Project Overview
The PhoRest project aims at the engineering of surface coupled high quality factor phononic resonators able to trap the elastic energy in a well-defined manner. The proposed structures will be used collectively to conceive phononic chains capable to carry the elastic energy along the most twisted paths but also individually by exploiting the dependence of the resonance frequency on their geometric properties to create complex systems of coupled micro- or nanoscale phononic resonators that can lead to phonon parametric interaction. The overall objective is to push forward a novel conceptual approach to design complex systems that could contribute to the development of disruptive Information and Communication Technologies based on advanced acoustic signal processing functionalities.
The project relies on the strong expertise of the Phononics group hosted by the Micro-Nano Sciences and Systems (MN2S) department of the FEMTO-ST Institute. It also leans on the high-level technological facilities of the MIMENTO Technology Center, a nation-wide recognized microfabrication technology cluster part of the Renatech French National Network.
The research conducted within PhoRest will mostly lie at a basic science level and a significant part of it will therefore be devoted to the improvement or development of modelling and characterization methods which, associated with existing know-how, will start building an extensive platform for a long term study of these phononic resonators in the spatial (heterodyne interferometry) and temporal (pump-probe acoustic spectroscopy) domains at the micro- and nano-scale (scanning electron microscope imaging).
PhoRest is then an opportunity to take a step forwards by building the basics of a long time-scale project revolving around nanophononic resonators and their use in complex systems or actual devices.
This project is funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR) in the frame of its Young Researcher Initiative under grant number ANR-14-CE26-0003.
