Academics will provide master-classes for pupils, training for teachers and create a bank of on-line materials in an attempt to push more teenagers into taking physics degrees, it emerged.
The Department for Education is providing £6.9m over five years for the project which will be aimed at improving standards among A-level students.
It comes after the Coalition called on top universities to get more involved with A-level courses amid claims the "gold standard" qualification had become too easy.
Cambridge insisted it would not be setting exams or sixth-form syllabuses but suggested that the project would see the university working with other leading institutions "to deliver extension materials, on-line learning, workshops for students and support for physics teachers".
Mark Warner, professor of theoretical physics, who is leading the programme, said it would enable the university to “reach almost all school physics students in the UK”.
“We hope that the project will result in an increase in the number of talented and ambitious young physicists with the skills to make strong applications to university,” he said.
Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, added: “Cambridge University physicists will provide support for science teachers and online resources enabling many more state school students to succeed at university.”
The Rutherford Schools Physics Project will involve the development of lesson materials that can be used by teachers in schools, as well as on-line resources and master-classes for pupils.
Experienced physics teachers will lead on-the-job training courses for other staff delivering the subject. Cambridge said this may be targeted at schools “with less experience of supporting students into [studying] physics at university”.
The university said it was hoped that the project would “enable more students from all backgrounds to gain physics expertise beyond school level, encourage more students to apply for physics, engineering and mathematics at highly-selective universities throughout the UK and equip them to best demonstrate their academic potential”.