Sylvain Ravets

Welcome to my personal page! My name is Sylvain Ravets and I am an experimental physicist working as a tenured CNRS researcher at the Centre for Nanosciences and Nanotechnology (C2N, CNRS/Univ Paris-Saclay, France). After studying physics at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, I completed a Ph.D. in physics (2011-2014) between the Joint Quantum Institute (University of Maryland, USA) and the Charles Fabry Laboratory (LCF, CNRS/ Institute of Optical Graduate School), where I conducted quantum engineering experiments with cold atoms in the groups of L. A. Orozco (JQI) and A. Browaeys (Institut d'Optique). In 2015, I joined ETH Zurich, where I studied quantum optics in solid-state environment, at the Institute of Quantum Photonics led by A. Imamoglu. In January 2018, I joined C2N, where I work on the manipulation of quantum light in semiconductor nanostructures with the aim of developing artificial quantum materials for photonics. On a daily basis, we use laser light and optics to study photonic materials that we produce in the lab. The goal of this research is to fabricate materials with tailored properties that are interesting for fundamental studies in physics as well as for applications in photonics.

Since Januray 2021, I am the Principal Investigator (PI) of a project supported by the European Research Council (ERC Starting grant ARQADIA). As part of it, I have started an activity on quantum polaritonics at C2N. Click on this link to learn more about it.

Short CV

• 2018: CNRS researcher – Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies (C2N), Université Paris Saclay, France.
• Project: Quantum simulation in arrays of polariton microcavities.
• 2015-2017: Postdoctoral researcher in the “Quantum Photonics” group led by Atac Imamoglu, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
• Project: Enhancing polariton-polariton interactions using fractional quantum Hall states.
• 2015: Postdoctoral researcher in the “Quantum Optics – Atoms” group led by Antoine Browaeys, Laboratoire Charles Fabry, Université Paris-Saclay, France.
• Project: Simulating quantum Ising models in arrays of single Rydberg atoms.
• 2011-2014: Doctoral student at the Institut d’Optique Graduate School under the joint supervision of Luis Orozco (Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland, USA) and Antoine Browaeys (Laboratoire Charles Fabry, Université Paris Saclay, France).
• Thesis dissertation: Development of tools for quantum engineering using individual atoms: optical nanofibers and controlled Rydberg interactions.
• 2010: Agrégation de physique: national competitive examination for the highest positions in the French public education system (rank: 12).
• 2007-2011: Physics studies at the “Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan”, France.
• Master thesis: Observing the Average Trajectories of Single Photons in a Two-Slit Interferometer.
• Bachelor thesis: Surface plasmons in the Young slit doublet experiment.

Highlights

• 2023: Co-organizer, together with Quentin Glorieux, Igor Ferrier Barbut and Julien Laurat of "Workshop on quantum physics with atoms and photons" at École de physique des Houches (Les Houches, France, 22-27 October 2023).

• 2023: Co-organizer of mini-colloque "MC16. Fluides classiques et quantiques hors équilibre" together with Léonie Canet and Anna Minguzzi at the "26è congrès général de la SFP" (Cité des sciences et de l'Industrie, Paris, 3-7 July 2023).

• 2023: Member of the scientific committee of GDR TEQ.

• 2022: Chair of the organization commitee of "GDR IQFA 13th colloquium" at C2N (IQFA-XIII, Nov 16-18).

• 2022: Co-organizer of mini-colloque "MC10. Quantum Fluids of light" together with Maxime Jacquet, Alberto Bramati and Jacqueline Bloch at the Journées de la matière condensée 2022 (JMC 2022, Lyon, Aug 22-26).

