The Institute of Nuclear physics of Lyon (IPNL)

Research topics

The Institute of Nuclear physics of Lyon (IPNL) is under the joint supervision of the Universite Claude Bernard de Lyon (UCBL) and the Institut National de Physique Nucleaire et de Physique des Particules (IN2P3) of the CNRS.

The laboratory studies the properties and interactions of sub-atomic particles. Its activities are largely experimental, with groups involved in a wide range of national and international collaborations concerning particle and astroparticle physics, nuclear matter and the interactions of ions and cluster with matter. In addition, the Institute has important interdisciplinary and applied research acitivities related to the detectors R&Ds, to the confinement of radioactive waste, bio-medical imaging, measuring environmental levels of radioactive elements, and is involved with medical doctors in the preparation of a centre to treat cancer by hadron therapy. All our expertise about Ions-cluster / matter interactions, low radioactivity levels measurement, material analysis by using beam techniques dedicated to environmental and life science studies has been merged into ANAFIRE.

The members of the theory group are involved in many of these areas, in contact with the experimentalists.

About 200 persons constitute the institute, half of them being students, postdocs and researchers at the CNRS and the university, the other half being engineers, technicians and administrative staff.

The staff of the IPNL contribute to undergraduate teaching at Lyon1 University and Ecole Normale Superieur Science of Lyon, continuing education and graduate training. The laboratory welcomes a number of students on summer projects, and about 30 PhD students.