Daniel Comparat (DR CNRS, LAC MFC coordinator) works on cold atoms, molecules and Rydberg physics. Research: (1) Rydberg atoms — spectroscopy, few-body interactions, frozen Rydberg gases with Cs/Yb; (2) cold molecules — BaF laser cooling and trapping for eEDM measurement; (3) antihydrogen laser manipulation for fundamental tests; (4) novel electron electric dipole moment measurement technique; (5) cold ion and electron sources (photo-ionization of laser-cooled atoms). ERC-linked funding.
Sylvain Nascimbène (Assoc. Prof./Maître de conférences, LKB BEC/Collège de France, IUF 2022) leads the Dysprosium lab. Research: (1) large-spin dysprosium Bose-Einstein condensates for quantum simulation of exotic magnetic phases; (2) quantum metrology with entangled spin states; (3) realisation of topological matter (2025: parity anomaly in 2D); also theory on topological quantum simulation (with Nathan Goldman). Strong connection to quantum sensing via entanglement-enhanced metrology.
François Nez (DR CNRS, LKB Hydrogen Spectroscopy) performs ultra-high precision hydrogen spectroscopy and QED tests. Research: (1) 1S–3S hydrogen/deuterium spectroscopy — continuous-wave laser, optical frequency comb via REFIMEVE network, theory comparison at ppt level; (2) muonic hydrogen/atom spectroscopy — CREMA collaboration at PSI; determines proton charge radius with record precision; (3) GRASIAN — gravitational quantum states of hydrogen atoms and neutrons; probing short-range forces beyond Standard Model. Primarily fundamental physics rather than sensing applications, but uses precision optical metrology infrastructure.
Jakob Reichel (Professor, LKB Atom Chips) leads work on fiber Fabry-Perot microcavities for atom-light quantum interfaces and miniaturised sensors. Research: (1) fiber Fabry-Perot microcavities — sub-micron mirrors on fibre tips enabling strong single-atom coupling; integrated directly into atom chips; (2) TACC (Trapped Atom Clock on a Chip) — Rb atom clock with 5.8×10⁻¹³/√τ stability; ERC Advanced grant EQUEMI; (3) Sr optical-lattice cavity QED with quantum metrology; (4) MIREGA spinout — miniature portable greenhouse gas analyser combining FFP microcavities with telecom fibre optics for drone mounting; ERC Proof-of-Concept grant; (5) Rubidium CQED 'Sarocema' — individually addressable atom-tweezer array in fibre cavity for quantum simulation with long-range cavity-mediated interactions.
Laurent Sanchez-Palencia (CNRS DR / Professor, CPHT, École Polytechnique) leads the Quantum Matter theory group. Research: (1) many-body quantum simulation with cold atoms in optical lattices — disorder and Anderson localisation, strongly correlated phases; (2) ultracold atoms in optical quasicrystals and moiré lattices — exotic band structures and correlated phases; (3) quantum entanglement and metrology — theoretical proposals for entanglement-enhanced sensing; (4) non-equilibrium quantum dynamics and thermalization. Deputy Director Quantum-Saclay. ERC Starting 2011. Prix Leconte 2012 (Académie des Sciences). Moved to CPHT from Institut d'Optique 2016.
PREFERRED. Vuletic's group generates large-scale spin squeezing and entanglement in cold and ultracold atomic ensembles to push optical atomic clocks and rotation/field sensors below the standard quantum limit, alongside work on cavity QED, Rydberg tweezer arrays, and nonlinear quantum optics at the single-photon level. Recent work includes cavity-feedback spin squeezing for ytterbium clocks and fault-tolerant neutral-atom quantum sensor/processor arrays with collaborators at Harvard.