and Alain Aspect. As of 2006 the school had 50 permanent faculty members (teachers, teacher-researchers and researchers), 241 students in the ESO engineering diploma programme, 15 students in the national research master programme (some of them matriculated in the Paris XI University or another institution) and 40 doctoral students (matriculated in the Paris XI). Admission and engineer's degree Like most grandes écoles in France, students have to follow a two or three-year intensive preparation in a classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles (CPGE) before entering the school after having sat a competitive entrance exam. If selected, students can then follow the three-year course. For those undergraduate students, the engineer's degree of the school (, 'ESO engineering diploma') is a first degree. About 10 graduate students enter also the first or second year of the engineer's degree programme after sitting an entrance exam. The course lasts for three years. Students have the possibility, during the second year, of taking part in the which consists of a partnership between the school and a company. The student will thus follow part of the studies at the school and will work at the company the rest of the time. It is possible to follow courses abroad in universities that have partnerships with the school (such as Imperial College or Cambridge University for instance) for the entire year. Students can also choose to do their second and third years a special branch of the school located in Saint-Étienne or since 2012 at Bordeaux. The first year consists of fundamental physics and engineering sciences (820 hours). At the end of year one, students must do a one-month internship. Year two is centered around optical components (720 hours) and ends with a two-month internship. And finally, during year three, students must choose amongst a variety of specialities and learn how to integrate optical technologies to systems. Curriculum Year one Mathematics (signal processing, probability and noise), geometric optics, physical optics, polarization, electronics (analogue and digital), computer sciences (numerical analysis and C programming), quantum mechanics, atomic physics, semiconductors, electromagnetism, microprocessors, engineering sciences (automatics), practicals (optics and electronics), communication, English, second language (Spanish, German, Swedish, Chinese, Japanese) Year two Lasers, Fourier optics, aberrations & diffraction, radiometry, detection systems, optical design, computer sciences (C language), laser diodes, electro- and acousto-optics, waveguided optics, non-linear optics, holography, statistical optics, light-matter interaction, statistical physics, biophotonics, electronics (commutation and high frequencies, practicals (optics and electronics), project