• 2021: Member of the scientific committee of GDR IQFA.
• 2020: Recipient of an ERC starting grant for the project ARQADIA: “Artificial quantum materials with photons: many-body physics and topology”.
• 2017: Hired as a tenured researcher (“chargé de recherche”) at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).
• 2016: Selected as a finalist for the “Carl E. Anderson Award for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in Laser Science”.
• 2016: Selected as an attendee of the 66th Lindau Nobel laureate meeting.
• 2015: Laureate of the “ETH postdoctoral fellowship program” (two years of funding for postdoctoral researchers).
• 2015: Awarded the DIM Nano-K 2015 thesis prize for “Research at the interface between nanosciences and cold atoms”.
• 2015: Awarded one of the 2015 EDOM (Ecole Doctorale Onde et Matière) thesis prize.
• 2012-2015: Received an ASN (Allocation Spécifique Normalien) doctoral fellowship (three years of funding for doctoral students).
• 2011: Laureate of the 2011 Fulbright Doctoral program (financial support from the “commission franco-américaine” to do research in the USA).
• 2011: Received a one year doctoral fellowship from the Fondation Monahan to perform research in the US.
• 2007-2011: Four years of funding as a student of “Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan”.

Thesis

Publications

1. Phase diagram and universal scaling regimes of two-dimensional exciton-polariton Bose-Einstein condensates,
   F. Helluin, D. Pinto-dias, Q. Fontaine, S. Ravets, J. Bloch, A. Minguzzi, L. Canet, arXiv:2411.04311 (2024).

2. Thouless pumping in a driven-dissipative Kerr resonator array
   S. Ravets, N. Pernet, N. Mostaan, N. Goldman, J. Bloch, arXiv:2407.02627 (2024).

3.  Probing many-body correlations using quantum-cascade correlation spectroscopy,
   L. Scarpelli, C. Elouard, M. Johnsson, M. Morassi, A. Lemaitre, I. Carusotto, J. Bloch, S. Ravets, M. Richard, T. Volz, Nature Physics 20, 214 (2024).

4.  Bogoliubov excitations driven by thermal lattice phonons in a quantum fluid of light,
   Irénée Frérot, Amit Vashisht, Martina Morassi, Aristide Lemaître, Sylvain Ravets, Jacqueline Bloch, Anna Minguzzi, Maxime Richard, Phys. Rev. X 13, 041058 (2023).

5. Phase diagram of one-dimensional driven-dissipative exciton-polariton condensates,
   Francesco Vercesi, Quentin Fontaine, Sylvain Ravets, Jacqueline Bloch, Maxime Richard, Léonie Canet, Anna Minguzzi, Phys. Rev. Research 5, 043062 (2023).

6.  Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality in discrete two-dimensional driven-dissipative exciton polariton condensates,
   K. Deligiannis, Q. Fontaine, D. Squizzato, M. Richard, S. Ravets, J. Bloch, A. Minguzzi, L. Canet, Phys. Rev. Research 4, 043207 (2022).

7.  Enhanced Cavity Optomechanics with Quantum-Well Exciton Polaritons,
   N. Carlon Zambon, Z. Denis, R. De Oliveira, S. Ravets, C. Ciuti, I. Favero, J. Bloch, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 093603 (2022).

8.  Kardar–Parisi–Zhang universality in a one-dimensional polariton condensate,
   Q. Fontaine, D. Squizzato, F. Baboux, I. Amelio, A. Lemaître, M. Morassi, I. Sagnes, L. Le Gratiet, A. Harouri, M. Wouters, I. Carusotto, A. Amo, M. Richard, A. Minguzzi, L. Canet, S. Ravets, J. Bloch, Nature 608, 687 (2022).
   See News and Views by S. Diehl, Nature 608, 669 (2022).

9.  Reconfigurable photon localization by coherent drive and dissipation in photonic lattices,
   O. Jamadi, B. Real, K. Sawicki, C. Hainaut, A. Gonzalez-Tudela, N. Pernet, I. Sagnes, M. Morassi, A. Lemaitre, L. Le Gratiet, A. Harouri, S. Ravets, J. Bloch, A. Amo, Optica 9, 706 (2022).

