a French government-funded technological research organisation in four main areas: low-carbon energies, defense and security, information technologies and health technologies. A prominent player in the European Research Area, it is involved in setting up collaborative projects with many partners around the world.