PIs

Department(s)/lab(s): School of Physics | Quantum Biotechnology and Diamond Sensing Group (Hollenberg) @ UMelb
Summary:

Hollenberg is the intellectual centre of gravity for diamond quantum sensing in Australia: a theorist-turned-programme-leader whose group develops NV-based quantum probes for biological systems and quantum-computing architectures in silicon and diamond. Current directions include the quantum-probe hyperspectral microscope, in which NV ensembles in a bulk diamond substrate report magnetic and spin-noise contrast from cells cultured directly on the surface; nanodiamond quantum probes for intracellular relaxometry and free-radical detection; theory of decoherence-based sensing (T1 relaxometry as a chemical-specificity channel rather than a nuisance); and single-cell magnetic resonance. He co-leads the Melbourne node of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology (QUBIC) with Simpson and Hinde, which is explicitly chartered to build quantum sensors for live biology, including portable brain imagers. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work β€” DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity β€” his programme is one of the small number worldwide that has carried those ensemble protocols all the way into cell culture and tissue rather than stopping at proof-of-principle magnetometry. Preferred attribute present: the group's emphasis is on sensitivity and biological specificity rather than device fabrication, and QUBIC funding runs to 2030 with recurring postdoc recruitment.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | Holzapfel CMB Instrumentation Group @ UCB
Summary:

Holzapfel develops and deploys cryogenic TES bolometer arrays with SQUID multiplexed readout for the South Pole Telescope and related cosmic microwave background experiments, pushing detector sensitivity toward the photon-noise limit for measurements of CMB anisotropy and polarization.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics – Institute for Quantum Electronics | Trapped Ion Quantum Information Group (Home Group) @ ETH Zurich
Summary:

Home leads the TIQI group working with Be+ and Ca+ trapped ions. Research directions: (1) Quantum error correction β€” fault-tolerant gates, surface code implementations with multi-ion chains; (2) Precision metrology β€” ytterbium ion optical clock, mixed-species ion chain spectroscopy and ytterbium HFS measurements; (3) Macroscopic superposition and quantum contextuality β€” creating nonclassical motional states in harmonic oscillators for tests of quantum foundations; (4) Scalable architectures β€” photonic integrated waveguides for individual ion addressing, quantum logic detection of spectroscopy ions. Key publications include first two-qubit gates with mixed species and records in quantum state readout fidelity. Lab is investigating quantum logic-enhanced spectroscopy of complex atomic systems.

Department(s)/lab(s): Department of Physics, Institute for Functional Matter and Quantum Technologies | Hong Group - Hybrid Optical Quantum Technologies @ Stuttgart
Summary:

Hong runs Hybrid Optical Quantum Technologies within Stuttgart's FMQ institute: optomechanical and opto-mechanical-spin hybrid devices used for quantum sensing and for tests of quantum mechanics at larger mass scales. Work covers cavity/phononic-crystal optomechanics driven toward the quantum regime (ground-state cooling, back-action-evading and quantum-limited displacement/force readout) and the coupling of diamond spin defects to mechanical motion, including levitated-diamond spin-mechanics -- where an NV inside a levitated particle both senses and controls the particle's motion. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), this is the same colour-centre physics, deliberately hybridized with mechanics: the sensing target shifts from magnetic field to force, acceleration and displacement, and the group sits alongside Wrachtrup's NV programme in the same building, which is a considerable practical advantage.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics & Astronomy – Biophysics & London Centre for Nanotechnology | Hoogenboom Lab (High-Speed AFM and Nanoscale Biophysics) @ UCL
Summary:

Hoogenboom leads a biophysics group at UCL specializing in high-speed atomic force microscopy. Research directions: (1) High-speed AFM β€” imaging conformational dynamics of DNA, proteins (including membrane channels), and chromatin at ms time resolution and sub-nm spatial resolution in aqueous conditions; (2) Nuclear pore complex β€” mapping transport selectivity and structure of NPCs in native nuclear envelopes using AFM; (3) Antimicrobial mechanisms β€” imaging membrane disruption by antimicrobial peptides in real time; (4) AFM-based force spectroscopy β€” measuring single-molecule interaction forces in chromatin and protein assemblies. Strong relevance to biological sensing at the single-molecule level.

Department(s)/lab(s): Imaging Physics (ImPhys) | Hoogenboom Lab (Integrated Microscopy) @ TU Delft
Summary:

Jacob Hoogenboom develops integrated correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) and molecular nanophotonic imaging. Research: (1) 3-in-1 microscopy combining light, electron beam, and ion beam for precise biological sample sectioning and protein localisation; (2) integrated CLEM for mapping proteins in cellular context; (3) single-molecule nanophotonic sensing using fluorescence. Relevant to advanced single-molecule biosensing approaches.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | Space and Atmospheric Physics Group @ Imperial
Summary:

Horbury is Principal Investigator for the magnetometer instrument on ESA's Solar Orbiter mission, studying solar-wind turbulence and the Sun's magnetic connection to the heliosphere through in-situ spacecraft instrumentation.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | Exotic Atom Spectroscopy Group @ Imperial
Summary:

Hori performs precision two-photon laser spectroscopy of antiprotonic helium and other exotic atoms (much of it carried out at CERN's Antiproton Decelerator), testing CPT symmetry and QED and constraining the antiproton-to-electron mass ratio.

Department(s)/lab(s): Electrical and Computer Engineering | Hosseini Lab (Quantum Atom Optics) @ Northwestern
Summary:

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 β€” 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.

Department(s)/lab(s): Astronomy | Howard Group (California Planet Search / KPF) @ Caltech
Summary:

Howard is PI of the Keck Planet Finder (KPF), an ultra-stable Zerodur echelle spectrometer with laser-frequency-comb and etalon calibration achieving ~30-50 cm/s Doppler precision; the group measures masses, orbits and compositions of small exoplanets and studies exoplanet demographics. (Borderline inclusion: emphasis is precision RV instrumentation and demographics.) For context, this complements the established paradigm of NV-diamond ensemble magnetometry (Hahn-echo/DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry) operating near pT/√Hz sensitivity.