Today’s technologies such as electronic gadgets, the optical network and computers are in essence governed by the fundamental, and sometimes strange, laws of quantum mechanics. The deep understanding of these basic principles of quantum mechanics has boosted the development of modern technology in the 20th century on a scale never seen before in history. Another technology revolution on a similar dramatic scale will take place in the 21st century which will be based on controlling the microscopic world rather than explaining it.
With new nanofabrication techniques and refined optical technologies, it is now becoming experimentally feasible to engineer the quantum world at our own will. In my talk I will explain how such techniques can provide access to the generation, the control and the detection of very exotic quantum states of light and matter. These engineered quantum systems have valuable new applications in quantum information science and quantum sensing.