Founded in 1951 by Alfred Kastler and Jean Brossel, it is a joint research unit (French UMR 8552) operated by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the École normale supérieure, the Sorbonne University and the Collège de France.
The laboratory was founded in 1951 by Alfred Kastler (Nobel Prize in Physics in 1966) and Jean Brossel on the theme of the interaction between light and matter.
Now, the Kastler Brossel Laboratory (LKB) is one of the main actors in the field of fundamental physics of quantum systems.
Many new themes have appeared recently in the field of fundamental physics of quantum systems, like quantum entanglement or Bose–Einstein condensation in gases, which leads to a constant renewal of the research carried out in the laboratory.
The LKB is also a leader in the PHARAO/ACES1 mission which will send into space a cold atomic clock of unprecedented accuracy to test Einstein's equations of gravitational frequency shift.