Summary: Top European technical university with the Center for Quantum Science and Engineering (QSE, est. 2022). Key groups for quantum sensing: Kippenberg Lab (world-leading cavity optomechanics, microresonator frequency combs, room-temperature quantum mechanics β foundational for astro spectrograph calibration and force sensing); Galland LQNO (NV sensing in biological and nanoscale contexts, plasmonic nanocavities); Brantut Lab (ultracold fermions for precision measurement); Schueder Lab (DNA-PAINT super-resolution for biological imaging). The CMi cleanroom and BioImaging & Optics Platform (BIOP) support device fabrication and bioimaging respectively.
Notes: Γcole Polytechnique FΓ©dΓ©rale de Lausanne. Top European technical university (QS #16 overall). Houses the Center for Quantum Science and Engineering (QSE, est. 2022). Key groups in scope: Kippenberg Lab (cavity optomechanics, microresonator frequency combs, room-temperature quantum mechanics); Galland LQNO (NV sensing, quantum nano-optics, plasmonic nanocavities); Brantut Lab (ultracold fermions); Schueder Lab (DNA-PAINT super-resolution). Has EPFL Center for MicroNanotechnology (CMi) cleanrooms, and BioImaging & Optics Platform (BIOP). Strong quantum research across physics and engineering schools.
Aeppli leads the Quantum Technologies Group spanning ETH Zurich, EPFL, and PSI. Research directions: (1) Quantum materials imaging β using SLS synchrotron X-rays (including SwissFEL ultrafast pulses) and neutrons at SINQ to image quantum phase transitions, skyrmions, and correlated phases; non-destructive imaging of device structures; (2) Rare-earth quantum magnets and qubits β LiHoF4 as a model quantum system; Er, Pr, and Nd spin qubits in crystals for quantum information and sensing; (3) Semiconductor quantum devices β silicon and germanium nanostructures probed by synchrotron nanoscale X-ray imaging; (4) Van der Waals materials and CDW memory devices. Strong interface with PSI large-scale facilities as unique quantum sensing tools for materials.
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 β 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 β observing and probing pairing in constrictions; (3) Dissipation and open quantum systems β controlled introduction of loss to study non-Hermitian quantum physics; (4) Quantum thermometry in ultracold systems β using transport signatures as precision thermometers. Analogous to quantum Hall measurements and nanoelectronics in an ultra-clean platform.
Galland leads LQNO at EPFL investigating light-matter interactions in nano-structures and the quantum regime. Research directions: (1) NV centers in diamond for quantum sensing β spectroscopy of NV spin states in ultra-thin diamond membranes, development of diamond nanophotonic platforms for enhanced sensing sensitivity; collaboration on quantum sensing with color centers; (2) Plasmonic nanocavities β few-nm gap junctions enhance Raman scattering by Γ10^9, enabling single-molecule vibrational spectroscopy and coherent control; ultrafast and single-photon detection of coherent phonon dynamics; (3) 2D heterostructure photonics β entangled photon pair generation enhanced by TMD heterostructures; valley-polarized exciton sources; (4) Optical frequency conversion for quantum applications. SNSF-funded professor, internationally recognized for molecular optomechanics and carbon nanotube quantum optics.
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 β 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 β exploiting J-coupling evolution and JPRESS sequences for quantum-selective metabolite editing; (3) Hyperpolarization β DNP-enhanced metabolite sensing in vivo for tracking metabolic flux in real time; (4) Neuroimaging β quantitative BOLD fMRI calibration and cerebral blood flow mapping. The 14.1T magnet is among the world's most powerful for biological NMR spectroscopy.
Kippenberg leads the Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements (K-Lab) at EPFL, pioneer of chip-scale microresonator frequency combs and cavity optomechanics. Research directions: (1) Soliton microcombs β dissipative Kerr solitons in Si3N4 microresonators for massively parallel coherent optical communications, precision ranging/LiDAR (Science 2018, Nature 2017); dual-chirped microcomb parallel ranging at megapixel rates; (2) Room-temperature quantum optomechanics β phononic-crystal-patterned Si3N4 membrane-in-the-middle cavity reduces frequency noise 700Γ, observing quantum backaction at room temperature (Nature 2024); (3) Superconducting circuit optomechanics β topological lattices, electromechanical sensing (Nature 2022); (4) Free-electronβphoton interactions in microresonators. Spin-off companies and strong industry ties. Over 85,000 citations, h-index ~80.
Schueder is a newly appointed (2025) EPFL Assistant Professor specializing in high-resolution microscopy and its biological applications. He played a key role in the development of DNA-PAINT, a super-resolution microscopy technique enabling nanometer-scale (~5 nm) visualization of cellular structures via transient programmable DNA hybridization. Research directions: (1) DNA-PAINT super-resolution β multiplexed, quantitative imaging of protein complexes in fixed and living cells with Exchange-PAINT; (2) Single-molecule localization below 5 nm resolution β resolving individual proteins within complexes; (3) Biological applications β imaging cytoskeletal networks, receptor clustering, chromatin organization; (4) Expanding to in situ structural biology β correlating super-resolution images with cryo-EM data. Transferred from ETH Zurich. Strong fit with EPFL imaging and structural biology ecosystem.