Laboratoire Hubert Curien is a joint research unit of Saint-Etienne University (member of the University of Lyon), The French National Centre for Scientific Research and the Institut d'Optique Graduate School. It has more than 200 employees including 90 staff scientists and faculty, 20 engineers and technicians and about 100 PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. It is thus the largest university research center in Saint-Etienne area. The laboratory is organized in two scientific departments: “Optics, Photonics, Surfaces” and “Computer science, Security, Image” with the research teams working on functional materials and surfaces, photonic and optical materials in extreme environment, laser-matter interaction, image science and computer vision, data intelligence, embedded devices and hardware security. The laboratory facilities are located at the historic site of the former Saint-Etienne arms manufacturer and include several advanced technology platforms: NanoSaint-Etienne® for lithography and nanomaterials engineering, materials characterisation equipment, femtosecond laser systems, electron microscopy instruments, computer clusters for high-performance calculations, cutting-edge cryptographic and computer vision research tools.