Activities of the Physics Laboratory cover various fields, from statistical physics to hydrodynamic turbulence, including also mathematical physics and signal processing but also soft and condensed matter. This multidisciplinary approach is particularly fostered by the strong association with the physics teaching activities at ENS de Lyon.

The diversity of topics studied allows this laboratory to tackle old problems and emerging ones combining modeling and experiments at the highest level. Internal expertise in the laboratory can rely on a ground of exact results, on the advanced numerical approaches, and on experiments that keep inventing new tools.

The research topics of the laboratory can be gathered into eight themes, following the presentation made in the last activity report 2009-2014:

• Hydrodynamics and Geophysics
• Condensed Matter
• Soft Matter
• Statistical Physics
• Physics of Biological Systems
• Infophysics, Signal and Systems
• Mathematical Physics and Fundamental Interactions
• Instrumentation and Imaging

From an administrative standpoint, the laboratory is organized into four research teams, which only partially overlap with the above splitting into themes. Research topics are transverse to the teams.

• Matter & complexity
• Non-Linear Physics & hydrodynamics
• Signals, systems & physics
• Theoretical physics