Pyle designs cryogenic athermal-phonon and TES-based quantum sensors for the SuperCDMS experiment, pushing detector thresholds down toward single-phonon / meV-scale energy resolution to search for sub-GeV dark matter. The group is actively recruiting postdocs.
Queloz (2019 Nobel Prize, co-discoverer of 51 Peg b) leads exoplanet research at Cambridge, including precision radial velocity spectrograph development and transit photometry. He chairs the CHEOPS space mission science team and is founding director of the Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe at Cambridge. Research focuses on characterizing transiting terrestrial planets (especially around M dwarfs including TRAPPIST-1) and atmospheric biosignature detection with JWST-era instruments. Part-time appointment at University of Geneva.
Quidant leads the Nanophotonic Systems Laboratory, developing hybrid integrated levitation platforms combining optical and RF fields. Research directions: (1) Measurement-free coherent optical feedback cooling of levitated nanoparticles (PRL 2025, phonon occupations ~100s); (2) Quantum sensing applications — ultra-sensitive force/acceleration sensing, directional dark matter detection with levitated sensors; (3) Meta-atom levitation — Mie-resonance high-permittivity particles in optical traps for extreme light-matter interaction; (4) Optofluidics — structured light for photothermal fluid control; (5) Cancer phototherapy — photothermal nanoparticle applications. Pioneer in nanoplasmonic tweezers, thermoplasmonics, and on-chip biosensing. Key co-author of Science levitodynamics review (2021).
Quiney (currently Head of School) is a theorist of coherent imaging and relativistic atomic structure. His signature contribution is the theory of X-ray free-electron-laser imaging of single particles, including the modelling of radiation damage and ionisation dynamics during the pulse — the question of whether you can extract structure faster than you destroy it — plus phase-retrieval algorithms for coherent diffractive imaging and ptychography. He also works on relativistic quantum chemistry and atomic structure. 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 — the connection is methodological rather than physical: his group develops the inverse-problem and photon-budget theory that governs how much information can be pulled out of a shot-noise-limited measurement, which is the same limit that fixes pT/sqrt(Hz) performance in NV ensembles. Theory-first PI with strong coupling to experimental synchrotron/XFEL programmes.
Rahman does large-scale atomistic modelling of semiconductor quantum devices: tight-binding and DFT calculations of donor and quantum-dot wavefunctions, valley physics, spin-orbit coupling, hyperfine interactions and the response of all of these to strain and electric field, at system sizes large enough to represent a real device. The group works hand-in-glove with the Morello, Dzurak, Simmons and Rogge experiments, and increasingly uses machine learning to invert measurements into structural information. 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 — the same first-principles machinery is what predicts the hyperfine and spin-bath environment that determines T2 — and therefore the achievable pT/sqrt(Hz) sensitivity — of any solid-state spin sensor, including NV. Computational PI; would suit a candidate wanting a theory/experiment bridge role.
Unnithan runs a sensor-engineering group spanning plasmonic colour filters and metasurface-based CMOS image and spectral sensors, thermal/hyperspectral cameras, machine learning on sensor data, and — the relevant thread here — the engineering and packaging of quantum diamond magnetometers, in a joint programme with the Melbourne physics groups and Phasor Innovation aimed at navigation, subsurface sensing and eventual healthcare use. He has extensive industry links (Hort-Eye, KDH) and an entrepreneurial orientation. 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 — his role in that collaboration is on the readout, optics and integration side rather than the spin physics, i.e. turning a laboratory pT/sqrt(Hz) NV ensemble into a fielded instrument. Caveat against the stated preference: this group is substantially device-fabrication and product-oriented rather than sensitivity-limited fundamental measurement.
Rao's group uses ultrafast (sub-20 fs) transient absorption and vibronic spectroscopy to study quantum-coherent energy and charge transfer processes in molecular and nanoscale semiconductor systems, most notably the quantum-coherent mechanism of singlet exciton fission, with applications to next-generation photovoltaics.
John Rarity's group works on quantum-enhanced measurements and free-space quantum key distribution. Research: (1) quantum imaging with undetected photons — mid-infrared gas sensing (CO2, CH4) exploiting entangled photon pairs, with only near-IR photons detected (startup QLM); (2) sub-shot-noise imaging using quantum-identical photon beams; (3) spin-photon interfaces (1D cavity with near-unit scattering efficiency); (4) compact satellite QKD transmitters (EPSRC Quantum Comms Hub). Highly relevant to quantum-enhanced sensing.
Raschke's group develops ultrafast and infrared/THz near-field nano-optical imaging (scattering-SNOM) and tip-enhanced spectroscopy to probe structure, chemistry, and dynamics of quantum and molecular materials with nanometer spatial and femtosecond temporal resolution. For context, this complements the established paradigm of NV-diamond ensemble magnetometry (Hahn-echo/DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry) operating near pT/√Hz sensitivity.
Reece runs UNSW's optical trapping and nanophotonics laboratory. The group combines optical tweezers with spectroscopy and microfluidics to characterise individual nanoparticles and cells: trapping and spectroscopically interrogating plasmonic core-satellite assemblies (with Gooding and Tilley), measuring single-cell mechanics, and building porous-silicon and photonic-crystal resonant structures for label-free biosensing where the analyte shifts a cavity resonance. 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 — optical trapping is the standard way to hold a nanoscale sensor — including a nanodiamond hosting an NV ensemble at pT/sqrt(Hz) — at a controlled position inside a cell or fluid, and levitated-nanodiamond spin-mechanics is an active field that this group's capabilities map onto almost exactly. Strong practical fit for a bio-oriented quantum sensing candidate.