Aurèle Adam develops THz near-field imaging and spectroscopy. Research: (1) apertureless scattering-type near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) at THz frequencies for nanometre spatial resolution imaging of material properties; (2) THz time-domain spectroscopy of quantum materials and condensed matter systems; (3) antenna-coupled detectors and sources for THz near-field imaging. Relevant to quantum material characterisation at the nanoscale.
Allain (PPSM) designs luminescent and mechanofluorochromic molecular materials and lanthanide/organic probes acting as optical stress and environment sensors, including solid-state and time-resolved luminescence readouts. In the broader landscape of NV-centre ensemble quantum sensing (DEER, nano-NMR, T1 relaxometry) operating near pT/sqrt(Hz) sensitivity, this work is complemented by stimuli-responsive molecular luminescent sensors.
Anderson's group designs molecular electron-spin qubit candidates -- including an air- and water-stable tetrathiafulvalene-bridged radical with spin centered on a nuclear-spin-free ligand -- that retain hundreds of nanoseconds of coherence in solution at room temperature, aiming toward solution-phase quantum sensing in biological environments. This complements solid-state NV-ensemble sensors, which use DEER, NMR, and T1-relaxometry protocols to reach pT/sqrt(Hz)-class magnetic sensitivity, by pursuing a chemically tunable molecular alternative that could operate directly in biological media.
Basche is one of the founding figures of optical single-molecule spectroscopy. The group performs high-resolution fluorescence-excitation spectroscopy on single dibenzoterrylene (DBT) molecules in anthracene hosts at liquid-helium temperature, where zero-phonon lines approach the Fourier limit -- effectively a solid-state single-photon emitter with atom-like linewidths -- and studies how nanocrystal host engineering (e.g. electrohydrodynamic printing) preserves spectral stability, with polarization-resolved super-resolution imaging used to pin down crystal orientation. Further lines: photon-statistics and blinking in single quantum dots and QD/dye hybrids, and single-molecule studies of singlet fission, where photon-stream analysis of terrylenediimide dimers exposed coherent multiexciton superpositions that ensemble measurements average away. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), this is the molecular analogue of the colour-centre programme -- same photophysics toolkit (HBT, resonance fluorescence, orientation-resolved imaging), different emitter -- and it is the strongest single-emitter optics group in Mainz chemistry. Note: senior/long-established professor; confirm current group status and recruiting before applying.
Boland's group focuses on THz spectroscopy of semiconductor nanostructures and 2D materials for quantum sensing applications. Research directions: (1) THz optical pump–THz probe spectroscopy — measuring ultrafast carrier dynamics in semiconductor nanowires, quantum wells, and 2D materials (graphene, TMDs, perovskites) after optical excitation; (2) Near-field THz nanoscopy — sub-wavelength THz imaging of carrier distributions and quantum phase domains; (3) THz-active quantum devices — studying exciton and polaron dynamics in perovskite and III-V semiconductors at THz frequencies; (4) 2D material sensors — graphene-based THz detectors and emitters. Applications in quantum-material characterization and quantum sensing.
Boskovic is a synthetic inorganic chemist working on lanthanoid and polyoxometalate molecular magnets, valence tautomeric and redox-switchable complexes, and the design of molecules whose spin states can be addressed and switched. The group's relevance to quantum sensing is that these are chemically tunable spin qubits: unlike solid-state defects, their coordination environment, nuclear-spin bath and anisotropy can be designed atom by atom, which is the argument for molecular qubits as sensors. Characterisation is by SQUID magnetometry, EPR and ab initio calculation. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work — DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity — molecular spin qubits are the chemistry community's answer to the NV centre, and DEER/pulsed-EPR protocols developed for NV ensembles at pT/sqrt(Hz) transfer more or less directly to these systems. Borderline inclusion (synthesis-led rather than sensitivity-led), kept per the inclusive rubric.
Boxer's group uses vibrational Stark effect spectroscopy -- measuring field-dependent shifts of nitrile, carbonyl, and other IR-active vibrational probes -- to quantify electrostatic fields inside proteins, membranes, and active sites, providing a molecular-scale, spectroscopic route to electric-field sensing distinct from device-based quantum sensors. [Borderline match: a molecular spectroscopic probe of local fields rather than a fabricated quantum sensor; kept for review.]
Develops second- and third-harmonic generation (SHG/THG) nonlinear optical microscopy to image collagen and other non-centrosymmetric structural proteins label-free in tissue, with applications to cancer diagnosis and fibrosis, pushing spatial/orientational resolution of structural imaging in intact tissue.
Curmi is a structural and single-molecule biophysicist whose most-cited work is on the light-harvesting antenna proteins of cryptophyte algae, where he and collaborators reported long-lived electronic coherence at ambient temperature — one of the founding results of the quantum-biology field and still one of its most argued-over. His group determines the structures of these antenna complexes and engineers them, and separately works on protein-based molecular motors and on single-molecule fluorescence and FRET measurements of conformational dynamics. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work — DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity — Curmi supplies the biological systems in which quantum coherence is actually claimed to matter; a pT/sqrt(Hz)-class spin sensor capable of watching radical-pair or exciton dynamics in situ would be aimed at exactly the questions his structures raise. Preferred attribute present: genuine quantum-biology substrate rather than a quantum-flavoured metaphor.
Dhiman holds the professorship for Physical Chemistry of Supramolecular Systems at JGU and is affiliated with the Max Planck Graduate Center. Her group uses single-molecule and super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (SMLM/PAINT-type methods) to watch synthetic supramolecular polymers assemble, exchange monomers and age in real time -- i.e. applying the biological super-resolution toolkit to non-biological self-assembling matter, and toward bioinspired/adaptive systems that behave like living materials. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), this is a technique-driven inclusion: the emphasis is squarely on pushing spatial and temporal resolution of dye-based imaging past the ensemble limit, and it is a newer group where a postdoc would have room to shape the direction.