Theorist developing frameworks for quantum sensing, control, and amplification in driven-dissipative quantum systems. Directions: (1) quantum noise theory for optomechanical and electromechanical sensors — fundamental limits and backaction evasion; (2) parametric amplification and squeezing beyond standard quantum limit; (3) non-reciprocal quantum systems for quantum-limited amplifiers; (4) quantum sensing theory for GW detectors and CMB experiments. 2020 Simons Investigator in Theoretical Physics.
Combes is a theorist of continuous quantum measurement, quantum trajectories, quantum-limited amplification and quantum filtering, with a strong record of working directly alongside superconducting-circuit and optical experiments rather than in isolation. Recent directions include the fundamental limits of amplifier-based sensing, error-corrected and adaptive metrology protocols, and characterisation/verification of noisy quantum devices. 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 — his work supplies the estimation-theoretic scaffolding — quantum Fisher information, back-action limits, adaptive protocols — that determines whether an NV ensemble running DEER or nanoscale NMR at pT/sqrt(Hz) is actually operating at its fundamental bound or leaving sensitivity on the table. Theory PI, but explicitly experiment-facing.
Croot returned from Princeton to found Sydney's Superconducting Quantum Circuits Laboratory. The programme uses superconducting circuits both as quantum processors and as extremely sensitive probes: coupling microwave resonators and qubits to other degrees of freedom (mechanical modes, semiconductor structures, spins) to build hybrid systems, and developing the quantum-limited amplification chain that makes single-microwave-photon detection possible. 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 — superconducting circuits are the principal competitor technology for detecting the weak microwave signals that NV ensembles read magnetically; a quantum-limited or squeezed microwave amplifier is what lets an inductively-detected spin ensemble reach — and beat — the pT/sqrt(Hz) regime. Newly established, well-equipped lab; high autonomy for a postdoc and active recruitment as the lab builds out.
PREFERRED. Evans leads work on frequency-dependent squeezed-light injection and low-thermal-noise optics that has pushed Advanced LIGO below the standard quantum limit across its full detection band, and he leads the US design effort for the next-generation Cosmic Explorer gravitational-wave observatory. This is squarely quantum-enhanced sensing at a fundamental-physics facility scale rather than a device-fabrication program.
Fejer develops engineered nonlinear-optical materials (periodically poled crystals, low-mechanical-loss optical coatings) used to generate squeezed light and to reduce thermal noise in precision interferometers, contributing core technology to the squeezed-light upgrades deployed in Advanced LIGO.
Philippe Grangier is a pioneer of quantum optics and quantum information at the Laboratoire Charles Fabry (IOGS/École Polytechnique). Research: (1) foundations of quantum mechanics: single photon experiments, Bell tests, quantum non-demolition measurement; (2) quantum optics and quantum information — continuous variables, entanglement generation, quantum cryptography; (3) Rydberg atom experiments (in collaboration with Browaeys). Coordinator of SIRTEQ network (700+ quantum researchers in Île-de-France). Closely connected to Pasqal spinoff. Key for quantum sensing foundations.
Gruetter leads the Laboratory for Functional and Metabolic Imaging (LFMI) at EPFL and co-directs the CIBM (Centre for Biomedical Imaging). Research directions: (1) Ultra-high-field in vivo MR spectroscopy — developing 1H, 13C, 31P, 23Na MRS at 14.1T animal and 7T human systems to measure metabolite concentrations (glutamate, GABA, lactate) in brain with unprecedented sensitivity; (2) Quantum coherence effects in NMR — exploiting J-coupling evolution and JPRESS sequences for quantum-selective metabolite editing; (3) Hyperpolarization — DNP-enhanced metabolite sensing in vivo for tracking metabolic flux in real time; (4) Neuroimaging — quantitative BOLD fMRI calibration and cerebral blood flow mapping. The 14.1T magnet is among the world's most powerful for biological NMR spectroscopy.
Explores boundary between condensed-matter physics and quantum sensing using superconductor-semiconductor circuits. Directions: (1) gate-tunable superconductor-semiconductor parametric amplifier for quantum-limited readout (PRA 2023); (2) room-temperature capacitive strong coupling to mechanical motion for electromechanical sensing (Nano Letters 2025); (3) quantum criticality in Josephson junction arrays; (4) synthetic Hamiltonians in hybrid SC-semi devices probing hidden material behavior. IST Austria → Microsoft → JILA → UChicago Nov 2023.
Hobson co-leads the Ultracold Strontium Laboratory within the AION atom-interferometer collaboration, developing squeezed strontium atomic ensembles and quantum-non-demolition measurement techniques to beat the standard quantum limit in long-baseline atom-interferometric searches for dark matter and gravitational waves, alongside a parallel programme on ultra-precise, shock-resistant optical clocks. Actively recruiting postdocs as the group builds out its cold-atom laboratories.
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.