Jean Jerphagnon Award

Rewarding excellence in optics and photonics at the heart of entrepreneurship

Sylvain Gigan, 2018 Jerphagnon Award winner

Sylvain Gigan is a Professor at Sorbonne University and leads the “Optical Imaging in Complex and Diffusing Environments” team at Kastler-Brossel Laboratory, at the Ecole Normale Supérieure. His research focuses on the optics of complex media, from fundamental effects and biomedical imaging to quantum optics.

He is also co-founder of the startup LightOn, which is developing an optical computation solution for artificial intelligence based on his work. Sylvain Gigan is a Junior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France.

Two 2018 finalists, Emmanuel H. Hugot and Antoine Dubrouil

Emmanuel H. Hugot, born in 1981, is a French astrophysicist specialized in the development of new technologies dedicated to ground and space observatories.

For 4 years, he led the “Optical R&D and instrumentation” scientific team at the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille.

His fields of expertise are active optics, aspherical optics and curved sensors. His work has already been awarded the CNRS Bronze Medal and the European MERAC Prize in 2017.

Antoine Dubrouil is a physicist and entrepreneur specializing in ultrafast lasers.

After completing his doctorate at the CELIA in 2011, he completed a post-doc in Australia and Italy during which he developed revolutionary ultrafast instrumentation techniques.

In 2014, he returned to CELIA with the aim of starting a company based on his work.

In 2016 he set up Femto Easy, which has become a benchmark company in the field in the past three years.

The judges in 2018

Judges 2018 : Alain Aspect (President) Institut d’Optique, Claude Boccara (Institut Langevin), Jean-Louis de Bougrenet (IMT-Atlantique), René Essiambre (Nokia Bell-Labs), Thierry Georges (Oxxius), Jean-Pierre Huignard (exThalesTRT), Caroline Kulcsár (Institut d’Optique), Hervé Lefevre (iXBlue), Jean-Louis Martin (Institut d’Optique), Pascale Nouchi (Thales Research & Technology), Pascale Senellart-Mardon (C2N-CNRS).

About the Jean Jerphagnon Award

jean-jerphagnon

The award was created to honor the memory and extend the work of Jean Jerphagnon, who died in 2005 after leading a distinguished career in optics and photonics

Its aim is to promote technological innovation and the diffusion of optics and photonics in all fields of application.

The Award is granted to a researcher or engineer who proposes an innovative project

of high scientific value or high industrial potential
which marks a milestone in his or her career
comprises at least one optical or photonic element

The winner, who must be at least 40 years old in the year in which the prize is awarded, is selected annually on the basis of the following criteria:

the value of his or her research results
his or her national and international recognition
his or her motivation and the relevance and innovative perspectives of the project (whether scientific or industrial)
the presumed societal and economic qualities for the intended applications
the potential benefits of the project’s contributions for France and Europe

A winning amount of €10,000

The winner receives a check for €10,000 and support in the form of advice in the implementation of his or her project by the Organizing Committee of the JEAN JERPHAGNON Award. Each of the finalists receives a check for €1,000.

The organizers

With the support of

Winners and finalists in previous years

WINNER IN 2017

Vincent Studer (University of Bordeaux, co-founder of Alvéole, Director of Research at the CNRS) created Alvéole, a company that develops and markets innovative tools to control the cellular micro-environment.

Vincent Studer’s work has made it possible to “print” molecules with light and to design new in-vitro models for biology.

WINNER IN 2017

Patrick Bouchon (ONERA)
Rodolphe Boudot (CNRS)
Antoine Dubrouil (Femto Easy)
Sylvain Gigan (Université Pierre et Marie Curie)

WINNER IN 2016

Sébastien Février, Researcher at the XLIM laboratory (CNRS/University of Limoges)

The rigorously evaluated multiple selection criteria include scientific value, high industrial potential and presumed societal and economic qualities for the envisaged applications.

Sébastien Février, a researcher at the XLIM laboratory (CNRS/University of Limoges), has invented new types of optical fibers to obtain ultra-short laser pulses with peak power of up to 1 MW. The technology is due to be transferred to Novae Corporation.