Michel Mitov

Biography: 
Michel Mitov is a Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). 

He is working at the Institute of Physics in Nice (INPHYNI), a partnership between the University of Côte d'Azur and the CNRS, which he joined in 2023. He is leading the Liquid Crystal for Optics group. His research focuses on chiral liquid crystals and their connection with biological structures. 

Currently, he is focusing on optical tags inspired by the patterned insect cuticles and the iridescent fish scales. 

Compositional gradients in cholesteric materials enable the encoding of various properties, such as wavelength, bandwidth, spatial position, shape, and number of taggants, in a single tag ranging from the visible to the infrared spectrum, including dual-spectrum tags. The French government recently awarded him funding for this research through the France 2030 investment plan, which is managed by the National Research Agency (ANR) as part of Université Côte d’Azur Initiative of Excellence. 

He also engages in scientific dissemination activities aimed at the general public. He is the author of Sensitive Matter (Harvard University Press).

Title of the communication:
Pushing the limits of optical tagging with cholesteric liquid crystals