Romain Quidant received his PhD in Physics in 2002 from the University of Dijon (France). In 2006, he was appointed junior Professor and group leader of the Plasmon NanoOptics group at ICFO. In 2009, he became tenure Professor both at ICFO and ICREA. His research trajectory has been acknowledged by several national and international prizes among which the Fresnel prize from the European Physics Society (2009), the prizes of the City of Barcelona (2010) and the Fundació Príncep de Girona (2010), the 2012 ICO prize from the International Commission for Optics as well as the 2014 national prize for research (category young talent). In 2010 he received a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) as well as two Proof-of-Concept ERC grants, in 2011 and 2015. In 2015, he was awarded a Consolidator ERC grant. Quidant is co-author of about 125 articles in international journals and delivered more than 100 invited talks at international conferences.

Research interests

Romain Quidant carries out his research at ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona where he leads the group of “Plasmon nanooptics”. His research focuses on the study of the optical properties of metal nano-structures, known as nanoplasmonics. The activities of his group cover both fundamental and applied research. The fundamental part of his work is mainly directed towards enhanced light/matter interaction for quantum optics. From a more applied viewpoint, his group investigates news strategies to control light and heat at the nanometer scale for biomedical applications, including early detection and photothermal therapy of cancer.