10. Few-photon all-optical phase rotation in a quantum-well micropillar cavity,
    T. Kuriakose, P. M. Walker, T. Dowling, O. Kyriienko, I. A. Shelykh, P. St-Jean, N. Carlon Zambon, A. Lemaître, I. Sagnes, L. Legratiet, A. Harouri, S. Ravets, M. S. Skolnick, A. Amo, J. Bloch, D. N. Krizhanovskii, Nature Photonics 16, 566 (2022).

11. Topological gap solitons in a 1D non-Hermitian lattice,
    N. Pernet , P. St-Jean , D. D. Solnyshkov, G. Malpuech, N. Carlon Zambon , Q. Fontaine, B. Real , O. Jamadi, A. Lemaître, M. Morassi, L. Le Gratiet, T. Baptiste, A. Harouri, I. Sagnes , A. Amo , S. Ravets  and J. Bloch, Nature Physics 18, 678 (2022).
    See News and Views by F. Kunst, Nature Physics 18, 609 (2022).

12. Chiral emission induced by optical Zeeman effect in polariton micropillars,
    B. Real, N. Carlon Zambon, P. St-Jean, I. Sagnes, A. Lemaître, L. Le Gratiet, A. Harouri, S. Ravets, J. Bloch, A. Amo, Phys. Rev. Research 3, 043161 (2021).

13. Microcavity polaritons for topological photonics,
    D. D. Solnyshkov, G. Malpuech, P. St-Jean, S. Ravets, J. Bloch, A. Amo, Optical Materials Express, Vol. 11, 1119 (2021).
    Selected as Editors' pick.

14. Measuring topological invariants in polaritonic graphene,
    P. St-Jean, A. Dauphin, P. Massignan, B. Real, O. Jamadi, M. Milićević, A. Lemaître, A. Harouri, L. Le Gratiet, I. Sagnes, S. Ravets, J. Bloch, A. Amo, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 127403 (2021).
    Selected as PRL Editor’s suggestion.

