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.
Anthony Laing's group pioneers photonic quantum computing and quantum simulation, having invented integrated quantum photonics. Research: (1) universal reconfigurable photonic quantum processors; (2) photonic quantum simulation for chemistry and materials science; (3) photonic quantum sensing using multi-photon interference on chip. Founded PsiQuantum co-founder and Quantum in the Summer school.
Lakhwani runs the Molecular Photophysics Group and is a chief investigator in ARC Exciton Science. The group works on strong light-matter coupling in organic semiconductors: forming exciton-polaritons in microcavities, driving them toward polariton lasing and condensation with electrically injected devices, and engineering host-guest energy funnelling to lower thresholds. A second thread is chiroptical spectroscopy — circular dichroism and circularly polarised luminescence of chiral organic films — which is a polarisation-resolved measurement of a very small differential signal. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work — DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity — polaritonic quantum matter is a distinct route to non-classical states of light at room temperature, in contrast to the cryogenic or spin-based platforms that dominate pT/sqrt(Hz)-class sensing; the differential chiroptical measurements the group performs are, methodologically, small-signal detection problems of exactly the same type.
Develops single-molecule spectroscopy and imaging/signal-processing methods to study protein dynamics at interfaces and predictive separations.
Arnaud Landragin (CNRS DR, SYRTE) is director of the cold-atom inertial sensors team and one of the world's leading experts in quantum gravimeters and gyroscopes. Research: (1) GIRAFE transportable cold-atom gravimeter for marine and airborne campaigns; (2) QAFCA project (PEPR Quantique) for gravity sensors for geoscience and navigation; (3) ESA ODIN ultra-high performance gyroscope for space. CNRS Innovation Medal 2020. Co-authored key reviews on cold-atom inertial sensors.
Landragin directs SYRTE and its Cold Atom Interferometry and Inertial Sensors team, which develops light-pulse atom interferometers as absolute gravimeters and gyroscopes: the Cold Atom Gravimeter (CAG), whose single-laser pyramid-reflector design he co-invented and commercialized through the start-up Muquans (now Absolute Quantum Gravimeter, AQG), and continuously-operating cold-atom gyroscopes reaching record joint sensitivity. Applications span geodesy, hydrology, volcano monitoring and inertial navigation. He received the CNRS Innovation Medal in 2020.
Lantz designs and characterizes the active seismic isolation and suspension control systems that let LIGO's kilometer-scale interferometers reach the sensitivities needed to detect gravitational waves, working on the classical-noise-suppression side of a fundamentally quantum-limited instrument.
Laucht works on the quantum control of spins across two platforms: donor spin qubits in silicon (with Morello and Dzurak), where he demonstrated electrically-driven single-spin control in a continuous microwave field and pioneered dressed-state protection against decoherence; and, more recently, spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride — a 2D material whose optically addressable spin defects are the most promising candidate for a van der Waals analogue of the NV centre, with the enormous advantage that the sensor can be placed a single atomic layer from the sample. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work — DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity — hBN spin defects are the field's most active attempt to beat the standoff-distance limitation that caps near-surface NV ensemble sensitivity; a candidate with NV ODMR experience would be immediately productive here, running the same pulse sequences on a new defect. Strong fit.
Laurat leads the Quantum Networks team at LKB, developing quantum memories and atom-photon interfaces for quantum network applications. Research directions: (1) High-efficiency cold-atom quantum memories — DLCZ-protocol and AFC memories for telecom photons; demonstrating >90% efficiency and multimode operation; quantum cryptography integrating optical quantum memory (arXiv Mar 2025); (2) Waveguide QED — cold atoms coupled to nanofibers and nanophotonic waveguides for super-radiance, photon-bound states, and atom-photon gates; (3) Quantum network protocols — entanglement distribution, quantum repeater segments; part of European Quantum Flagship 'Quantum Internet Alliance'; (4) Hybrid entanglement — continuous-variable and discrete-variable hybrid entanglement for CHSH Bell tests (PRA 2024). Senior IUF member.
Julien Laurat's quantum networks group develops atomic interfaces for long-distance quantum communication and sensing. Research: (1) cold atom quantum memory using DLCZ-protocol and EIT — multi-mode storage, entanglement generation; (2) nanofibre-trapped atom light interface for quantum networks; (3) quantum memory for telecom-band photons using rare-earth crystals. CNRS Silver Medal 2026. ERC Consolidator grant. Highly relevant to quantum sensing via atomic sensors and quantum network nodes.