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The Bronze Medal is awarded for first works by researchers who are specialists in their field. This distinction represents an encouragement from the CNRS to pursue research that is already well underway and fruitful.

A specialist in quantum materials, Laura Chaix explores the electronic and magnetic states at work in complex compounds such as superconducting copper oxides and certain magnetic oxides. At the Institut Néel (NEEL, CNRS) in Grenoble, she conducts experiments using large-scale instruments, such as synchrotron and neutron sources, to probe the collective excitations running through these materials – atomic lattice vibrations (phonons), spin waves (magnons) – or complex electronic or magnetic orders such as electron charge density waves. These phenomena play a central role in the emergence of quantum properties such as superconductivity.

Laura Chaix has demonstrated an unusual coupling between a charge density wave and lattice vibration in copper oxychloride, a superconducting cuprate. This unexpected coupling between charges and atomic structure has revealed the existence of a collective mode that is still poorly understood. It’s proof that quantum materials are still largely Terrae Incognitae, which Laura Chaix is keen to explore.

Read his full portrait here

CNRS unveils its bronze medallists here

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