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Montpellier High Pressure Science and Technology Group

The Montpellier High Pressure Science and Technology Group plays a role in scientific animation in high pressure: organisation of conferences, seminars, preparation of common scientific or technical projects, joint supervision of Ph D thesis, invitation of foreign scientists or Ph D students

Several laboratories in Montpellier are well known at the national and international level for their activites under pressure. Montpellier forms one of the more important French Center in terms of number of people involved and interdisciplinarity. This high pressure activity participates in national or international groups or associations such as the Reseau haute Pression du CNRS, the European High Pressure Pressure Research Group -EHPRG, and the International Association for the Advancement of High Pressure Science and Technology – AIRAPT). The Biologists have organized in september 2005 the « Trends in High Pressure Protein Sciences » international conference in Montpellier. Members of the STEP group also have participated to scentific comittees of EHRPG or AIRAPT and organisation of microsymposia in European Crystallographic Association and French Physical Society (SFP- Société Française de Physique) Conferences…

The high pressure studies concern a wide range of sceintific topics. Among these can be found for example the study of piezoelectric materials with quartz and perovskite-type structures, inorganic hybrid materials, carbon based nanomaterials, semi-conductors, crystalline chalocogenides used as phase-change memories, oxide glasses, pressure-induced amorphisation of zeolites and cyanides, the study of physical properties of minerals in the Earth’s mantle under high pressure and high temperauture conditions, the use of pressure as a perturbation for the study of function/properties relationship in proteins ..141 article between 2006 and 2017 result from this activity, 10 theses have been defended in high pressure research during the same period

This group involves members of:

• Charles Gerhardt Institute of Molecular and Materials Chemistry (ICGM), UMR CNRS-UMII-UMI-ENSCM 5253, pôle CHIMIE
• one physics laboratory Laboratory Charles Coulomb UMR CNRS-UMII 5521, pôle MIPS
• one Earths science laboratory,Geosciences Montpellier (GM), UMR 5243,  T2Edepartement, pole A2BE(Petrophysics team).
• several life science and food science laboratories::
  • Agropolymer engineering and emerging technologies (IATE), UM1208 UMII-SupAgro-INRA-CIRAD, department of environnement, life, food processing and earth (EVAP)(group ofStructuration undet stress of agropolymers and powder reactivity)
  • Center for Structural Biochemistry (CBS), UMR 5048/U 554, department of biology and health science UMI-UMII-INSERM-CNRS, pole biology and health

Experimental techniques involved for the studies performed by this group include in situ high pressure optical spectroscopies (Raman, infrared, luminescence), fluorescence or optical absorption under pressure, calorimetry under pressure, in situ high pressure X-ray diffraction, high pressure electric and dielectric measurements, mechanical tests under pressure. Measurements on large scale facilities are often used (EXAFS and X-ray diffraction at ESRFor SOLEIL, neutron scattering at l’ILL or ISIS). We also have several devices to prepare samples under pressure and temperature (crystal growth under pressure, hydrothermal synthesis, self combustion under pressure…)

Most studies rely on collaborations between for example GES and ICGM, ICGM and LCVN, IATE and INSERM. These collaborations resulted in 2 common « ANR » projects, one common european contract, one common industrial contract, one PH. D student and several master students , 36 articles in common.