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Case study: materials 1 8 Diamonds are a physicist’s best friend Julianna Photopoulos talks to Pascal Gallo, co-founder and chief executive of Swiss start-up company LakeDiamond, about his career in quantum physics and c r y s t a l g r ow t h i a m o n d L a k e D r f o t t i i g h e l a s R i c o N Pascal Gallo is a physicist who has had a passion for crystals and gemstones since childhood, thanks to his grandfather, a mine prospector in Africa who discovered the minerals marokite and gaudefroyite. As a youngster, Gallo would often gaze at the collection of minerals they had at home, and even trade precious stones in school. Today, he is the chief executive of Switzerlandbased start-up company LakeDiamond, which manufactures ultrapure diamonds that can be harnessed for various technologies – from laser-power beaming, autonomous vehicles to rapid battery charging and medical imaging. Gallo’s initial interest in physics was piqued by reading Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, and by having developed a strong set of strong mathematical skills. He graduated from the National Institute of A pp l i e d S c i e n c e s ( I NSA) i n To u l o u s e , F r an c e , with a Master’s degree in engineering physics and management in 2002. “This engineering school had a branch dedicated to physics, but we would also learn law, finance and economy,” he recalls. Growing crystals Gallo continued his studies at the INSA and earned his PhD on quantum physics and crystal growth in 2006. “My PhD focused on spin dynamics – how the spin of electrons will evolve during transport within materials. And to test those properties, we needed to grow pure semiconductors by a technique called molecular-beam epitaxy,” he says. Gallo’s research was carried out in c o l l ab o r a t i o n w i t h A l b e r t F e r t who s ha r e d t h e 2007 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on Shine bright Pascal Gallo co - f ounded a company t o manufac t ur e diamonds f or use in t echnolog y. spintronics. After his PhD, Gallo then spent around half a year working at the Laboratory for Analysis and Architecture of Systems, also in Toulouse, where his research involved developing new semiconductor lasers, before joining Eli Kapon’s research group at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, later that same year, as a postdoc. Over the next six years, Gallo worked on the interactions between light and matter in s em i c o ndu c t o r nan o s t r u c t u r e s , a t E P F L . Du ring that time, he developed diamond-based lasers and smashed a world record for laser-energy transmission. “We developed a certain class of lasers called VCSELs [vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers], and we got a world record by putting diamonds in the cavity of those lasers,” explains Gallo. “Diamond is the best conductor of heat, so whe n y o u e v a c ua t e t h e h e a t y o u c an i n c r e a s e the power without destroying your laser.” It was shortly after this breakthrough that Gallo had the idea to launch a star t - up company. He was, however, disappointed that he couldn’t find a good supply of ultrapure d i amond s . “ T h e r e wa s n o r e l i ab l e s o u r c e an d so we had two options: either drop the project or manufacture our own diamonds.” It wasn’t until 2011, when he met his business partner Theophile Mounier (LakeDiamond’s current chief financial officer) and the company NeoCoat, that together they developed both a single-crystal chemical vapour deposition reactor to grow artificial diamonds and a business plan for what would become LakeDiamond. Starting up Between 2012 and 2014 Gallo worked with Kapon at BeamExpress, a Swiss start-up company that made ultrafast lasers for telecommunications. Among his duties as a research engineer and operation planner was to organize, plan and set up research projects with business partners and customers. He then worked at photonics start-up company Novagan as chief business Physics World  Careers 2020 In association with brightrecruits
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development officer, before eventually cofounding LakeDiamond in 2015. Gallo points out that he was lucky in that Kapon, who is now LakeDiamond’s head of photonics, knew a lot about business and had previously raised large amounts of venture money. “It showed me that i t was possible as a scientist to start a company.” What also helped was EPFL’s technology transfer office (T TO), especially as researchers there are encouraged to write patents. “When you found your company, you can go to the same T TO and exploit the patents that you wrote as a researcher,” Gallo says. “That’s exactly what I did with patents on the use of diamonds in laser s.” Once Gallo and his team managed to grow diamonds in the lab – purer than natural ones – by l ayer i ng car bon a t oms i n a c r y s t alline pattern, he was approached by several physicists and companies that brought new ideas to LakeDiamond. Together, they are now addressing a wide range of innovative applications in micromechanics, photonics, electronics and biotechnology. “When you’re a physicist, you really understand what your product can bring and how you have to design the product to make something useful, which will be adopted by the market,” he says. At the same time, Gallo is collaborating with many of his former colleagues and professors. “It’s really important to keep a good relationship with other researchers you work with or study with as a student because you build up a network,” he says. In 2018 LakeDiamond launched its own initial coin offering, issuing virtual “crypto tokens” that can be exchanged for diamonds or part of the turnover. “It turned out to be a very good idea,” says Gallo. “We managed to raise a substantial amount of money and to make the company grow.” The company now employs 12 people and Gallo is still involved in all the technical aspects. “I really love the idea that as a CEO who is a physicist I can go really deep into the development of all I really love the idea that as a CEO who is a physicist I can go really deep into the development of all the product s the products the company’s making. It gives c r e d i b i l i t y whe n we t a l k t o i n v e s t o r s o r p o t e nt ial par tner s.” Role variation A s L a k e D i amond ’ s c h i e f e x e c u t i v e , Ga l l o ’ s j o b is intense but he enjoys the varied work that constantly keeps him on his toes. “I really l o v e t h i s a s p e c t o f t h e j o b , bu t i t r e qu i r e s a l o t of energy,” he says. “When I was working in the lab, I could choose the pace. Now I have to do a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and the rhy thm changes all the t ime.” Having coincidentally ended up in a similar career as his grandfather – although avoiding the human and environmental toll of diamond mining – Gallo believes today’s physics graduates have a wide variety of opportunities, as long as they are openminded and flexible. “You have to choose your car eer pat h t o be f l ex ib l e. You can have an idea in mind of where you want to go and in which field, but the exact path that you follow will be subject to who you meet, and so you really have to s t ay open and meet as many people as you can.” Pascal Gallo i s co - f ounder and chie f execut i ve of Swiss start-up company LakeDiamond. Julianna Photopoulos i s a sc ience wr i t er based in Br i s t ol, UK 1 9 Physics Education is the international journal for everyone involved with the teaching of physics in schools and colleges. The articles reflect the needs and interests of secondary school teachers, teacher trainers and those involved with courses up to introductory undergraduate level. Editor: Gary Williams, Institute of Physics, UK We aim to provide professional development and support by providing: • a forum for practising teachers to make an active contribution to the physics teaching community; • knowledge updates in physics, educational research and relevant wider curriculum developments; • strategies for teaching and classroom management that will engage and motivate students. Visit iopscience.org/ped to find out more and to submit your work. In association with brightrecruits Physics World  Careers 2020

