Department overview and technical skills
The Instrumentation Department brings together the simulation, engineering and technical skills needed to design, install, develop, integrate, validate and calibrate an innovative R&D experiment or a complex instrument dedicated to Astroparticle and Cosmology physics research.
Thirteen members (9 research engineers, 2 design engineers, 1 technician and 1 apprentice) make up the team, covering various fields of expertise: physics, optics, photodetection, cryogenics, integration & testing, systems engineering and project management.
In the 128 square meter ISO8 cleanroom of the APC laboratory, the optical engineers of the team integrate and characterize the performances of the benches they designed (with optical design & illumination simulation software tools), in preparation for the delivery of telescopes or in order to improve homodyne and heterodyne interferometric metrology techniques dedicated to gravitational waves detectors (read LISA & Virgo webpages). They also support pioneering R&Ds dedicated to Laguerre-Gauss modes productions and to vacuum squeezing techniques aimed at contributing to the future generation of interferometers.
The team members involved in the field of photodetection handle the definition, the design, the development, the integration and the calibration of X/Gamma spectrometers (with calibrated light sources or with radioactive sources) and of neutrino & UHECR telescope focal surfaces. Additionally, dedicated R&Ds are developed by these engineers in strong collaboration with the main suppliers of the sector to increase the performances of the multi-anode photomultipliers.
The team's cryogenic engineers design, develop and integrate cryogenic refrigeration systems, particularly for cosmological detectors, and provide expertise in particle gas pedals. They conduct R&D for the development of thermoacoustic machines, cryomodules and sub-Kelvin adsorption refrigeration systems dedicated to next-generation instruments.
Throughout the life of the projects, the Instrumentation Department's system engineers and project managers, in charge of sub-systems or global projects for national or international collaborations, lead and coordinate key project meetings and reviews. In addition, they set the framework and produce the important documentation used to define the processes and methodologies that project teams follow to build and realize the deliverables.