Dr. Audrey Cottet : research work in physics                          back to menu

 

 

 Main achievements in Physics

 

I performed an experimental PhD on superconducting quantum bits (Saclay, France, 1999–2002) in the group of Michel Devoret and Daniel Esteve. This work led to the first superconducting quantum bit prototype with a lifetime on the order of a microsecond [Science 296, 886 (2002)]. After my thesis, I became a theorist of hybrid mesoscopic electronic circuits. I was a postdoc in Basel, Switzerland (2002–2005), and then in Paris (2005–2008). Highlights from this period include the discovery of a spin transistor effect in carbon nanotubes [Nature Phys. 1, 99 (2005)], and the development of spin-dependent boundary conditions for quasiclassical superconductivity in superconducting/ferromagnetic hybrid structures [ Phys. Rev. B 80, 184511 (2009)].

 

After my arrival at CNRS, I mainly focused on the development of Mesoscopic Quantum Electrodynamics (or Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics with hybrid nanocircuits) together with the experimental Hybrid Quantum Circuits team of Takis Kontos. The results of this collaboration include the observation of coherent spin–photon coupling at the single-spin level [Science 349, 6246 (2015)], on which the activity of french start-up company C12 is now based. We also observed interesting photon emission by a quantum dot/superconductor junction [Phys. Rev. X 6, 021014 (2016)] and the freezing of the charge dynamics in a Kondo impurity [Nature 545, 71 (2017)]. I have thoroughly investigated the theoretical framework for describing such experiments [Phys. Rev. B 91, 205417 (2015), Phys. Rev. B 102, 155105 (2020)]. More recently, we have begun working on the development of Quantum Detection Techniques for Cosmic Signals. One of our goals is to build a quantum-limited detector for the possible dark matter of the Universe, following the concept proposed in our recent theoretical work. (New J. Phys. 28, 024504 (2026)).

 

Links

 

My publication list can be accessed at:   Google scholar    Orcid   HAL (french open science)

 

PhD Thesis:  Implementation of a quantum bit in a superconducting circuit, Université Paris VI, 2002.

 

HDR Thesis:  Hybrid Quantum Circuits, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris, 2017.

 

Interview in the podcast [DECODE Quantum] by Fanny Bouton et Olivier Ezratty (in french, 14/12/2023)