Webster works on the Epoch of Reionisation with the Murchison Widefield Array, where the science goal — detecting the redshifted 21-cm signal from the first stars — is a five-orders-of-magnitude foreground-subtraction and instrumental-calibration problem rather than an astrophysics problem. Her group's contributions are in foreground modelling, ionospheric and beam calibration, and the statistical detection of a signal buried far below the systematics floor; she also works on quasar accretion physics. 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 methodological parallel is exact: like a pT/sqrt(Hz) NV ensemble measurement, a 21-cm detection lives or dies on the control of correlated systematics rather than on raw sensitivity. Borderline inclusion under the astronomy criterion, kept because the array and its calibration are the central object of study.

Carrie Weidner's GECKO group develops experimental quantum sensing and simulation with cold atoms and hot atomic vapours. Key directions: (1) robust atom interferometry for 6-axis inertial sensing using optical lattice potentials (EPSRC-funded, Infleqtion partnership); (2) magnetic field imaging with squeezed light in hot atom vapour cells (wide-field OPM-type sensing using Faraday rotation); (3) quantum optimal control theory for atom interferometric sensors. The group is establishing a full ultracold atom apparatus for quantum simulation and sensing. Active postdoc positions.

Weil directs the Synthesis of Macromolecules department at the MPI for Polymer Research in Mainz (co-located with JGU, with which the department collaborates closely). The quantum-sensing core of her programme is nanodiamond: in 2026 her group published a bottom-up route that converts molecularly defined nanographenes into ultrasmall, size-uniform nanodiamonds under HPHT, incorporating SiV and GeV colour centres during synthesis rather than by post-hoc implantation -- addressing the long-standing problem that milled detonation nanodiamonds have poor size control and damaged surfaces. Alongside this sits a mature nanodiamond biosensing line: surface bioconjugation and nanogel encapsulation, T1 relaxometry for free-radical detection in single mitochondria and in cells, nanoscale thermometry and photothermal theranostics. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), this group is attacking the material bottleneck directly -- if you want NV/SiV ensembles with controlled size, surface and coherence for in-cell sensing, this is the synthesis end of that pipeline, and it feeds spin-readout collaborators at Ulm (Jelezko/Kubanek).

Weingärtner's Magnetic Resonance Systems (Mars) Lab develops new MRI signal models and pulse sequences to non-invasively resolve the brain and heart microvasculature down to the capillary scale, using hydrogen nuclei as 'microscopic spies' on their surrounding tissue microstructure; the work is validated with in-vivo human studies (e.g., microvascular disease, cardiac imaging) and supported by an ERC Starting Grant. The lab is actively recruiting PhD students/postdocs to push quantitative MRI biomarkers into new disease areas.

Weinstein invented DNA microscopy, in which a specimen's own transcripts participate in a distributed, self-organizing DNA reaction network that is later decoded by sequencing into a spatial map of gene expression, entirely without lenses or optics; he has since extended this to volumetric, whole-organism 3D spatial transcriptomics in intact zebrafish embryos. Where NV-ensemble sensors push magnetic-field spatial resolution optically (DEER/NMR/T1 at pT/sqrt(Hz)), Weinstein's technique achieves spatial resolution of molecular identity through a chemical/sequencing route instead, representing a fundamentally different route to super-resolved spatial biology.

The LARISSA group develops multi-step resonance ionization laser spectroscopy and RIMS: element- and isotope-selective laser ionization used both as an ultratrace analytical technique (actinide detection at extreme selectivity, environmental and nuclear-forensic samples) and as a spectroscopy tool for exotic and short-lived isotopes, feeding ion-source development for facilities such as ISOLDE/CERN. A major current thrust is the atomic and ionic spectroscopy of thorium, including the 229mTh isomer that underpins the nuclear-clock effort, done jointly with Schmidt-Kaler's trap group and Duellmann's nuclear chemistry. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), the transferable capability here is selective, quantum-state-resolved detection of single atoms/ions -- the readout problem, approached spectroscopically rather than magnetically.

Christoph Westbrook co-heads the Quantum Gases group at LCF/IOGS. Research: (1) metastable helium (He*) BEC and ultracold atomic gases — atom optics, Bose-Hubbard physics, Anderson localization; (2) correlated atom pair production via four-wave mixing for quantum atom optics sensing; (3) atom laser and matter-wave interferometry. The group pioneered the He* BEC and uses correlated atom pairs for quantum sensing analogous to two-photon quantum optics.

Whaley directs Berkeley's Quantum Information and Computation Center and develops theory for quantum control, quantum simulation, and error-corrected quantum sensing protocols using interacting spin ensembles, providing the theoretical underpinning for many solid-state and atomic sensing platforms on campus.

Whitesides' group pioneered soft lithography and paper-based microfluidics, and has long applied these tools to low-cost point-of-care diagnostic biosensors for global health settings. Included as a borderline, not-preferred biosensing case: the sensing target (colorimetric/electrochemical assays) is compelling but device-fabrication-centric rather than a cutting-edge-sensitivity physical sensor.

Wickham builds DNA origami nanostructures — programmable, self-assembling scaffolds with nanometre-precision addressability — and uses them as molecular machines, drug-delivery vehicles and, most relevantly, as rulers and probes for single-molecule measurement. DNA origami is the standard platform for DNA-PAINT super-resolution and for positioning fluorophores, nanoparticles or spin labels at defined separations, and her group works on dynamic, reconfigurable devices that respond to biological triggers. 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 — DNA origami is the leading candidate technology for positioning target molecules at a controlled standoff from a near-surface NV ensemble, which is the central geometric problem in pushing NV nanoscale NMR and DEER from pT/sqrt(Hz) ensembles down to single-molecule sensitivity. Genuinely complementary skill set for a quantum-sensing candidate.