Isabelle Ledoux-Rak (born 1957) is a French

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and Professor at the

École Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay The (; also ENS Paris-Saclay or Paris-Saclay), formerly ENS Cachan, is a grande école and a constituent member of Paris-Saclay University. It was established in 1892. It is located in Gif-sur-Yvette within the Essonne department near Paris ...

, where she is director of the Quantum and Molecular Photonics Laboratory (LPQM - UMR CNRS 8537) and coordinator of the

Erasmus Mundus The European Union's Erasmus Mundus programme (named after Erasmus, the Renaissance scholar) aims to enhance quality in higher education through scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students f ...

Master's degree. Her research interests focus on the study of the non-linear optical properties of molecules and

nanomaterials Nanomaterials describe, in principle, chemical substances or materials of which a single unit is sized (in at least one dimension) between 1 and 100 nm (the usual definition of nanoscale). Nanomaterials research takes a materials science ...

Education

Ledoux-Rak studied chemistry and physical sciences at the

École normale supérieure de jeunes filles The ''École normale supérieure de jeunes filles'' (also, ''École normale supérieure de Sèvres'') was a French institute of higher education, in Sèvres, now a commune in the suburbs of Paris. The school educated girls only, especially as te ...

, and joined the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications to study

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

in 1981. She obtained a Ph.D. in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

from the Centre National d'Études des Télécommunications (CNET) at Bagneux in 1988, under the supervision of Joseph Zyss. Her thesis studied the non-linear optical properties of

organic molecules Some chemical authorities define an organic compound as a chemical compound that contains a carbon–hydrogen or carbon–carbon bond; others consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon. For example, carbon-cont ...

and was distinguished with the Prize of the Physical Chemistry Division of the French Society of Chemistry.

Research and career

Ledoux-Rak continued her postdoctoral research in non-linear optics at CNET until joining the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) Paris-Saclay (formerly Cachan) in 1998, where she was involved with founding the Quantum and Molecular Photonics Laboratory (LPQM) with her former supervisor, Joseph Zyss. She has been a professor of physics at ENS Paris-Saclay since 2002, and director of the LPQM since 2006.

Awards and honours

In 2015, Ledoux-Rak was awarded the

Fernand Holweck Medal and Prize The Fernand Holweck Medal and Prize is a major European prize for Physics awarded jointly every year by the British Institute of Physics (IOP) and the Société Française de Physique (SFP). It is one of the four Grand Prix of the SFP and one of ...

for her research on the non-linear optical properties of metal complexes and the detection of optical amplification phenomena at telecom wavelengths in polymer-based waveguides. She and Zyss also jointly received the Yves Rocard Prize of the French Physical Society for instrumentation in 1996.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ledoux-Rak, Isabelle French women physicists 1957 births Living people Women in optics French optical physicists 20th-century French physicists 21st-century French physicists French women academics 20th-century French women Academic staff of the École Normale Supérieure