Quantum Optoelectronics group (Prof. J.Faist)

This laboratory is dedicated to the manufacture and study of large quantum systems (also called mesoscopic systems). By nature, these systems are at the frontier between classical and quantum mechanics. Researchers are entering the mesoscopic world when trying for example to miniaturize transistors inside computer chips or to control DNA.

Mesoscopic systems also open new functionalities impossible to obtain from purely classical objects: researchers around the world are trying to construct a quantum computer which could in principle solve mathematically hard problems (like the factorization of large numbers) that classical computers could not tackle.

The present work of the laboratory is dedicated to the study of structures like the quantum cascade laser. The Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) is a semiconductor laser involving only one type of carriers and which is based on two fundamental phenomena of quantum mechanics, namely tunneling and quantum confinement. It is fabricated by a technique called Molecular Beam Epitaxy in which the layers are "sprayed" one layer at the time.

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