Education and professional career
Michel Devoret, born in Paris in 1953, trained as a telecommunications engineer, then obtained a DEA (post-graduate diploma) in quantum optics from the University of Orsay, followed by a3e in atomic and molecular physics, followed by a doctorate in Quantum Condensed Matter Physics. During a postdoctoral stay in Berkeley (USA) in 1982-1984 in Professor John Clarke's laboratory, he measured for the first time the mesoscopic quantum levels of a Josephson junction. On his return to France, together with Daniel Estève and Cristian Urbina, he founded the Quantronics group at the Orme des Merisiers laboratory (CEA-Saclay). The group's main achievements include the invention of the electron pump, direct observation of the charge of Cooper pairs and the development of a superconducting quantum bit, the Quantronium. Since 2002, Michel Devoret has been Professor at Yale University (USA), where his research group, in collaboration with Rob Schoelkopf, Steve Girvin and Dan Prober, has developed a new type of ultra-low-noise amplifier. He took up his post at the Collège de France in April 2007.
He resigned from the Collège de France onSeptember 1 september 1, 2013. He is a professor at Yale University (USA).
Awards and honors
- 1970 : French Crown Prize
- 1991 : Prix Ampère from the Académie des Sciences (with Daniel Estève)
- 1996 : Descartes-Huygens Prize of the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences
- 2003 : Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2004 : Europhysics-Agilent Prize of the European Physical Society (with Daniel Estève, Hans Mooij and Yasunobu Nakamura)
- 2005 : Manne Siegbahn Lecturer, Swedish Academy of Science
- 2007 : Member of the Academy of Science
On leave during the 2012-2013 academic year, Professor Michel Devoret, holder of the Chair of Mesoscopic Physics since 2006, resigned from the Collège de France with effect from September1 2013. He is a professor at Yale University (USA).
The lectures he gave from 2006 to 2012 remain available on the Collège de France website.