Romain Quidant

Romain Quidant received his PhD in Physics in 2002 from the University of Dijon (France). Since then he has worked in Barcelona at ICFO in the field of nanoplasmonics. In 2006, he was appointed junior Professor and junior group leader of the Plasmon NanoOptics group at ICFO. In 2009, he became ICREA Professor and tenure group leader at ICFO. His research focuses on the study of the optical properties of metal nano-structures, known as nanoplasmonics. The activities of his group cover both fundamental and applied research. The fundamental part of his work is mainly directed towards enhanced light/matter interaction for quantum optics. From a more applied viewpoint, his group investigates the use of light and heat control at the nanometer scale for biomedical applications, including early detection and less invasive therapies. His research trajectory has been acknowledged by several national and international prizes among which the Fresnel prize from the European Physics Society (2009), the prizes of the City of Barcelona (2010) and the Fundació Príncep de Girona (2011), the 2012 ICO prize from the International Commission for Optics and more recently the 2015 national prize for research (in the category young talent). In 2010 he obtained a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) that was complemented by an ERC Proof-of-concept grant in 2011. In 2015, Quidant was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant and another Proof of Concept grant.