Jacqueline Bloch is the recipient of the 2026 CNRS Gold Medal

The PEPR Quantum congratulates Jacqueline Bloch, CNRS research director at the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (C2N, CNRS/Université Paris Saclay), on being awarded the 2026 CNRS Gold Medal.

Awarded annually since 1954, the CNRS Gold Medal “honors the body of work of a renowned scientist.” This year, it has been awarded to Jacqueline Bloch, an experimental physicist who is contributing to the QUTISYM project under the PEPR Quantum initiative.

Jacqueline Bloch specializes in light-matter interactions in semiconductors, nonlinear and quantum optics, and quantum polariton fluids. Polaritons are hybrid particles resulting from the coupling of light and matter. Her group has also conducted groundbreaking experiments on polariton fluids in arrays of coupled microcavities.

A member of the French Academy of Sciences, she received the 2021 ERC Advanced Grant for her ANAPOLIS project. In 2017, the CNRS also awarded her the Silver Medal.

As part of the quantum research program, Jacqueline Bloch is participating in the QUTISYM project. More specifically, she leads WP3, “Topology and Transport,” which studies quantum transport in systems with topological properties. More broadly, the project explores issues related to quantum transport using a “quantum simulation” approach.