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Fundamental Research Division
The DRF at the CEA assemble approximately 6,000 scientists since January 2016.
In a solar cell, the absorption of photons with energy exceeding the absorption threshold results in excess energy. But how is this excess energy dissipated? Researchers from IRAMIS answered this question by developing concepts that could facilitate the description of other semiconductors.
Present at a trace level in the atmosphere, carbon oxysulphide, just like carbon dioxide, is assimilated by plants. By analyzing the evolution of its concentration, the researchers were able to evaluate the increase in photosynthetic activity. It is thought to have increased by 30% over a century and would constitute a carbon sink equivalent to 25% of anthropogenic emissions. Taking this result into account will improve digital models describing the joint evolution of the climate and the carbon cycle.
A new photoemission spectroscopy technique makes it possible to observe the superconducting transition in high-temperature superconductors. This technique can also be used to study the dynamics of highly correlated systems such as ultra-cold atoms.
How could we observe the neuroinflammation mechanisms in the development of neurodegenerative diseases? A team from the CEA Frédéric-Joliot Institute has been testing tracers for PET imaging.
At the center of a small galaxy located about 1.8 billion light-years from Earth, a giant black hole swallowed a star for about a decade, which is exceptionally longer than any observed episode of this kind. This discovery was made by an international collaboration involving an astrophysicist from IRFU, thanks to a trio of orbiting X-ray telescopes.
As a building block in DNA and RNA, cytosine possesses numerous isomers with the same molecular formula, but different structural formulas or distinct space configurations. An international consortium, of which IRAMIS is a member, was able to identify five of these forms by combining computer simulations of quantum chemistry and UV photonization imaging carried out at the SOLEIL synchrotron facility.
Some cancer cells in the prostate are resistant to conventional chemotherapeutic treatments, as they appear to enter a “quiescent state” at the time of treatment. A team from CEA-BIG has proposed a strategy to eliminate these cells.
Light-by-light scattering, predicted in 1936, was observed for the first time by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, thanks to “ultra-peripheral” collisions of lead ions. It is of particular interest to physicists, as it is the result of interactions between a vacuum and intense electromagnetic fields.
A team from INAC has produced and characterized, for the first time, a layer of molybdenum diselenide (MoSe2) with a triatomic thickness on an extended surface of about 1 cm². Electric conduction is more elaborate than in a classic semiconductor (“Mott gaps”) and decreases in the presence of a magnetic field. These properties provide the compounds of the MoSe2 family with a high potential for electronics, optoelectronics, and valleytronics (named after the property of electrons called the “valley index”).
Joint damage in people infected with chikungunya remains poorly understood. Scientists from the CEA François-Jacob Institute and their partners have identified an actor of the antiviral immune response whose inhibition paradoxically reduces the severity of the symptoms.
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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.