ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

"X-ray crystallography yields atomic-resolution 3D images of the whole spectrum of molecules ranging from small inorganic clusters to large protein complexes constituting the macromolecular machinery of life. Life is not static, and many of the most important reactions in chemistry and biology are light induced and occur on ultrafast timescales. These have been studied with high time resolution primarily by ultrafast laser spectroscopy, but they reduce the vast complexity of the process to a few reaction coordinates. Here we develop attosecond serial crystallography and spectroscopy, to give a full description of ultrafast processes atomically resolved in real space and on the electronic energy landscape, from co-measurement of X-ray and optical spectra, and X-ray diffraction. This technique will revolutionize our understanding of structure and function at the atomic and molecular level and thereby unravel fundamental processes in chemistry and biology. We apply a fully coherent attosecond X-ray source based on coherent inverse Compton scattering off a free-electron crystal, developed in this project, to outrun radiation damage effects due to the necessary high X-ray irradiance required to acquire diffraction signals [A. Cho, ""Breakthrough of the year"", Science 388, 1530 (2012)]. Our synergistic project will optimize the entire instrumentation towards fundamental measurements of the mechanism of light absorption and excitation energy transfer. The multidisciplinary team optimizes X-ray pulse parameters, in tandem with sample delivery, crystal size, and advanced X-ray detectors. We will apply our new capabilities to one of the most important problems in structural biology, which is to elucidate the dynamics of light reactions, electron transfer and protein structure in photosynthesis. Also, the attosecond source can provide a coherent seed and will help to overcome peak flux limitations of X-ray FELs by introducing chirped pulse amplification to FEL technology."

13 884 200 €

Start date: 2014-08-01, End date: 2020-07-31

Gravity is successfully described by Einstein’s theory of general relativity (GR), governing the structure of our entire universe. Yet it remains the least understood of all forces in nature, resisting unification with quantum physics. One of the most fundamental predictions of GR are black holes (BHs). Their defining feature is the event horizon, the surface that light cannot escape and where time and space exchange their nature. However, while there are many convincing BH candidates in the universe, there is no experimental proof for the existence of an event horizon yet. So, does GR really hold in its most extreme limit? Do BHs exist or are alternatives needed? Here we propose to build a Black Hole Camera that for the first time will take an actual picture of a BH and image the shadow of its event horizon. We will do this by providing the equipment and software needed to turn a network of existing mm-wave radio telescopes into a global interferometer. This virtual telescope, when supplemented with the new Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA), has the power to finally resolve the supermassive BH in the centre of our Milky Way – the best-measured BH candidate we know of. In order to compare the image with the theoretical predictions we will need to perform numerical modelling and ray tracing in GR and alternative theories. In addition, we will need to determine accurately the two basic parameters of the BH: its mass and spin. This will become possible by precisely measuring orbits of stars with optical interferometry on ESO’s VLTI. Moreover, our equipment at ALMA will allow for the first detection of pulsars around the BH. Already a single pulsar will independently determine the BH’s mass to one part in a million and its spin to a few per cent. This unique combination will not only produce the first-ever image of a BH, but also turn our Galactic Centre into a fundamental-physics laboratory to measure the fabric of space and time with unprecedented precision.

13 975 744 €

Start date: 2014-10-01, End date: 2020-09-30

Domestic Devotions brings together the study of books, buildings, objects, spaces, images and archives in order to understand how religion functioned in the Renaissance household. In opposition to the enduring stereotype of the Renaissance as a ‘secular age’, our research is premised on the view that religion played a key role in attending to the needs of the laity, and presents the period 1400-1600 as an age of spiritual revitalization. Devotions, from routine prayers to extraordinary religious experiences such as miracles or exorcisms, frequently took place within the home and were specifically shaped to meet the demands of domestic life – childbirth, marriage, infertility, sickness, accidents, poverty and death. This tight bond between the domestic and the devotional was neither institutionally nor legally defined. It cannot be adequately traced in any one type of source nor by means of a single approach. A rare combination of expertise and experience across several disciplines – social history, textual scholarship, and the study of art and architecture – is required to reveal the pivotal place of piety in the Renaissance home. The project moves beyond traditional research on the Renaissance in two further ways. Firstly, it breaks free from the golden triangle of Venice, Florence and Rome in order to investigate practices of piety in three significant zones: Naples and its environs; the Marche in central Italy; and the Venetian mainland. Secondly, it rejects the standard focus on Renaissance elites in order to develop our understanding of the artisanal household. Inspired in part by the rich historiography on the Protestant family, Domestic Devotions will shed new light on the roles of women and children in the Catholic home, and will be attentive to gender and age as factors that conditioned religious experience. Our multidisciplinary approach will enable unprecedented glimpses into the private lives of Renaissance Italians.

2 333 162 €

Start date: 2013-09-01, End date: 2017-08-31

The HELMHOLTZ project associates two leading neighbouring institutions: the Institut de la Vision (Fondation Voir et Entendre) and the Institut Langevin (Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes) committed to boost the integration of technological research in photonics, acoustics and ultrasound with translational research on vision impairment, in order to co-develop and validate prototypes for non-invasive in vivo structural and functional dynamic imaging technologies for ophthalmology. Innovative imaging tools will rely on emerging concepts such as ultrafast ultrasound, laser Doppler holography, full field and ultrafast cell resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT), bi-photon microscopy. These will enable both structural and functional analyses of the ocular tissues, with strong focus on the macula, the central part of the retina which is affected by the most severe disabling conditions, e.g. retinal dystrophies, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, vascular diseases, diabetic retinopathy, toxicities. We shall explore: 1) the subcellular and dynamic structure of photoreceptors, 2) changes in vascular flow and 3) functional imaging of the visual system from retina to cortex. Massive data acquisition and ultrafast numerical signal processing will take advantage of GPU-based parallel computing and of new asynchronous visual sensors. Continuous feedbacks from animal and human studies will lead to refine or redefine the prototypes jointly. These new diagnostic tools will address unmet medical needs by improving the understanding of retinal pathophysiology, defining new biomarkers for disease progressions and enabling clinicians to select the best suited emerging therapies, from neuroprotection to gene therapy and visual restoration. As the most optically and functionally approachable part of the brain, the retina will thus exemplify and validate major streams of technological innovations for care by enhancing cross-fertilization between biomedicine and physics.

11 861 923 €

Start date: 2014-08-01, End date: 2020-07-31