L'Unité de Recherche Interdisciplinaire de Spectroscopie Electronique (LISE) unites the efforts of physicists, chemists and engineers to carry out research into material surfaces and interfaces.

Created in 1972, the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Spectroscopie Electronique (LISE) unites the efforts of physicists, chemists and engineers to carry out research into material surfaces and interfaces. It has built up an international reputation in an ever-expanding field of research, as new materials are most often made up of complex assemblies of films or particles of different natures. This research is of direct relevance to the industrial world, but the laboratory's mission is also, and above all, to provide a fundamental understanding of the new properties of these materials. Exciting new prospects are opening up in this 21st century thanks to the advent of nanomaterials, whose assemblies will undoubtedly constitute the materials of the future.

The LISE research unit develops its research within the NISM research institute. Cutting-edge research is divided into two main themes:

• The study and fabrication of material surfaces and interfaces

The surface of materials generates many of their properties, as the surface is the locus through which a material interacts with its environment. Similarly, the assembly of materials of different natures (polymer-metal, glass-polymer, metal-oxide...) generates new properties. In partnership with the SIAM and MORPH-IM technology platforms, the LISE laboratory has access to analysis techniques that enable the composition and physico-chemical structure of matter to be measured at thicknesses in the nanometer range: these include electron (XPS) and ion (ToF-SIMS) spectroscopies, as well as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and photoelectron microscopy (PEEM). Other techniques complete this arsenal: optical spectroscopies, contact angle measurement techniques...

New materials are also produced in the laboratory by plasma treatment techniques (etching, deposition, functionalization) and thin-film deposition techniques by vacuum evaporation or molecular jet epitaxy. A few recent research topics illustrate the variety of problems studied: layer deposition for metal protection, plasma deposition of metal catalysts, new materials for electronics (graphene, MoTe2, etc.), metal/polymer assemblies, materials for renewable energies (fuel cells, photovoltaics).

• The development and fundamental understanding of modern analytical techniques

LISE's analytical techniques are based on the interaction of photons, electrons or ions with matter, which enables us to probe its extreme surface. These techniques enable fundamental studies of these interactions, which are still poorly understood. Current research focuses in particular on photoemission in nanostructures, the study of ionization probabilities in ToF-SIMS and the in-depth analysis (profiling) of organic/inorganic hybrid materials. Ultimately, this research will not only optimize analysis techniques, but also provide a better understanding of the fundamental interaction between particles or radiation and matter.

The Laboratoire d'Analyse par Reaction Nucléaire (LARN) research unit is part of the NISM, NARILIS and ILEE institutes at the University of Namur, and carries out both applied and fundamental research. Research and teaching activities fall into three main areas:

1. Materials Science
2. Ion-Matter Interactions
3. Life Science

A spin-off Innovative Coating Solutions (ICS) has been created with a view to valorizing research results linked to vacuum deposition of coatings on complex 3D parts.

Permanent members

• Prof. Stéphane Lucas
• Prof. Guy Terwagne
• Prof. Anne-Catherine Heuskin
• Prof. Julien Colaux

Research at the Solid State Physics Laboratory (LPS) focuses on the theoretical and experimental study of the electronic, optical and structural properties of nano-structured materials, surfaces and interfaces, based on experiments and numerical simulations. This interdisciplinary research is integrated into several institutes at the University of Namur NISM, NaXyS, PaTHs and utilize the resources of several technology platforms PTCI, MorphIm, LOS.

Three eminent scientists, members of the Classe des Sciences de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, are behind the creation of the solid state physics laboratory: Amand Lucas, Jean-Pol Vigneron (†2013), Philippe Lambin. Pioneers of surface and interface physics, their work has spun off into several of the laboratory's current research themes, such as carbon nanostructures and photonic crystals.

LPS research themes are divided into groups of researchers:

• Research group of Olivier Deparis: natural photonic structures, in connection with the evolution of certain biological functions in the living world and optical techniques for characterizing materials for heritage sciences, notably as part of transdisciplinary research on parchments.
• Research group of Luc Henrard: optical and structural properties of nanomaterials and 2D materials
• Research group of Yoann Olivier: modeling optoelectronic and mechanical properties of organic semiconductor materials
• Research group of Alexandre Mayer: evolutionary methods for optimizing optical systems
• Research group of Michaël Lobet: properties of diverse photonic systems such as metamaterials, photonic crystals and plasmonic systems
• Research group of Jean-François Colomer: atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) synthesis and characterization of low-dimensional materials

The Lasers and Spectroscopies Research Unit (LLS) unites the efforts of physicists, but also chemists and engineers, to carry out experimental and theoretical research, both fundamental and applied. This research focuses on the development and use of laser spectroscopies for the study of light-matter interactions, gases, solid and liquid surfaces, as well as (bio-)organic materials and nanomaterials. Jointly, LLS researchers are members of the ILEE, NISM, NARILIS and NAXYS.

On the experimental front, LLS's particularity lies in its unique expertise in the development of original optical instruments developed by the laboratory's researchers. This equipment, like the commercial instruments with which the laboratory is equipped, is overwhelmingly integrated into the LOS technology platform. Alongside the design of these experimental tools, the LLS also develops theoretical tools, to analyze, understand and predict classical and quantum optical phenomena, as well as molecular interaction processes in the gas phase, to which the instruments give access.

The LLS regularly collaborates with other teams from the Departments and Faculties of the University of Namur. A solid international reputation has been built up over the years, thanks to the originality and excellence of research carried out in very specific niches, in collaboration with numerous external laboratories, in Belgium and abroad.

The cutting-edge research carried out at LLS falls into three main themes:

• Study of molecules in very low concentration ("pollutants") in the gas phase (Muriel Lepère)
• Nonlinear optical spectroscopies of molecular layers, surfaces, interfaces and nanostructures
• Quantum optics and quantum weak measurements

For example, the LLS studies the small deviations of light beam propagation from the laws of propagation of isolated light rays (geometrical optics), one manifestation of which is the Goos-Hänchen displacement.

Laboratory academics

• Prof. Muriel Lepère, Director, full professor and honorary F.R.S.-qualified researcher.FNRS
• Professor Francesca Cecchet, F.R.S.-FNRS Qualified Researcher
• Professor Yves Caudano, F.R.S.-FNRS Qualified Researcher

The research activities carried out within the Physics Didactics Research Unit (LDP) are specifically located in the field of learning this discipline.

For several years, the LDP has been specifically interested in the difficulties pupils and students have in learning physics. Physics didactics is specifically concerned with the elements intrinsic to the disciplinary content taught that constitute genuineepistemological obstacles to the construction of knowledge. Indeed, physics, because it presents a high degree of conceptualization, is particularly difficult to understand, to learn and therefore to teach. These obstacles to learning are essentially revealed in learners by the mobilization of their so-called primary or spontaneous conceptions. Thisprimitive knowledge, generally false, is generated during reasoning that is described as naive, because easy to mobilize, but scientifically incorrect. Being able to detect, in learners, these false reasonings, generators of primary conceptions, means setting up teaching devices, a more effective didactic engineering in order to improve learning. For example, the use of a video capsule of a physics experiment is not as efficient as one might initially think.