PIs

Department(s)/lab(s): Chemistry | Tokmakoff Group @ UChicago
Summary:

Uses ultrafast multidimensional spectroscopy to study structural dynamics of biomolecules. Directions: (1) 2D IR spectroscopy of protein folding, water dynamics, and membrane systems with sub-100-fs time resolution; (2) single-molecule FRET for resolving conformational heterogeneity in proteins and nucleic acids; (3) development of ultrafast mid-IR laser sources and pulse shaping for 2D spectroscopy. Resolves dynamics inaccessible to other methods.

Techniques:
Department(s)/lab(s): Astronomy | Tremonti Group @ UWMadison
Summary:

Observational astronomer studying galaxy evolution and the processes (feedback, galactic winds) that regulate star formation in massive galaxies, using UV-to-IR spectroscopy and SDSS data.

Department(s)/lab(s): School of Physics | Trenti Astrophysics and Space Instrumentation Group @ UMelb
Summary:

Trenti combines high-redshift galaxy and gamma-ray-burst science with hands-on space instrumentation: he leads SkyHopper, a 6U CubeSat carrying a cooled near-infrared telescope intended for rapid follow-up of transients and exoplanet transits, which is an unusually complete exercise in building a photon-starved instrument under severe SWaP constraints. The group also works on infrared detector characterisation and on-board autonomy. 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€” the relevance to a quantum-sensing candidate is the engineering discipline of getting a low-noise detector to work in a hostile, uncontrolled environment β€” the same problem that separates a laboratory pT/sqrt(Hz) NV magnetometer from a fieldable one. Borderline inclusion on the astronomy criterion; kept because instrumentation is a genuine focus rather than a by-product.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics – Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Sorbonne UniversitΓ© | Multimode Quantum Optics Group (Treps Group / LKB) @ Sorbonne
Summary:

Treps leads the Multimode Quantum Optics group at LKB. Research directions: (1) Multimode quantum frequency combs β€” synchronously pumped OPO (SPOPO) generates entangled networks of squeezed modes with configurable graph structure; first demonstration of quantum frequency comb with multimode squeezing (PRL 2012); (2) Quantum-enhanced multiparameter estimation β€” quantum Fisher information and multimode squeezing for simultaneous beyond-shot-noise parameter estimation (e.g., frequency comb spectral centroid and energy, PRX 2020); (3) Non-Gaussian quantum states β€” heralded generation of non-Gaussian cluster states for CV quantum computing; (4) Quantum metrological inequalities β€” relating non-locality to parameter estimation. Spin-off: Cailabs (multimode fiber light-shaping for telecom and industrial lasers). Co-director of QICS. ERC-funded.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics / LKB | Multimode Quantum Optics Group (Treps/Parigi/Fabre) @ ENS Paris
Summary:

Nicolas Treps' multimode quantum optics group (with Valentina Parigi and Claude Fabre) generates and characterises highly multimode squeezed and entangled states of light. Research: (1) optical frequency combs as multimode squeezed state resources β€” quantum metrology and sensing with frequency combs; (2) reconfigurable multimode squeezed state networks for quantum computing and sensing; (3) spatiotemporal squeezing with optical parametric amplifiers. Key for quantum-enhanced sensing with light.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | LuMIn - NV & Nanodiamond Biosensing (Treussart) @ ENSPS
Summary:

Treussart uses fluorescent nanodiamonds (NV centres) as photostable bio-probes: intracellular single-particle tracking, nanoscale thermometry/magnetometry, and multimodal biosensing in cells and organisms, alongside super-resolution imaging - a direct NV-ensemble-to-biology bridge. In the broader landscape of NV-centre ensemble quantum sensing (DEER, nano-NMR, T1 relaxometry) operating near pT/sqrt(Hz) sensitivity, this work is applied here to living cells via nanodiamond probes.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics – QOLS / Centre for Cold Matter | Centre for Cold Matter – Ultracold Molecular Spectroscopy (Truppe) @ Imperial
Summary:

Truppe is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Cold Matter, specialising in laser cooling of atoms and diatomic molecules using deep-UV lasers. His current focus is aluminium monofluoride (AlF) and magnesium fluoride (MgF): AlF can be produced in a bright cryogenic buffer-gas beam and rapidly optically cycled on the A¹Π↔X¹Σ⁺ transition, making it a candidate for high-density laser trapping; MgF is characterised for its A²Π↔X²Σ⁺ hyperfine structure, relevant to laser cooling. These molecules open routes to ultracold chemistry studies, precision spectroscopy, and quantum simulation. Truppe returned to Imperial as faculty after a period at the Fritz Haber Institute (ERC Starting Grant, 'CoMoFun', cold molecules for fundamental physics).

Department(s)/lab(s): School of Physics / Sydney Institute for Astronomy | Tuthill High Angular Resolution Group @ USyd
Summary:

Tuthill is the world's leading practitioner of aperture-masking interferometry and its modern photonic successors. His group's instruments β€” GLINT (a photonic nuller that destructively interferes starlight on a chip), Dragonfly, and the kernel-phase analysis framework β€” exist to recover structure at and below the formal diffraction limit of the telescope, in the photon-starved, speckle-dominated regime where naive imaging fails. Science targets are the dusty pinwheel nebulae of Wolf-Rayet binaries, protoplanetary discs and direct detection of exoplanets. 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€” this is the astronomy entry in the search that most closely mirrors the intellectual structure of quantum sensing: the instrument's performance is set by a fundamental noise floor (photon and speckle noise, analogous to the shot-noise floor at pT/sqrt(Hz)), and the entire game is designing an estimator and a hardware front end that saturate it. Preferred attribute strongly present.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics and Astronomy | Ulbricht Lab @ Southampton
Summary:

Hendrik Ulbricht's group pioneers levitated optomechanics and macroscopic quantum systems. Research: (1) optical levitation of nanoparticles for zeptonewton force sensing and quantum-to-classical transition tests; (2) magnetic levitation of micromagnets (diamagnetically stabilised) as ultralight dark matter detectors and magnetometers (fT/√Hz sensitivity demonstrated with LeMaMa levitated ferromagnet); (3) spin entanglement witness for quantum gravity (BMV experiment β€” levitated diamond with NV centre); (4) tests of the DiΓ³si-Penrose model of wavefunction collapse. Multiple Reviews of Modern Physics; active in macroscopic quantum physics community.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | Astrophysics Group @ Imperial
Summary:

Unruh studies stellar magnetic activity, starspots and irradiance variability and their effect on exoplanet transit and radial-velocity observations, helping to characterise host stars for precise exoplanet measurements.