Julien Renard
Program
Junior Fellow Academy
Appointment
Junior Fellow, Nanoelectronics
Institution
University of British Columbia
Country
Canada 
Julien Renard is a CIFAR Junior Fellow working under the supervision of Nanoelectronics program member Joshua Folk in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia. He will also be working closely with program members Thomas Szkopek at McGill University and Andrew Sachrajda at the Institute for Microstructural Sciences, National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa. Julien completed his PhD in 2009 at France’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique (CEA), with Drs. Bruno Gayral and Henri Mariette as his thesis advisors. He also holds a Master’s degree in condensed matter physics from Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble and an engineering degree from the Grenoble Institute of Technology (INPG).
Julien is interested in the electronic properties of condensed matter. His graduate research focused on the optical properties of semiconductor nanostructures – i.e. structures in which at least one dimension measures on the scale of billionths of a metre. Semiconductors are materials commonly found in devices such as transistors, solar cells, and laser or light emitting devices. Silicon is the best-known semiconductor, but Julien’s PhD thesis dealt with the optical properties of another semiconductor material, gallium nitride (GaN), which is currently attracting much attention, due in part to its potential for light emission. Julien studied the properties of various forms of this material, including quantum dots, nanowires, and microcavities. He also focused on the ability of these nanostructures to efficiently conserve a single spin, an intrinsic magnetic property of electrons that researchers hope may one day be usable for quantum computing. As a Junior Fellow in the Nanoelectronics program, Julien will conduct experiments on graphene, a material made of a single layer of carbon atoms, which is expected to have important implications in the computer industry. He will study graphene’s quantum properties and will investigate how electrons are transported in this material.
Julien is interested in the electronic properties of condensed matter. His graduate research focused on the optical properties of semiconductor nanostructures – i.e. structures in which at least one dimension measures on the scale of billionths of a metre. Semiconductors are materials commonly found in devices such as transistors, solar cells, and laser or light emitting devices. Silicon is the best-known semiconductor, but Julien’s PhD thesis dealt with the optical properties of another semiconductor material, gallium nitride (GaN), which is currently attracting much attention, due in part to its potential for light emission. Julien studied the properties of various forms of this material, including quantum dots, nanowires, and microcavities. He also focused on the ability of these nanostructures to efficiently conserve a single spin, an intrinsic magnetic property of electrons that researchers hope may one day be usable for quantum computing. As a Junior Fellow in the Nanoelectronics program, Julien will conduct experiments on graphene, a material made of a single layer of carbon atoms, which is expected to have important implications in the computer industry. He will study graphene’s quantum properties and will investigate how electrons are transported in this material.