Brantut's lab studies quantum transport in ultracold Fermi gases, using them as quantum simulators for nanoscale solid-state devices. Research directions: (1) Mesoscopic quantum transport — fermionic cold atoms transported through quantum point contacts, studying conductance quantization, shot noise, and thermoelectric effects in atomic-scale channels; (2) Fermionic superfluidity in confined geometries — observing and probing pairing in constrictions; (3) Dissipation and open quantum systems — controlled introduction of loss to study non-Hermitian quantum physics; (4) Quantum thermometry in ultracold systems — using transport signatures as precision thermometers. Analogous to quantum Hall measurements and nanoelectronics in an ultra-clean platform.
Experimental AMO physicist using ultracold atoms and optical lattices for quantum simulation and sensing. Directions: (1) Efimov and few-body physics in ultracold Cs and Cs-Li mixtures; (2) quantum phase transitions and strongly correlated quantum matter in optical lattices; (3) optical tweezer arrays for single-atom and single-molecule quantum simulation. Develops novel imaging techniques for in-situ atomic density measurements.
Nobel laureate Steven Chu's group spans laser cooling/trapping of atoms and single-molecule biophysics, using optical and magnetic tweezers and single-molecule fluorescence to study DNA/RNA folding, molecular motors, and signal transduction -- one of the earliest applications of AMO-derived single-particle measurement precision to living systems.
Jean Dalibard's BEC group at LKB studies quantum gases, BEC, and strongly correlated quantum systems. Research: (1) 2D Bose gases and Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition; (2) gauge fields for neutral atoms — synthetic magnetism; (3) quantum simulation with ultracold atoms. Dalibard is a foundational figure in cold-atom physics; his group at LKB/Collège de France is relevant through quantum gas experiments tied to quantum simulation and precision measurement. Borderline case included given BEC foundations for sensing.
Experimental AMO physicist focused on precision measurement for fundamental physics. Primary directions: (1) ACME experiment measuring electron electric dipole moment to unprecedented precision using ThO molecular beam — tests for new CP-violating physics beyond the Standard Model; (2) ultracold polar molecule quantum simulation and quantum information in optical tweezers. Atomic coherence techniques underpin SERF/OPM magnetometry. Joined UChicago from Yale 2022.
Igor Ferrier-Barbut (CNRS DR, LCF/IOGS) works on dipolar and Rydberg quantum systems for quantum simulation. Research: (1) dipolar dysprosium (Dy) quantum gases — magnetic dipole-dipole interactions, supersolids, quantum droplets; (2) sub-wavelength structured atomic arrays as quantum simulation platforms; (3) collective light-matter interactions in dense cold-atom ensembles. Jacques Herbrand Grand Prize 2022. ERC Starting Grant (CORSAIR). Works in the Browaeys/Lahaye quantum optics group.
Thierry Lahaye (CNRS DR, LCF/IOGS) co-leads the quantum optics atoms group with Browaeys and Ferrier-Barbut. Research: (1) Rydberg atom tweezer arrays for quantum simulation of many-body spin Hamiltonians; (2) dipole-dipole interaction physics with Rydberg atoms; (3) cryogenic tweezer arrays (2000-site rearrangement at 4K, PRApplied 2024). Key architect of Pasqal's quantum computing platform.
Levine builds neutral-atom tweezer-array and superconducting-qubit platforms for quantum computing, quantum error correction, and quantum sensing, aiming to combine the programmability of Rydberg arrays with new approaches to distributed and networked quantum sensing. The group is actively recruiting postdocs.
Jörg Müller's Quantum Metrology group works on next-generation optical atomic clocks and superradiant lasers. Key experiments: cold strontium continuous superradiant laser (subnatural linewidth, pushing beyond traditional clock limitations); microresonator-based frequency combs; ultra-stable optical reference cavities; and cavity QED many-atom systems for clocks and sensing. The group is part of the EU iqClock project targeting operational optical lattice clocks.
Ni's group creates and controls individual molecules at the lowest achievable temperatures, using optical tweezers to study state-resolved ultracold chemical reactions and quantum effects in molecular collisions. Included here as a borderline precision-measurement/quantum-sensing platform (ultracold polar molecules), analogous to the eEDM/ultracold-molecule work elsewhere in the department, though her core emphasis is chemical reaction dynamics rather than device sensing.