Marie-Claire Schanne-Klein is a French physicist who is a professor at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. She is based in the Laboratory for Optics and Biosciences, where she studies the nonlinear optics of chiral molecules.
Schanne-Klein studied physics at the ÃÂcole polytechnique. She moved to the Paris-Sud University for graduate studies focused on lasers, before returning to ÃÂcole polytechnique for doctoral research, where she worked on non-linear optics.
Schanne-Klein combines theoretical and experimental approaches to better understand molecular materials. Specifically, she studies nonlinear optics of chiral molecules and second-harmonic generation imaging of collagen fibres. Using HyperâÂÂRayleigh scattering, Schanne-Klein showed that the hyperpolarizability of collagen fibres, which forms the basis of the contrast observed in non-linear optical measurements, occurred due to the coherent amplification of peptide bonds along the lengths of the molecules.
Schanne-Klein has applied her understanding of spectroscopy to understand aged parchments. These parchments often contain collagen, and Schanne-Klein showed that non-linear optical microscopy could be used to evaluate degradation within the material.
Schanne-Klein is a professor at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the ÃÂcole polytechnique.
In 2019 Schanne Klein was awarded the CNRS Silver Medal.