FUNDACIO INSTITUT DE CIENCIES FOTONIQUES
ICFO is an international institution that aims to advance the very frontiers of knowledge in diverse areas in which photonics plays a decisive role, such as medicine and biology, advanced imaging, information technologies, environmental sensors, tunable and ultra-fast lasers, quantum science and technologies, solar energy and the broad applications of nano and quantum materials. Research programs are part of world-class frontiers and aim to address the important challenges facing society in general.
ICFO is a CERCA research centre member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, founded in 2002 by the Government of Catalonia and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · Barcelona Tech, both of which are members of ICFO’s board of trustees along with the Cellex and Mir-Puig Foundations, philanthropic entities that have played a critical role in the advancement of the institute. Located in the Mediterranean Technology Park in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, the institute currently hosts 450 people, organized in 25 research teams that use 80 state-of-the-art research laboratories. Research lines encompass diverse areas in which photonics plays a decisive role, with an emphasis on basic and applied themes relevant to medicine and biology, advanced imaging techniques, information technologies, a range of environmental sensors, tunable and ultra-fast lasers, quantum science and technologies, photovoltaics and the properties and applications of nano and quantum materials such as graphene, among others. In addition to three consecutive accreditations of the Severo Ochoa national program for top research excellence, ICFOnians have been awarded 16 elite ICREA Professorships as well as 46 European Research Council grants. ICFO is very proactive in fostering entrepreneurial activities, spin-off creation, and creating collaborations and links between industry and ICFO researchers. To date, ICFO has helped create 11 start-up companies.
Role within PASQuanS 2
In PASQuanS2.1, ICFO develops both experimental and theoretical quantum simulation research lines. Experimentally, the focus is on the technical simplification of quantum gas microscopes and on the development of new simulation, preparation and detection schemes for large-spin Fermi gases in optical lattices. Theoretically, ICFO proposes “experimentally friendly” verification methods to certify the validity of a quantum simulation using a restricted but scalable number of measurements and minimizing the assumptions on the devices. It also searches for new applications of quantum simulators in scientific and optimization problems.
