Klein pairs van der Waals heterostructure fabrication with a cryogenic scanning-probe 'Atomic Single Electron Transistor,' built on a quantum-twisting-microscope platform, to directly image sub-moire electrostatic potential landscapes with ultrasensitive, high-spatial-resolution electrometry. This is an unpreferred/borderline quantum-sensing inclusion: the sensor is an SET-based electrometer rather than an NV-ensemble magnetometer (which reaches pT/sqrt(Hz) via DEER/NMR/T1 protocols), but it shares the goal of pushing single-defect-level sensitivity for imaging quantum materials.
Klenerman develops and applies single-molecule fluorescence and scanning-probe methods (including nanopipette scanning ion-conductance microscopy and a single-objective oblique-plane light-sheet microscope) to study protein misfolding and aggregation in neurodegenerative disease, alongside his earlier work co-inventing next-generation DNA sequencing.
Knirck builds novel microwave- and mm-wave-frequency detectors (ADMX resonant cavities, MADMAX dielectric haloscopes, and the broadband BREAD/dish-antenna concept) to search for axion dark matter, explicitly leveraging cutting-edge single-photon quantum sensing to push beyond the standard quantum limit. He describes axion searches as sitting directly at the intersection of particle physics, astrophysics, photonics, and quantum sensing, and is building a new experimental group at Harvard.
Knowles leads the Coherent Quantum Lab at the Cavendish Laboratory. Her research focuses on using NV centers in diamond as quantum sensors to probe matter at the nanoscale in two main thrusts: (1) nanoscale NMR / spin imaging — scanning-probe NV magnetometry of topological and unconventional magnets, Hamiltonian engineering in dense spin ensembles using global dynamical decoupling, and error-correction-enhanced sensor readout; (2) quantum biosensing in living systems — employing diamond nanocrystals functionalized for intracellular delivery to perform simultaneous nanothermometry and nanorheometry in single HeLa cells and C. elegans, using the Q-BiC integrated biocompatible chip platform. She co-leads CANSIS. The lab has a second new instrument running since mid-2025 for biosensing experiments.
Kocharovskaya is a theorist (with supporting experiment) in coherent optics: EIT, lasing without inversion, and X-ray/gamma quantum optics using nuclear coherent control (Moessbauer nuclei) for ultra-narrowband photon storage and precision spectroscopy. In the broader landscape of NV-centre ensemble quantum sensing (DEER, nano-NMR, T1 relaxometry) operating near pT/sqrt(Hz) sensitivity, this work provides coherent-control primitives relevant to precision sensing.
Gijsje Koenderink (Full Professor, BioNanoscience) investigates active and passive mechanics of the cytoskeleton. Research: (1) active matter — motor-filament composite networks generating spontaneous mechanical activity; (2) cell mechanics — cytoskeletal contributions to cell shape, migration, and division; (3) biomaterials — designing synthetic cytoskeletal analogues; (4) optical tweezers and AFM rheology of reconstituted networks. Spinoza Prize 2021. ERC Advanced Grant.
Kolkowitz's group builds ultra-precise strontium optical lattice clocks for differential clock comparisons and fundamental-physics tests, and separately pioneered scanning single-NV magnetometry for imaging nanoscale current and spin transport in quantum materials. This combination of atomic-clock and solid-state defect-spin sensing places the group's diamond work squarely alongside the broader NV ensemble sensing literature (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry) that has achieved pT/sqrt(Hz)-class field sensitivities; the lab is actively recruiting postdocs in both directions.
Kolthammer works on quantum photonics with an emphasis on nonclassical states of light and their applications to quantum information and sensing. Research highlights: (1) Gaussian Boson Sampling — first time-bin encoded GBS experiment using a loop-based interferometer with superconducting TES photon-number-resolving detectors, demonstrated enhancement in dense-subgraph search over classical methods (PRX 2022); (2) Squeezed state characterisation — nonclassicality certification using multiplexing layouts with superconducting TES detectors, sub-Poisson and sub-binomial statistics (PRA 2017); (3) Frequency-multiplexed photon pair sources — electro-optic frequency shifting for indistinguishable single-photon multiplexing without added multi-photon events; (4) Photonic quantum sensing — developing time-bin encoded platforms for quantum-enhanced sensing and quantum advantage demonstrations.
Kovac leads the BICEP/Keck CMB-polarization program at the South Pole, designing and deploying multiple generations of radio telescopes and cryogenic detector arrays (TES bolometers with SQUID-multiplexed readout) to search for the inflationary gravitational-wave signature in the cosmic microwave background. This is an astronomy pivot squarely enabled by quantum-limited cryogenic detector technology, matching the CMB-instrumentation branch of the quantum-sensing tree.
The Kovachy Group applies quantum wave properties of ultracold atoms to precision sensing. Primary focus: (1) Advanced large-momentum-transfer (LMT) atom interferometer pulse sequences using Bragg diffraction and Bloch oscillations to achieve record momentum splits of 100s of ℏk, enhancing sensitivity for fundamental physics tests; (2) MAGIS-100 collaboration — the 100 m-tall atom interferometer at Fermilab targeting gravitational waves in the mid-band complementary to LIGO/LISA, dark matter field searches, and tests of quantum mechanics at macroscopic scales; (3) Search for deviations from Newtonian gravity at micrometer range using atom-interferometric force sensing, and a new measurement of Newton's gravitational constant G; (4) Cryogenic optical cavity dark matter search (with Gabrielse and Geraci groups). David and Lucile Packard Fellow (2020), Paul Ehrenfest Best Paper Award 2020, NIST Precision Measurement Grant 2019. Member of CFP Northwestern and CIERA.