State key Laboratory of Artificial Microstructure and Mesoscopic Physics was founded in 1990,and was supported by the State Planning Commission. In 1992, the laboratory passed the evaluation of the State Education Commission and started to operate. The guideline for the laboratory is to investigate the new phenomena and new laws of mesoscopic physics when the matters changes spatially and temporally, and the laboratory aims to strengthen the development of theoretical methods and the measurement of physical processes in ultrasmall space and ultrafast time scale. Paying attention to the intersection of disciplines, the laboratory develops the research methods and builds the concepts to promote the artificial microstructure and mesoscopic physics in life sciences, energy, and various applied disciplines. The laboratory aims to meet the country's major strategic needs, and strive to contribute to the country's economic construction and national defense construction, but also makes the significant contribution to the development of basic science.

The laboratory aims to expand the cognitive boundaries of classical–quantum laws, explore the frontier of mesoscopic physics, and generate source innovations to enable transformative technologies. To this end, it will build a research base with distinctive mesoscopic-physics characteristics, tightly integrating optics with condensed matter physics. The lab will conduct in-depth research on major fundamental scientific questions and application-frontier issues in mesoscopic physics.

Focusing on the frontier scientific issues of mesoscopic physics and the major national projects and tasks it undertakes, the laboratory has formed five major research directions, namely: "Ultrafast Mesoscopic Optics and Extreme Optics" , "New Mesoscopic Materials and State Regulation" , "Construction of Novel Artificial Quantum Systems" , "Cross-Scale Many-Body Non-Equilibrium Theory" and "Major Interdisciplinary Research and Applications in Mesoscopic Physics".

The laboratory has a strong team of innovative talents, including 5 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Developing Countries, 11 special professors of the Yangtze River, 23 winners from the China National Funds for Distinguished Young Scientists, 8 winners from the National special support program for high-level personnel recruitment, 12 winners from the New Century Excellent Talents in University, 4 Young Yangtze Scholar and 16 winners from the National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Fund.

The laboratory has 5 innovative research groups of the National Fund supported by NSFC, and has undertaken more than 200 national-level scientific research projects in the past five years, including the national key research and development plans and major scientific research plans and special national research equipment development projects. The laboratory won the second prize of 6 National Natural Science Awards, the second prize of the National Technology Invention Award in 2018, as well as more than 10 other awards, such as the He Liang He Li Science and Progress Award, the first prize of the Ministry of Education, the Youth Science Award, the China Youth Science and Technology Award, the two awards on the top-ten-scientific and technological advances in Chinese university of science and technology, the one award on the 30 major advances in optics worldwide, three awards on the top-ten scientific and technological advances of Chinese Optics, two awards on the top-ten scientific and technological advances of semiconductor in China, one award on the top-ten scientific achievements of China, 2 Fellow of Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers（SPIE）, 5 Fellows of Chinese Optical Society（COS）, 4 Fellows of the Optical Society of America（OSA）,1 Fellows of American Physical Society（APS）and 1 Fellow of Institute of Physics（IOP）.