THALES is a world leader group for electronics and a key player in numerous markets such as aerospace, space, digital identity and security, cyber security and defense. Research and development (R&D) is at the core of the Group, with its 3 000 researchers and 28 000 engineers dedicated to R&D. Thales has been developing state-of-the-art technologies to meet the most demanding requirements of customers around the world for decades. Today the Group has become a giant laboratory inventing the world of tomorrow, with a portfolio of 20 500 patents, of which more than 400 new ones were registered in 2018.

Thales Research & Technology France (TRT-Fr) is the main multidisciplinary research unit of THALES, located on the Campus of Polytechnique in Palaiseau. Through its internal activities and scientific links with industries and universities, in France and internationally, TRT participates in the preparation of THALES industrial future in strategic R&D fields, and provides scientific and technical advice, expertise or services for the company TRT-Fr accounts for 3% of total R&D of the Group and employs 220 full-time staff and over 40 PhD students. The center has more than 13000 m² of labs and 1700 m² of clean rooms. TRT-Fr research teams have very diverse skills ranging from materials elaboration (polymers, epitaxy of various semiconductors, dielectric or magnetic thin films, ceramics, etc.), through component modelling, processing, testing, assembly and packaging, to integration in demonstrators, allowing full validation of the technologies investigated before their transfer to operational divisions of Thales. The Technology and Characterization Research Group of TRT-Fr, involved in this project, has strong expertise in modelling, design, fabrication and characterization optical/microwave components based on quasi-optical and sub-wavelength structures.