Optique Nonlinéaire Théorique (ONT)

Membres de l'Unité - People

Etienne Averlant Thomas Erneux Gaetan Friart Blaise Godefroid Gregory Kozyreff Virginie Lecocq Modeste Nguimdo Mustapha Tlidi Evgeny Viktorov

Etienne Averlant

Etienne Averlant graduated as a physicist in 2010 at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. The subject of his master thesis, under the supervision of Gregory Kozyreff, is "Spontaneous emission in a solar cell geometry".

He is currently doing a joint PhD in Physics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles under the supervision of Prof. M. Tlidi and in engineering sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel under the supervision of Prof. K. Panajotov. He acknowledges a grant from VUB.

His research topics include: nonlinear dynamics, semiconductor laser physics, delay differential equations on spatially extended systems...

Publications

Contact: 02 650 5777, Etienne.Averlant@ulb.ac.be.

Thomas Erneux

I received my Ph. D. in Chemistry in 1979 at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Because there are interesting mathematical problems in Chemistry, I went to the US to study applied mathematical techniques (1979-80 Caltech, 1980 Northwestern University). In 1981, I did my military duty at the Royal Military School in Brussels where I learned what a thermal explosion is in in practice. Because I liked the US applied mathematical environment so much, I went back to Northwestern University now as a professor (1982-1993). I worked on a variety of bifurcation problems mostly in the area of chemical instabilities and laser instabilities. The latter became a source of many collaborations with Paul Mandel and I joined the ONT group in 1993. My current interests concentrate on nonlinear dynamical problems, and, in particular on delay differential equation problems in all areas of science and engineering. Preference is given to collaborative projects with experimental groups (Besançon, Rennes, Bruxelles). My favorite tools are combinations of numerical and analytical techniques. I have published two books and more than one hundred papers and I am a Senior Research Associate of the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique. I teach bifurcation and asymptotic methods and their applications in laser physics, chemistry, and biology.

My hobbies concentrate on reading, listening music, walking or biking in my village, and playing with my grandchildren Julia and Mathieu.

Publications

Contact: 02 650 5819, Thomas.Erneux@ulb.ac.be.

Gaetan Friart

I graduated as a physicist in 2013 at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. The subject of my master thesis, under the supervision of Prof. Thomas Erneux, was "Square-waves in semiconductor lasers subject to feedback".

After a brief stint in the insurance sector, I am currently doing a PhD in Physics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles under the supervision of Prof. Thomas Erneux. I also collaborate with the Applied Physics Research Group of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. I acknowledge a grant from the FRIA.

I am interested in nonlinear and delayed dynamics, especially applied to semiconductor laser systems. My research activities include both theory and experiments. Beside Physics, I enjoy travelling, biking, skiing and meeting (new) friends over a belgian beer.

Publications

Contact: 02 650 5822, Gaetan.Friart@ulb.ac.be.

Blaise Godefroid

I graduated as a physicist in 2015 at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. My master thesis was about "Ultra-thin solar cell's modeling" under the supervision of Prof. Gregory Kozyreff.

I am currently doing a PhD in Physics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in the same field still under the supervision of Prof. Gregory Kozyreff. The main objective of my PhD is to improve ultra-thin solar cells by studying its photonic aspects in order to ultimately increase the theoretical efficiency of these solar cells. This topics include : nonlinear optics, wave chaos, electromagnetism, optical trap, exciton transport,...

I am also teaching assistant for the physics classes in the Faculty of Medicine.

Publications

Contact: 02 650 5822, Blaise.Godefroid@ulb.ac.be.

Gregory Kozyreff

I graduated as a physics engineer in 1997 at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. In 2001, I obtained a PhD with a thesis on nonlinear laser dynamics, under the supervision of Paul Mandel. From 2001 to 2004, I was as a post-doc at the Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (OCIAM). There, I worked on a variety of mechanics and fluid problems in relation to the industry. From 2004 to 2008, I was a postdoctoral researcher with the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (F.R.S-FNRS). During that period, I was based in Brussels but also spent a year at ICFO-The Institute for Photonics Sciences, in Barcelona. Since 2008, I am a Research Associate of the F.R.S-FNRS.

I still enjoy active collaborations with people in OCIAM (Oxford) and ICFO (Barcelona), notably with Jordi Martorell's experimental group.

My research activities include: localized patterns in spatially extended system, optical instabilities, second harmonic generation in microresonators, solar cell modelling, and tree mechanics.

Publications

Contact: 02 650 5821, Gregory.Kozyreff@ulb.ac.be.

Virginie Lecocq

I obtained my Master degree in physics from the Université libre de Bruxelles in 2013. I did my master thesis on the study of ice rheology under the supervision of Dr. Kael Hanson and Prof. Frank Pattyn.

In 2015, I joined the ONT group to start a PhD with Prof. Thomas Erneux.

Concurrently, I am a teaching assistant in physics at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management.

Publications

Contact: 02 650 5822 , Virginie.Lecocq@ulb.ac.be.

Modeste Nguimdo

Romain Modeste Nguimdo received the M.Sc. degree in theoretical physics with a minor in option mechanics from the University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon, and the University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon, in 2006, and the M.Sc. degree in theoretical physics and the Ph.D. degree from the Instituto de Fsica Interdisciplinar y Sistemas Complejos, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, in 2008 and 2011, respectively. From 2012 to 2015, he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow with the Applied Physics Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.

He is currently an F.N.R.S Fellow with the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels.

His current research interests include nonlinear dynamics, optical chaos cryptography, and ultrapure microwaves, random bit generation, and delay-based reservoir computing.

Publications

Contact: 02 650 5820 .

Mustapha Tlidi

Mustapha Tlidi was born in Morocco. He received the M.D and PhD degrees in physics from the science faculty of the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 1989 and 1995 respectively in the Service de Chimie-Physique II under the supervision of Professor René Lefever.

From 1995 to 2002, he held a temporary position in the Service d'optique Nonlinéaire Théorique. Since October 2002, he is a Research Associate of the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique. His research is focused on diffractive and dispersive nonlinear optics in one and more dimensions, including transverse pattern formation, localized structures or cavity solitons, light drops, domain growth in nonlinear optics, and space time instabilities in Kerr media, quadratic media, liquid crystals light valve, semiconductors.

Beside optics, he enjoys working in ecosystem problems such as the formation of vegetation patterns and localized patches in the arid and the semiarid landscape.

List of collaborations that lead to join publications: R. Lefever (ULB), M. Haelterman (ULB), Ph. Emplit (ULB), W.J. Firth (Glasgow, Scotland)), L.A. Lugiato (Milan, Italy), M. Leberre (Paris, France), P. Couteron (Montpelier, Water and Forest institute, France), K. Satliunas (Barcelona), A.G. Vladimirov (St Petersburg, Berlin), M. Taki (Lille, France), P. L. Ramazza (Florence), S. Coen (NZ).

Publications

Contact: 02 650 5905, mtlidi@ulb.ac.be.

Evgeny Viktorov

Publications