Thibaut Lacroix

I’m currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Ulm working on quantum effects in biological systems, and especially on the understanding of Chiral Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS) in organic molecules such as DNA.

I hold a PhD in physics awarded for my work on theoretical descriptions of dissipation at the nanoscale beyond the markovian approximation under the supervision of Brendon W. Lovett at the University of St Andrews, and Alex W. Chin at the Institut des Nanosciences de Paris (Sorbonne Université). My thesis can be read here: Beyond Markovian Dissipation at the Nanoscale.

My research interests revolve around studying the - most of the time - out-of-equilibrium dynamics of Open Quantum Systems (OQS) strongly coupled to their environment(s). This problematic is relevant for novel quantum technologies, condensed matter or biological systems (e.g. photosynthesis in plants) where strong coupling seems to be central for explaining several phenomena. More generally I work on non-Markovian OQS, i.e. when the environment is not forgetful of the past state of the system, and Tensor Networks techniques.

Prior to that, I worked in deep tech innovation at the Parisian start-up incubator Agoranov as a Junior Entrepreneur in Residence.

I graduated in general theoretical physics from the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, and in scientific innovation from PSL Research University’s Institute of Technology and Innovation (ENS de Paris, École des Mines and Observatoire de Paris). I also passed the agrégation de physique-chimie national competitive examination.