M1 ICFP

Tél : + 33(1) 44 32 35 60 
enseignement@phys.ens.fr

Responsables de la formation

Tél : + 33(1) 44 27 14 22 
sylvain.nascimbene@lkb.ens.fr

Tél : + 33(1) 44 32 34 90 
adel.bilal@ens.fr

Tél : + 33(1)  44 32 33 61 
jean-francois.allemand@ens.fr

Correspondants auprès des universités partenaires

Sorbonne Université

Jérôme Tignon

Université Paris Saclay

Fréderic Moisy

Université Paris Cité

Christophe Mora

Pole Enseignement

Liste des contacts

The M1 offers a wealth of lectures covering a wide range of topics in modern physics, from fundamental interactions to biophysics, and also several aspects of quantum mechanics and condensed matter physics, to name just a few.

The 1^st year of the ENS-ICFP Master program is almost entirely "à la carte", with students choosing their courses for a total of 30 ECTS.

The second semester is validated by a six-month internship in a French or foreign laboratory. Internship topics can cover the whole range of physics and its interfaces.

One unit = one full course (6 ECTS) or a choice of two half-courses (2x3 ECTS). A maximum of 9 ECTS can be validated outside the list of courses offered by the program.

List of the courses and weekly schedule

First part of semester 1 (morning/afternoon)

• Monday: Probability / Quantum optics
• Tuesday: Soft matter and interfaces / Experimental physics - Machine learning principles and applications in physics
• Wednesday: Relativistic quantum mechanics and introduction to quantum field theory / Student seminar - Numerical methods for differential equations in physics
• Thursday: Introduction to general relativity / Dynamical systems and chaos 
• Friday: Symmetries in physics / Phase transitions 

Second part of semester 1 (morning/afternoon)

• Monday: Superfluidity / Quantum matter
• Tuesday: Soft matter and interfaces / Experimental physics
• Wednesday: Relativistic quantum mechanics and introduction to quantum field theory / Student seminar - Numerical methods for differential equations in physics
• Thursday: Introduction to general relativity / Introduction to climate physics and the impact of climate change
• Friday: Biophysics / Cosmology

Students can also carry out a bibliographical project, which counts as a full course unit (6 ECTS), and takes the form of personal research and a presentation in January.

There is also the possibility of doing a supervised research project in laboratory, which counts as a full course unit (6 ECTS).

Other courses may be envisaged, particularly in certain master's specialties at partner universities (Physics-Biology Interface, Oceanology and Meteorology, Geodynamics and Physics of the Earth, Mechanics), conditioned on the agreement of the faculties in charge of the Masters program and of the lecture followed.

Each of the five teaching units M1–M5 are attributed a mark on a scale of 20. The mark of the first semester corresponds to their average : MA = (M1 + M2 + M3 + M4 + M5) / 5. If this average is strictly less than 10, the student must take resit exams in each of the courses for which he/she obtained a mark lower than 10. In such a case the committee is entitled to forbid the student to go abroad to do his internship.

Weekly attendance of the Student seminar is compulsory for the validation of the first semester ; students will have to write brief reports on some of the seminars.

The second semester is devoted to an internship (see dedicated page). Its evaluation defines the mark for the second semester : MB = INTERNSHIP.

Passing the first year of the Master program (M1)

The first year is passed if the marks of both semesters (MA and MB) are larger or equal than 10, the yearly mark being their average :
(MA + MB) / 2 = (M1 + M2 + M3 + M4 + M5 + 5 * INTERNSHIP) / 10

The student who has successfully passed the M1 year of ICFP will be admitted in one of the pedagogical path of the M2 ICFP. Which path depends on the student’s proposal and of the estimate of the student’s abilities by the directors of the pedagogical paths. In case of disagreement between the student and the directors of pedagogical paths, the director of the ICFP Master program will propose one of the pedagogical paths to the student. If the student refuses the ICFP director’s proposal he/she will be considered as quitting the ICFP Master program.

• Information session 2023: September, 04th, 2023 - 10:00am - Room Conf IV, 24 rue Lhomond
• Study period and examinations: September, 04 2023 to february 09th 2024
• Christmas break: December, 25th 2023 to 05th January 2024 (included)
• Winter break: January, 29th 2024 to February, 02nd 2024
• Full-time internships: From February, 12th 2024

The rooms where the courses take place are indicated on the pdf schedule.

In the first year of the Master program (M1), the second semester (between February and July) is entirely devoted to a laboratory research internship, which students usually carry out abroad.

This full-time internship takes place in a laboratory belonging to a public research organization or a major industrial company, preferably in the European Union, but also in North America or other countries.

It is carried out under the responsibility of a laboratory researcher, and must allow the student a certain degree of autonomy, so that he or she can derive maximum benefit from this first long-term immersion in a professional research environment.

More details can be found on the dedicated webpage.

See the master ICFP webpage for more informations on the recruitment.

See here the schedule of Student seminars

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