Practical applications for our research

Climate change

Archives of the ice ages show that the past volcanic eruptions are correlated to sulfate concentration peaks. To assess the role of past volcanic eruptions in former climatic varitions, one has to be able to distinguish stratospheric eruptions, with strong impact on climate, from low impact local tropospheric eruptions in these records. The study of sulfate isotopes (sulphur and oxygen) allows to differentiate them and to present a new 2600-year chronology of stratospheric volcanic events recorded from Dome C, Antartica.

Pollution treatment and safety

Pollution by chrome in India
The TIMS facility is also used for chrome contamination detection. Chrome, that is carcinogenous when diluted in water, is still used for leather production in India. Thanks to mass spectometry , the behaviour of different isotopes of chrome is studied, the aim being to find out the path followed and the various transformations undergone to end to a dissolved form. That way, solutions to control this kind of pollution can be implemented.
Measurement of radioactivity
LABRADOR is a laboratory dedicated to the measurement of radioactivity. Created in 2003, it is a COFRAC laboratory covering an area of 120m² that offers a range of analyses to public and private partners.
Nuclear waste storage
Two directions are explored, for the purposes of controlling the effects of radiation, identifying the risks to people and equipment, and defining the required security standards, Firstly, the effects of irradiation on materials are studied, with the long-term aim of developing innovative materials for storing radioactive material. The second direction is the consequences of ionising radiation for biomolecular nanosystems.
Sismology
The global seismology team in Lyon has broad interests ranging from improving tomographic models of the Earth's mantle and developing new methods for imaging Earth's interior, to understanding the history and evolution of crustal and mantle structures at different scales.

Industry

Spectrometry applied to Nuclear Forensics and Nutrition

The TIMS-Mass Spectrometry facility developed thanks to LIO1 has enabled the establishment of new research contracts: long term collaboration with CEA in the field of nuclear forensics with a funding >400 k€ since 2012, establishment of a new start-up company using isotope biomarkers at ENS Lyon based on a patent, research contracts with Nestlé and LVMH in the field of nutrition using again isotope biomarkers (V. Bondanese, a LIO1 postdoc working on isotope biomarkers, was hired at the pharmaceutical company Biomérieux).

Cutting edge optical coatings

Strong connections have emerged thanks to the establishment of the IADC (Ion assisted deposition chamber) and IBS (Ion beam sputtering) facilities at LMA, and a new partnership with Winlight Systems will emerge to develop cutting edge optical coatings.