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A laboratory for astrophysics.
The Laboratory of Astrophysics of Marseilles is a joint research unit (UMR6110) under the auspices of the CNRS and the University Aix-Marseilles I. The LAM undertakes research in astrophysics, with 50 researchers, 70 engineers, technicians and administrative staff, 6 post-doctoral researchers, 15 doctoral students and 10 contract employees. Since May 2008, the LAM his located to a new building on the Technopole of Chateau Gombert campus. It was previously spread over 2 sites, Longchamp (formerly the Observatory of Marseilles) in the center of town and Peiresc Les Olives (formerly the Laboratory of Space Astronomy).
Research topics.
The principal research topics are cosmology, galaxy formation and evolution, stellar and planetary system formation, interstellar medium, the solar system and optical instrumentation. Research programs are conducted with national and international collaborators (ANR, CNRS, EU, ESO, ESA, PACA region).
A space research laboratory.
The LAM has strong experience and manages technical testing facilities that allows it to develop space-based instruments. For over forty years the LAM has participated in numerous space instruments (recently SOHO, ISO, Galex, Rosetta, Herschel, COROT,…) funded by various space agencies (CNES, ESA, NASA). The LAM’s large technical equipment includes assembly tools, integration and testing in space environments: vacuum, cryogenics until 4k and vibration testing.
Instrumentation and shared tech labs.
The LAM has technical departments including optics, mechanical and electrical engineering. The LAM designs and develops instruments with complex opto-mechanical components covering the far UV to the submilimeter wavelength range. The LAM has large production tools for very aspherical optics including large diameter optics. Special testing equipment allows the team to test and validate the optics’ performance. The LAM specializes in integrated systems approach for instrumentation and can assemble, integrate, test and validate large instruments for space or ground-based observatories.
Education.
The LAM offers courses of study for License (Bachelors), Masters and Doctorate levels. In particular, the LAM is responsible for the astrophysics curriculum “Astrophysics, Radiative Transfer and Energy” at the Masters level of the Materials Science PhD program, training researchers for public and private institutions with a focus on aerospace careers. The LAM offers a specific course of cosmology jointly run with the CPT (Centre de Physique Théorique) and the CPPM (Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille). A professional Masters in “Instrumentation, Optics and Lasers” is organized under the responsibility of the LAM in order to better prepare students for careers in research and development.
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