The whole range of the electromagnetic spectrum gives access to a wide variety of characterization and imaging techniques to study the physical and chemical properties of matter at different size and timescales. But due to the lack of suitable lasers sources or efficient detectors, the entire range is not covered. The middle infrared (midIR) remains one of the last frontier between 2 and 8 µm, where ultrashort, intense and coherent sources are not optimized. Yet, the development of broadband, widely tunable and intense midIR sources in the 2-12 µm is of great importance not only for basic research but also for applications in medicine, defense and security in band I (0,5-2,5 µm), II (3-5,5 µm). Depending on the targeted application, a greater emphasis is given to the high energy, the bandwidth or the tunability: since midIR spans over most of the vibrational and rotational spectra of molecules, it is well-suited for hyperspectral imaging, or atmospheric gas sensing with LIDAR. Nevertheless, the rarity of midIR-emitting lasers material makes it difficult to efficiently produce ultrashort lasers in this range. To reach this frequency domain, the available near infrared lasers (Ti:Sa, Yb) are converted with non-linear techniques. However, these methods suffers from limitations due to the strong midIR absorption of the common crystals, the high pump absorption by the crystals transparent in the midIR (AgGaS2 and other chalcogenides, ZGP, CSP) pumped with near infrared laser, and the multiphoton absorption of the pump at wavelength 1 kHz) subpicosecond source emitting at 2 µm. Its hybrid fiber-solid architecture is compact and robust, and suitable for integration. These features are of high interest for both academic and industrial applications. The energy will be further increased up to 30-40 mJ, adapted for the generation of intense secondary radiations with with both civil and defense applications. It is particularly well suited for XUV generation up to keV energy, but also for efficient pumping generation of an exceptionally large range midIR wavelengths via optical parametric amplification in nonlinear crystals. Depending on the application (civil or defense), either an intense ultrashort (few cycle) radiation, or an ultrabroad bandwidth (1 to 3 octaves), or else a broadly tunable narrowband spectrum will cover midIR band II.

Armoured land vehicles are ballistic and blast protected (mines threats or Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs). For blast protection, protection is mainly insured with metallic reinforced structure. This concept has been combat proven. However, payload of vehicles has been reduced with this kind of solutions and light vehicles cannot use such heavy solutions. Therefore, for weight issue or in order to increase protection level, composite material used as up-armouring of the vehicle can prove to be an innovative solution and allow the weight reduction in the overall armouring solution. Thus in the BLAST3D+ project, different configurations of material combinations (composite or others) will be submitted to blast to understand their dynamic behaviour. Fibrous reinforcement used in composite material will be made with multi-layers textile structures with different multi-directional orientations of yarns. Blast has different behaviour if it is used in open field (essentially representing IED types of threat) or buried mine, material responses will be evaluated and compared in both cases. Based on the blast phenomenon analysis, different composite-metallic hybrid architectures will be designed, produced and tested at low value of the explosive charge, to compare the solutions, and at high value of the explosive charge to identify the optimal protection solution. A law of behaviour of the metallic/composite structure submitted to blast will be so determined for blast threat.

