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Within the Kingdom of Lights
06.06.2017, by
The Kastler-Brossel Laboratory is a ‘factory’ for Nobel Laureates, with more than its fair share of physicists well known for monumental discoveries. Following in the footsteps of Alfred Kastler, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and Serge Haroche, awarded the Nobel Prize respectively in 1966, 1997 and 2012, young researchers at this institution are paving the way for new experimental methods to push the boundaries of physics.
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An experiment on ultracold Fermi gases, with amazing properties that can only be explained by quantum mechanics. Researchers are studying these gases to gain insight into a wide variety of systems, ranging from metals to neutron stars.
H. RAGUET / LKB / CNRS Photothèque
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A researcher observing how light passes through complex media like paint or biological tissue. The long-term goal is to develop advanced techniques that may be used in medical imaging or data transfer.
H. RAGUET / LKB / CNRS Photothèque
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Laser light being sent onto a hydrogen atom to accurately measure its structure. Comparison of such measurements with theoretical values will be useful in determining fundamental atomic constants. These constants will be used in 2018 to redefine four SI measurement units: the kelvin, the mole, the ampere and the kilogram.
H. RAGUET / LKB / CNRS Photothèque
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Researchers try to recreate the conditions under which exotic (i.e. unusual) particles are formed, in this case Majorana fermions. They do this by cooling atoms of dysprosium, an electron-rich metal. This research could one day be used to design a quantum computer.
H. RAGUET / LKB / CNRS Photothèque
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Part of the previous experiment: an array of optical elements is used to split and prepare the laser beams that will allow the dysprosium atoms to be cooled down and observed.
H. RAGUET / LKB / CNRS Photothèque
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An ultra-fast pulsed laser is made up of a multitude of narrow and regular beams within a given range of frequencies (colors), like a comb. It may be used as a highly-accurate length reference ‘ruler.’ This photo shows different colors of the laser light separated by a prism.
H. RAGUET / LKB / CNRS Photothèque
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One application for the laser shown in the previous picture: its beams are used as channels to propagate light in different quantum “states” at the same time. The objective here is to use the channels to increase quantum computations and data transmission, and improve techniques of quantum communication.
H. RAGUET / LKB / CNRS Photothèque
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Group photograph taken in 1966 in front of the laboratory at the École Normale Supérieure, rue Lhomond in Paris. It shows three Nobel Laureates: in the middle, Alfred Kastler, one of the founders of the laboratory, to his right Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, and on the far right of the photo Serge Haroche.
Ecole normale supérieure, Fonds A. Kastler
À propos
The Kastler-Brossel Laboratory is a unit of the CNRS/ENS/Université Pierre et Marie Curie/Collège de France.
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