Kim Cuong Le started her career as an assistant researcher at the Institute of Physics belonging to the Vietnam academy of Science and Technology in Hanoi, Vietnam, where she studied continuous solid-state lasers and pulsed laser oscillation processes by passive mode locking of a Nd:YVO4 laser.

 

In 2013, she joined the “Molecular systems, Astrophysics and Environment” group led by Dr. Thomas Pino, her PhD supervisor, at ISMO at University of Paris-Saclay in France. Here she focused on developing and applying optical and laser-based methods involving Raman scattering, absorption spectroscopy, and high resolution transmission electron microscope to characterize soot particles properties produced in low pressure flames in terms of morphology, nano-structure and chemical properties. The title of her thesis is: “Raman spectroscopy of soot produced in low pressure flames: ex situ analyses and online gas phase studies”.  The most significant result is the success in detecting soot in the aerosol phase using online Raman measurement and to our knowledge the first one in the world successfully developing this technique. This is a very promising tool for retrieving good chemical and structural information with limited influence from the sampling procedure, feasibility for Raman Lidar for accurate chemical determination of soot in the atmosphere.

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After the PhD program, she applied for and was granted a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual postdoctoral Fellowship, for which she became a postdoctoral fellow at the Soot group led by Prof. Per-Erik Bengtsson, at the Division of Combustion Physics at Lund University and she was the project leader. This project was named “Understanding soot formation processes using advance optical diagnostics” (794156-USFAOD).

 

In 2021, she was appointed to a tenured track Associate Senior Lecturer / Asst. Professor position at the Division of Combustion Physics in "Laser diagnostics for characterization of soot particles". Her present research work broadens and follows along the scientific direction in her successful PhD-works to reveal soot formation pathways and soot properties by developing and applying online spectroscopic techniques. Her research interests are also broaden to Raman Lidar for atmospheric applications and to biophotonics for the impact of soot / black carbon on human health.