The Hosseini Lab (Quantum Atom Optics) investigates light–atom interactions in rare-earth crystals, room-temperature gases, and nanophotonic structures. Directions: (1) Quantum optical memories in Tm³⁺:YAG and Er³⁺-doped solids using atomic frequency comb (AFC) and gradient echo memory (GEM) protocols for telecom-wavelength quantum networking; demonstrated efficient storage of multi-dimensional telecom photons (Optica Quantum 2025, Phys. Rev. Appl. 2025); (2) Cooperative/collective light–matter interactions in periodic rare-earth ion arrays in nano/micro-photonic structures (collaboration with Oak Ridge NL, Aydin group) for enhanced quantum memory coherence; (3) Quantum squeezed light — applied to enhanced thermoreflectance sensing of electronic hotspots (Appl. Phys. Lett. 2024); (4) Coherent levitation of macroscopic sensors (DARPA YFA 2024, $500k): magnetic and optical trapping of mm-scale objects as high-Q oscillators for magnetometry, vibrational sensing, accelerometry, inertial, and force sensing. Lab actively seeking postdocs in integrated photonics, quantum memory, and levitation sensing (2024–2025). ASEE Curtis W. McGraw Research Award 2026.
Jeroen Kalkman develops optical tomography and spectroscopy methods for biomedical imaging. Research: (1) Fourier-domain OCT including spectroscopic OCT for tissue structural and functional imaging; (2) novel light sources and detectors for skin cancer detection (NWO KIC project NextDeLights); (3) scattering media imaging. His work is relevant to advanced biosensing with optical coherence.
Prof. Mohseni's group (Bio-inspired Sensors and Optoelectronics) pushes III-V semiconductor photodetector technology toward thermodynamic and quantum limits of photon sensitivity. Key directions: (1) Nanoscale IR photodetectors: shrinking pixel dimensions below the diffraction limit using quantum confinement effects (InGaAs/InAlAs quantum well and dot structures) to improve sensitivity, bandwidth, and resolution simultaneously; (2) Superlattice photomultipliers — high-gain, low-noise avalanche photodetectors at room temperature approaching quantum-limited sensitivity for mid-wave and long-wave infrared detection; (3) Quantum sensing applications including squeezed-light-enhanced thermoreflectance imaging of electronic hotspots, and photon-counting receivers for quantum communications. Co-author on 275+ papers, 33+ US patents; NAI Fellow 2023; W.M. Keck Foundation Award, DARPA YFA, NSF CAREER. Fellow of SPIE and Optica. Also Professor of Physics and Astronomy.