15. Semi-Dirac transport and anisotropic localization in polariton honeycomb lattices,
    B. Real, O. Jamadi, M. Milićević, N. Perent, P. St-Jean, T. Ozawa, G. Montambaux, I. Sagnes, A. Lemaître, L. Le Gratiet, A. Harouri, S. Ravets, J. Bloch, A. Amo, Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 186601 (2020).
16. Emergence of criticality through a cascade of delocalization transitions in quasiperiodic chains,
    V. Goblot, A. Štrkalj, N. Pernet, J. L. Lado, C. Dorow, A. Lemaître, L. Le Gratiet, A. Harouri, I. Sagnes, S. Ravets, A. Amo, J. Bloch, O. Zilberberg, Nature Physics 16, 832 (2020).
17. Parametric instability in coupled nonlinear microcavities,
    N. Carlon Zambon, S. R. K. Rodriguez, A. Lemaitre, A. Harouri, L. Le Gratiet, I. Sagnes, P. St-Jean, S. Ravets, A. Amo, J. Bloch, Phys. Rev. A 102, 023526 (2020).
18. Nonlinear Polariton Fluids in a Flatband Reveal Discrete Gap Solitons,
    V. Goblot, B. Rauer, F. Vicentini, A. Le Boité, E. Galopin, A. Lemaître, L. Le Gratiet, A. Harouri, I. Sagnes, S. Ravets, C. Ciuti, A. Amo, J. Bloch, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 113901 (2019).
19. Orbital angular momentum bistability in a microlaser,
    N. Carlon Zambon, P. St-Jean, A. Lemaître, A. Harouri, L. Le Gratiet, I. Sagnes, S. Ravets, A. Amo, J. Bloch, Optics Letters 44, 4531 (2019).
20. Nonlinear optics in the fractional quantum Hall regime,
    Knüppel, P.*, Ravets, S.*, Faelt, S., Kroner, M., Wegscheider, W., and Imamoglu, A., Nature 572, 91 (2019).
    See Nature Physics Research Highlights, D. Abergel, Nat. Phys. 15, 732 (2019).
21. Optically controlling the emission chirality of microlasers,
    N. Carlon Zambon, P. St-Jean, M. Milićević, A. Lemaître, A. Harouri, L. LeGratiet, O. Bleu, D. Solnyshkov, G. Malpuech, I. Sagnes, S. Ravets, A. Amo, J. Bloch, Nature Photonics 13, 283 (2019).
22. Engineering Gaussian states of light from a planar microcavity,
    Van Regemortel, M., Ravets, S., Imamoglu, A., Carusotto, I., Wouters, M., accepted in SciPost Phys. 5, 13 (2018)
23. Polaron Polaritons in the Integer and Fractional Quantum Hall Regimes,
    Ravets, S., Knüppel, P., Faelt, S., Cotlet, O., Kroner, M., Wegscheider, W., and Imamoglu, A., Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 057401 (2018).
    Selected as PRL Editor’s suggestion.
24. Optical nanofibers: a new platform for quantum optics,
    Solano, P., Grover, J. A., Hoffman, J. E., Ravets, S., Fatemi, F. K., Orozco, L. A., Rolston, S. L., Adv. At. Mol. Opt. Phy. 66, 439 (2017).
25. Tunable two-dimensional arrays of single Rydberg atoms for realizing quantum Ising models,
    Labuhn, H., Barredo, D., Ravets, S., de Léséleuc, S., Macrì, T., Lahaye, T. and Browaeys, A., Nature 534, 667 (2016)
26. Measurement of the angular dependence of the dipole-dipole interaction between two individual Rydberg atoms at a Förster resonance,
    Ravets, S., Labuhn, H., Barredo, D., Lahaye, T. and Browaeys, A., Phys. Rev. A 92, 020701(R) (2015).
    Selected as PRA Editor’s suggestion.
27. Coherent excitation transfer in a spin chain of three Rydberg atoms,
    Barredo, D., Labuhn, H., Ravets, S., Lahaye, T., Browaeys, A. and Adams, C. S., Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 113002 (2015).
28. Coherent dipole-dipole coupling between two single Rydberg atoms at an electrically-tuned Förster resonance,
    Ravets, S., Labuhn, H., Barredo, D., Béguin, L., Lahaye, T., and Browaeys, A., Nat. Phys. 10, 914 (2014).
    See News and Views, R. Löw, Nat. Phys. 10, 901 (2014)
29. Single-atom addressing in microtraps for quantum-state engineering using Rydberg atoms,
    Labuhn, H., Ravets, S., Barredo, D., Béguin L., Nogrette, F., Lahaye, T. and Browaeys, A., Phys. Rev. A 90, 023415 (2014).
30. Single-atom trapping in holographic 2D arrays of microtraps with arbitrary geometries,
    Nogrette, F., Labuhn, H., Ravets, S., Barredo, D., Béguin L., Vernier, A., Lahaye, T., and Browaeys, A., Phys. Rev. X 4, 021034 (2014).
31. Demonstration of a strong Rydberg blockade in three-atom systems with anisotropic interactions,
    Barredo, D., Ravets, S., Labuhn, H., Béguin L., Vernier, A., Nogrette, F., Lahaye, T., and Browaeys, A., Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 183002 (2014).
32. Ultrahigh transmission optical nanofibers,
    Hoffman, J. E., Ravets, S., Grover, J. A., Solano, P., Kordell, P. R., Wong-Campos, J. D., Orozco, L. A., and Rolston, S. L., AIP Advances 4, 067124 (2014).
    See Journal Highlights by AIP advances.
    See Research Highlights by O. Graydon, Nature Photon. 8, 674 (2014)
33. A low-loss photonic silica nanofiber for higher-order modes,
    Ravets, S., Hoffman, J. E., Orozco, L. A., Rolston, S. L., Beadie, G., and Fatemi, F. K., Opt. Express 21, 18325 (2013)
34. Intermodal energy transfer in a tapered optical fiber: optimizing transmission,
    Ravets, S., Hoffman, J. E., Kordell, P. R., Wong-Campos, J. D., Rolston, S. L., and Orozco, L. A., J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 30, 2361 (2013).
35. Observing the Average Trajectories of Single Photons in a Two-Slit Interferometer,
    Kocsis, S.*, Braverman, B.*, Ravets, S.*, Stevens, M. J., Mirin, R. P., Shalm, L. K., and Steinberg, A. M., Science 332, 6034 (2011).
    See New Focus, A. Cho, Science 333, 6043 (2011).
    Listed in first position of the IOP Physics World “top 10 breakthroughs for 2011”.
36. Surface plasmons in the Young slit doublet experiment,
    Ravets, S., Rodier, J. C., Ea Kim, B.,Hugonin, J. P., Jacubowiez, L. and Lalanne, P., J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 26, B28 (2009).