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Case study: materials

1 8

Diamonds are a physicist’s best friend

Julianna Photopoulos talks to Pascal Gallo, co-founder and chief executive of Swiss start-up company LakeDiamond, about his career in quantum physics and c r y s t a l g r ow t h i a m o n d

L a k e D

r f o t t i i g h e l a s R

i c o

N

Pascal Gallo is a physicist who has had a passion for crystals and gemstones since childhood, thanks to his grandfather, a mine prospector in Africa who discovered the minerals marokite and gaudefroyite. As a youngster, Gallo would often gaze at the collection of minerals they had at home, and even trade precious stones in school. Today, he is the chief executive of Switzerlandbased start-up company LakeDiamond, which manufactures ultrapure diamonds that can be harnessed for various technologies – from laser-power beaming, autonomous vehicles to rapid battery charging and medical imaging.

Gallo’s initial interest in physics was piqued by reading Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, and by having developed a strong set of strong mathematical skills. He graduated from the National Institute of A pp l i e d S c i e n c e s ( I NSA) i n To u l o u s e , F r an c e , with a Master’s degree in engineering physics and management in 2002. “This engineering school had a branch dedicated to physics, but we would also learn law, finance and economy,” he recalls.

Growing crystals Gallo continued his studies at the INSA and earned his PhD on quantum physics and crystal growth in 2006. “My PhD focused on spin dynamics – how the spin of electrons will evolve during transport within materials. And to test those properties, we needed to grow pure semiconductors by a technique called molecular-beam epitaxy,” he says. Gallo’s research was carried out in c o l l ab o r a t i o n w i t h A l b e r t F e r t who s ha r e d t h e 2007 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on

Shine bright Pascal Gallo co - f ounded a company t o manufac t ur e diamonds f or use in t echnolog y.

spintronics. After his PhD, Gallo then spent around half a year working at the Laboratory for Analysis and Architecture of Systems, also in Toulouse, where his research involved developing new semiconductor lasers, before joining Eli Kapon’s research group at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, later that same year, as a postdoc.

Over the next six years, Gallo worked on the interactions between light and matter in s em i c o ndu c t o r nan o s t r u c t u r e s , a t E P F L . Du ring that time, he developed diamond-based lasers and smashed a world record for laser-energy transmission. “We developed a certain class of lasers called VCSELs [vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers], and we got a world record by putting diamonds in the cavity of those lasers,” explains Gallo. “Diamond is the best conductor of heat, so whe n y o u e v a c ua t e t h e h e a t y o u c an i n c r e a s e the power without destroying your laser.”

It was shortly after this breakthrough that Gallo had the idea to launch a star t - up company. He was, however, disappointed that he couldn’t find a good supply of ultrapure d i amond s . “ T h e r e wa s n o r e l i ab l e s o u r c e an d so we had two options: either drop the project or manufacture our own diamonds.” It wasn’t until 2011, when he met his business partner Theophile Mounier (LakeDiamond’s current chief financial officer) and the company NeoCoat, that together they developed both a single-crystal chemical vapour deposition reactor to grow artificial diamonds and a business plan for what would become LakeDiamond.

Starting up Between 2012 and 2014 Gallo worked with Kapon at BeamExpress, a Swiss start-up company that made ultrafast lasers for telecommunications. Among his duties as a research engineer and operation planner was to organize, plan and set up research projects with business partners and customers. He then worked at photonics start-up company Novagan as chief business

Physics World  Careers 2020

In association with brightrecruits

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