Physics, Instrumentation, Environment and Space

The Department of Physics, Instrumentation, Environment and Space (DPHY) designs innovative instruments and evaluates certain aerospace environments and their consequences on on-board systems.

The DPHY develops in particular:

• New inertial instruments for guidance-navigation, geodetics geodesy or fundamental physics, based on micro/nano technologies, electrostatic or atomic interferometry
• Methods and instruments for the metrological characterisation of flows and plasmas, based on optical spectroscopy, specific sensors or sources such as tunable lasers, OPO, LIDAR, photoacoustics, etc.
• Plasma sources and electric thrusters

It studies:

• Lightning and its impact on aircraft
• The space environment and its effects on electronic materials and components, and the resulting charge and contamination on satellites

(Caption) Plasma thruster for satellite: ECR technology (H2020 MINOTOR project)