The goal of the SUPREMATIE project consists in investigating the possibility of priming high explosives by the decomposition of nanothermites. Nanothermites are versatile energetic compositions which are prepared by mixing nanoparticles of metallic oxides and a reducing metal. The mixture can be performed either by dispersing nanopowders in a liquid or by a chemical coating process. The energy released per unit volume by the combustion of thermites is higher than the one of most explosives. Classical thermites are made of micrometric particles. Their decomposition rates are slow and are responsible for their small combustion power. Conversely, nanothermites possess decomposition rates which are close to those of explosives. The power released by the combustion of nanothermites seems to be high enough to induce the deflagration -or even the detonation- of high explosives. The explosives that will be studied to validate the concept are: the pentrite (PETN), the hexogen (RDX) and the hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20). The priming of the explosives will be studied by using the aluminothermic reaction of nanothermites which have been identified by the experimental characterization as the most reactive (e.g. WO3/Al; CuO/Al; Bi2O3/Al…) Up to now, the priming of high explosives is performed by the detonation of primary explosives such as metallic azides or fulminates (Ag, Pb, Hg), or the perchlorates of nitrogen complexes of transition metals (BNCP). The use of nanothermites for this purpose is a novel concept. Nanothermites have the advantage of being very stable along time and far less sensitive to thermal and impact stresses than primary explosives. Furthermore, nanothermites have extremely reproducible reactive properties and can be activated by mixing processes just before being ignited. The demonstration of the fact that high explosives could be primed by nanothermites should open new horizons in the field of pyrotechnic security, due to the relative -or absolute- flegmatisation of the most sensitive components of pyrotechnic chains. In addition, the chemicals used to formulate nanothermites can be chosen in order to minimize the toxicity of the nanothermite and of its combustion products. These aspects are all the more important as the use of explosives for civilian purposes will considerably increase in the coming years. Many fields of human activity are concerned: civilian security; spatial, automotive pyrotechnics; fireworks; demolition of concrete structures; natural resources extraction; treatment of nuclear waste and novel applications in electronics or medicine. The validation of the concept proposed in this project could lead to dual applications corresponding to well-defined needs. The last step of the project will consist to study the integration of {nanothermite + explosive} systems in 9 mm bullets used by homeland security services. These high energy ammunitions will significantly improve the defensive response ability of the law enforcement officers against criminals armed with assault weapons.

At a time when terrorist threats have continued to grow, researchers have worked to develop several innovative sensors where the combined research of sensitivity and selectivity has been favored. With regard to the detection of explosives, a difficulty concerns the great diversity of the available compounds whether they are industrial or home-made. The aim of the METIS project is to propose an alternative and a novel approach able to detect and discriminate the presence of explosives or specific markers. This involves probing the vapor pressures of a set of targeted molecular species representative of the presence of explosives in the millimetre-wave spectral band which provides an excellent resolution (discriminating character) by probing their rotational spectra . To achieve this goal we will use a recent technical development of the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of the Atmosphere (LPCA) which has been the subject of a patent application with high potential for technology transfer.Considering the civil or military targets of terrorists, METIS is by nature a DUAL project that follows the very encouraging results by the laboratories LPCA from Dunkirk and Physics Lasers, Atoms and Molecules (PhLAM) from Lille which have succeeded for the first time in recording, solving and analyzing the high-resolution rotational spectrum of mononitrotoluene taggant (NT) at room temperature with the association of preliminary microwave experiments at low temperature to determine the lower energy rotational states; measurements at room temperature using a versatile spectrometer based on a frequency multiplication chain and modeling tools to predict and analyze spectra (quantum chemistry calculations, specific Hamiltonians ...). To go further in this type of study and respond to economic, social and security issues, the METIS project aims to initiate a detection system capable to detect, discriminate and quantify gas traces of explosives taggants. in a complex mixture.To achieve this goal, we aim: to measure and analyze the millimeter-wave spectra of the most used taggants including heavier and less volatile species (DNT, DMNB, ...); to gain several orders of magnitude in terms of sensitivity by increasing the rotational absorption intensities; to automatize the measurement and the analysis of dense spectra mixing the spectral signatures of numerous molecular species and finally, to demonstrate the taggant detection in a realistic sample in an institute authorized to handle explosives. This research project brings together three partners with complementary skills and expertise associated with an observer member: the LPCA, specialized in the development of experimental and theoretical tools for gas trace metrology in the THz domain, the PhLAM laboratory, expert in modeling and spectroscopy of complex molecular structures in the gas phase, the pyrotechnic laboratory of the Saint Louis Institute (SLI) specialized in the handling of explosives and the SATT-Nord to study the potential of technology transfer and maturation. This consortium proposes a 36-month project in which, on the one hand, experimental rotational spectroscopy and quantum chemistry calculations will be used to create a new database of millimeter- wave, high-resolution rotational signatures of the main explosive taggants and on the other hand, to create an ultra-sensitive instrument accompanied with a spectral taxonomy program. The ability to detect gas traces of explosive taggants on a pre-established mixture will be demonstrated in the SLI with our partners experts in energetic material handling.