Program description

The program of our Master of Physics relies on 3 pillars:

  • Scientific skills in General Physics: the master covers all the fields required to any physicist, with a special focus on those mandatory for a PhD thesis in particle physics or nanoplysics.
  • Experimental skills: physics is an experimental science ! For this reason, the master allows students to acquire experimental skills thanks to ambitious projects (medical imagery, astroparticles, precession of muons, Rutherford experiment) but also practicals of near field electronic microscopy and optic and electronic microscopy.
  • Computing skills: today’s physicists need to have a very good understanding of the computing tools, and a wide knowledge in code development and data treatment. Our Master program aims to provide the « starter kit » each of our student can rely on to enlarge his abilities.

Details for each year and each option:

First year (M1)

The year of M1 contains a common core of general physics and a beginning of specialization for both M2 options.

  1. Common core (503.5h / 48 ECTS)
    • General physics
      • Electromagnetism (81.5h)
      • Matter physics (91.5h)
      • Quantum physics (81h)
      • Collective phenomena (91.5h)
      • Mathematics, computing (50h)
    • Experimental methods
      • Experimental projects (81h)
      • Astrophysics lab work (12h)
      • Arduino (15h)
  2. Specialization (51h / 6 ECTS), one among
    • Universe and particles (UP)
    • Nanophysics (NP)
  3. Internship (>7 weeks) and english skills (6 ECTS)

Second year (M2) « Nanophysics »

All lectures in the M2 « Nanophysics » are given in english.

  1. Professionalization (111.5h / 15 ECTS)
    • Professional insertion; Project supervising (16.5h / 3 ECTS)
    • Data analysis; Statistics (45h / 6 ECTS)
    • Numerical simulations and theoretical modeling in physics (50h / 6 ECTS)
  2. Science (193h / 27 ECTS)
    • Nano-optics (96h / 12 ECTS)
      • Ligth-matter interaction* (24h)
      • Symmetries in physics (20h)
      • Physics of nanostructures (26h)
      • Photonics – plasmonics – meta-materials (26h)
    • Nano-objects, analysis (97h / 15 ECTS)
      • Epitaxy*; Quantum methods in solids (24h)
      • Surfaces – interfaces (26h)
      • Sensors (26h)
      • Experimental techniques of elaboration and analysis, 3 seminars on nanophysics (21h)
  3. Internship (5 months) and english skills (18 ECTS)

*Two lectures are common with the Polytech Clermont engineering school.

Second year (M2) « Universe & Particles »

All lectures in the M2 « Universe & Particles » are given in english.

  1. Data Science* (85h / 12ECTS)
    • Data analysis (25h)
    • Statistics (20h)
    • Data mining (20h)
    • Machine learning (20h)
  2. Instruments and Methods (50h / 6 ECTS)
    • Detector physics (24h)
    • Instrumental projects (26h)
  3. Science (165h / 24 ECTS)
    • Symmetries in physics; Introduction to particle physics (40h)
    • Quantum field theory; Quantum chromodynamics; Quark gluon plasma (45h)
    • From electromagnetism to the electroweak standard model (40h)
    • General relativity, astroparticle and cosmology (40h)
  4. Internship (5 months) and english skills (18 ECTS)

* The lectures in the Data Science block are common to the « Data Scientist » degree. Students of the M2 « Universe & Particles » have the possibility to also follow the four other lectures of this degree:

  • Data engineering (30h)
  • Statistical tools, R language (20h)
  • Time series (20h)
  • Deep learning (20h)

in order to obtain simultaneously the Master of Physics and the degree of Data Scientist.

International Master of Advanced Methods in Particle Physics

Students from the International Master of Advanced Methods in Particle Physics (IMAPP) spend their first semester in Clermont, studying lectures of the M2 « Universe and Particles », before going to the Dortmund and Bologna universities for the next semesters.