Support for the Ninth International Conference on Intersubband Transitions in Quantum Wells

量子阱中的电子子带间跃迁是产生和探测中、远红外（太赫兹）辐射的主要物理机制，用于量子级联激光器和量子阱红外光电探测器。该波长范围应用于分子传感、大气和污染监测安全、医学成像和安全通信。科学界现在正在寻找其他材料系统，以实现更宽的波长覆盖范围和高温操作，以及量子点的亚能级间转换，以提高器件性能：所有这些方面都在两年一度的量子阱子带间跃迁国际会议（ITQW）上进行了讨论。在2003年输给瑞士和2005年输给科德角之后，作者们为英国在2007年9月争取到了这次会议。作者向EPSRC寻求适度的资助，以帮助支持这一突出的活动，并展示英国在这一研究领域的领先工作。

Electron intersubband transitions in quantum wells are the primary physicalmechanism for the generation and detection of mid- and far-infrared(terahertz) radiation as used in quantum cascade lasers and quantum wellinfrared photodetectors. This range of wavelengths has applications inmolecular sensing, atmospheric and pollution monitoring security, medical imaging and secure communications. Thescientific community is now looking at other material systems for evenbroader wavelength coverage and high temperature operation as well asintersublevel transitions in quantum dots for improved device performance: allof these aspects are discussed in the biennial International Conference onIntersubband Transitions in Quantum Wells (ITQW) which the authors havefought hard to secure for the U.K. in September 2007 after losing out on two previous occasions to Switzerland in 2003 and Cape Cod in 2005. Theauthors seek modest funding from the EPSRC to help support this prominentevent and showcase the leading U.K. work in this research field.