Oral presentations at conferences

1. Exciton-polaritons: Assembling 2D photonic materials in the solid-state,
   Les Houches Predoc School on Cold Atoms: Quantum simulation with Quantum Gases and Fluids of Light, Les Houches (France), 14th October - 25th October 2024

2. Synthetic polariton matter: Bloch eigenstates microscopy and valley Hall effect,
   Annual meeting of the French national network on Quantum Gases: GDR Gaz Quantiques, Toulouse (France), 9th October - 1th October 2024

3.  Nonlinear physics and topology in polariton lattices,
   Collective Phenomena: From Out-of-Equilibrium Many-Body States to Bosonic Codes and Dynamical Gauge Fields, Konstanz (Germany), 26th August - 29th August 2024

4. Nonlinear physics and topology in polariton lattices,
   International conference on Physics of Excitons and Polaritons in Semiconductors (PEPS 2024), Reykjavik (Iceland), 6th August - 10th August 2024

5. Nonlinear physics and topology in polariton lattices,
   International conference on Physics of Excitons and Polaritons in Semiconductors (PEPS 2024), Reykjavik (Iceland), 6th August - 10th August 2024

6. Exciton-polaritons: Assembling photonic matter in the solid-state
   Quantum Computers and Simulators with Atoms, SIF International School of Physics "Enrico Fermi", Course 214 Varenna, Como Lake, Italy, 5th July - 14th July 2024

7. Synthetic polariton matter: Assembling Matter with light
   General seminar of the PhLAM laboratory, University of Lille (France), 28th June 2024

8.  Synthetic polariton matter: Eigenstates tomography and metrology of interactions,
   12th International Conference on Spontaneous Coherence in Excitonic systems (ICSCE-12), Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), 10th June - 14th June 2024

9. Synthetic polariton matter: Eigenstates tomography and metrology of interactions,
   12th International Conference on Spontaneous Coherence in Excitonic systems (ICSCE-12), Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), 10th June - 14th June 2024

10.  Eigenstate tomography in polariton lattices,
    International Conference on Physics of Light-Matter Coupling in Nanostructures (PLMCN 2024), Tbilissi (Georgia), 9th April – 13th April 2024

11. Eigenstate tomography in polariton lattices,
    Excitonics and Polaritonics International Conference (EPIC2023), Singapore, 27th November – 1st December 2023

12. Non linear physics and topology in polariton lattices,
    International Conference on Quantum Simulation (ICQSIM2023), Ecole Polytechnique (France), 13-17 November 2023

13. Synthetic polariton matter,
    workshop on Quantum Physics with photons and atoms, Ecole de Physique des Houches (France), 22-27 October 2023

14. Nonlinear physics and topology in polariton lattices,
    Long-Range Workshop 2023, San Sebastian (Spain), 6-9 September 2023

15. Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality in a one-dimensional polariton condensate,
    51^st International School & Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors (Jaszowiec 2023), Szczyrk (Poland), 17-23 June 2023
16. Driving topological bands in the nonlinear excitation spectrum of a trivial 1D polariton lattice (contributed),
    Optics of Excitons in Confined Systems (OECS18), Lecce (Italy), June 12-16 2023
17. Driven-dissipative physics in synthetic polariton matter,
    1st workshop of the Canada France Quatum alliance, Paris (France), May 22-24 2023
18. Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality in a 1D polariton condensate,
    3rd workshop on waveguide QED (WQED23), Erice (Italy), May 8-13 2023.
19. Parametric instability, symmetry breaking and chirality in lattices of coupled optical resonators,
    Workshop on parametric phenomena, ETH Zürich, Switzerland, January 11-13 2023.
20. Synthetic polariton matter,
    DIM QuanTiP Kick-off meeting, Institut Galilée, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, France, November 10, 2022.
21. Driven-dissipative physics in Polariton lattices,
    Séminaire Nanoélectronique Quantique, LPMMC, Grenoble, France, October 25, 2022.
22. Kardar Parisi Zhang universality in 1D out-of-equilibrium BECs using cavity polaritons,
    Cavity Control of Quantum Matter, Collège de France, Paris, France, October 17-18, 2022.
23. Driven-dissipative physics in Polariton lattices,
    Waves in complex media — From spatial to temporal degrees of freedom 2022, Institut d’Études Scientifiques de Cargèse, Corsica, France, September 12-16, 2022.
24. Driven-dissipative physics in Polariton lattices,
    Shedding Quantum Light on Strongly Correlated Materials, International workshop of the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (mpipks), Dresden, Germany, August 22-26, 2022.
25. Kardar Parisi Zhang universality in 1D polariton condensates,
    3rd PSI Condensed Matter Summer Camp 2022, Coherence and Entanglement in Quantum Systems, Lyceum Alpinum, Zuoz, Switzerland, August 8-12, 2022.
26. Kardar Parisi Zhang universality in 1D polariton condensates,
    11th international conference on spontaneous coherence in excitonic systems (ICSCE-11), Burlington (VT), USA, 7 - 11 Aug 2022.
27. Synthetic polariton matter,
    Quantum Information Spring School, Les Houches, France, 2 - 13 May 2022.
28. Cavity polaritons in quasiperiodic potentials,
    Workshop on Semiconductors, perovskites and 2D materials, Simons Collaboration on Waves, Institut Henri Poincaré (Paris, France), 9 Dec - 10 Dec 2021.
29. Non-linearities in a driven-dissipative SSH lattice,
    KITP Program: Interacting Topological Matter: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Systems, online meeting, 1 Jun – 13 Aug 2021.
30. Polariton quantum fluids in synthetic lattices,
    Long Range Interacting Quantum Systems: from Cold Atoms and Molecules to Photons, French-German WE-Heraeus-Seminar, online meeting, 21 Sep – 25 Sep 2020.
31. Artificial matter in semiconductor lattices,
    10th International Conference on Spontaneous Coherence in Excitonic systems (ICSCE10), ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET), Melbourne (Australia), 2020.
32. Synthetic matter with light in semiconductor lattices,
    Quo vadis quantum simulators?, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China), 2019.
33. Nonlinear optics in the fractional quantum Hall regime,
    International Conference on New Trends in Quantum Light and Nanophysics (QLIN) 2019, Acquafredda (PZ, Italy), 2019.
34. Using fractional quantum Hall states to enhance polariton-polariton interactions,
    20th International Conference on Superlattices Nanostructures and Nanodevices (ICSNN) 2018, Madrid (Spain), 2018
35. Realization of synthetic materials using light,
    NON-HERMITIAN PHYSICS – PHHQP XVIII, ICTS Bangalore (India), 2018.
36. Development of Tools for Quantum Engineering Using Individual Atoms: Optical Nanofibers and Controlled Rydberg Interactions,
    Frontiers in Optics (FiO) 2016, Carl E. Anderson Award for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award Session, Rochester (USA), 2016.