Bain develops advanced laser spectroscopy and super-resolution microscopy techniques for biological applications. Research directions: (1) Femtosecond time-resolved STED (stimulated emission depletion) — combining sub-diffraction spatial resolution with picosecond time resolution to study FRET dynamics in live cells with both spatial and lifetime precision; (2) Time-resolved polarized fluorescence — probing orientation distributions and rotational dynamics of fluorophores; (3) CW STED fluorescence lifetime reconstruction — lower-photodose STED for longer live-cell imaging; (4) Single-molecule FRET to study protein-protein interactions; (5) Single-particle tracking of membrane receptors relevant to viral entry and cancer signaling. Former PhD students include Siân Culley (now King's College, SMLM).
Barker leads the UCL Optomechanics Group, focusing on levitated nano/micro-oscillators in vacuum. Research directions: (1) Six-degree-of-freedom cooling — demonstrated simultaneous cavity cooling of all 6 DOF of a levitated nanoparticle (Nature Physics 2023, with Monteiro); (2) Sympathetic cooling of two nanoparticles via Coulomb interaction, squeezing transfer (Phys. Rev. Research 2023); (3) Dark matter searches — levitated nanoparticles as directional dark matter sensors sensitive to nuclear recoil and momentum transfer; QTFP-funded project 'Development of Levitated Quantum Optomechanical Sensors for Dark Matter Detection'; (4) Controlling mode orientations for directional force sensing near the quantum limit; (5) Quantum macroscopic superposition tests. Closely collaborates with Monteiro (theory), Bose (quantum entanglement tests), and Ghag (dark matter).
Bell's group uses DNA nanotechnology and advanced optical microscopy for single-molecule biosensing. Research directions: (1) DNA-based biosensing — DNA origami structures as programmable biosensing platforms; using structural switching of DNA nanodevices to sense specific biomolecules with single-molecule sensitivity; (2) Super-resolution microscopy with DNA — DNA-PAINT and FRET-based single-molecule localization for mapping molecular architectures in cells; (3) Solid-state nanopores — DNA-threaded through nanopores as a precision biosensor for protein identification and force measurement; (4) Multiplexed single-molecule detection — combining DNA-based sensors with optical readout for parallel biomolecule profiling. New group established at UCL, strong biosensing focus.
Breeze is a senior research fellow at UCL working on room-temperature solid-state masers. Research directions: (1) Pentacene maser — first demonstration of a room-temperature, continuous-wave solid-state maser (Science 2018) using photoexcited triplet-state pentacene in p-terphenyl crystal; achieving amplification with noise temperature near 1 K; (2) Diamond NV maser — developing NV-center-based maser for ultra-low-noise microwave amplification at room temperature, relevant to quantum sensing readout chains; (3) Maser applications — quantum-limited amplification for dark matter searches, MRI signal amplification, and quantum communication repeaters; (4) Spin dynamics — understanding triplet-state dynamics in organic crystals for spin polarization control. Strong relevance to quantum-limited microwave sensing.
Caldwell is a Royal Society University Research Fellow establishing the Molecular Quantum Matter Lab at UCL. Research directions: (1) Precision molecular spectroscopy for dark matter and fifth-force searches — measuring isotope shifts in molecular systems to test Standard Model predictions and probe new forces between neutrons and electrons; (2) Quantum control of molecules in external fields — laser cooling, Stark deceleration, and magneto-optical trapping of polar molecules; (3) Molecular beam spectroscopy with frequency comb referencing for ultra-high-precision lineshape measurements. The lab aims to build the most precise molecular spectrometer for BSM physics searches. Actively building the lab and seeking motivated students/postdocs.
Dickinson's group develops advanced optical microscopy methods for biological and biomedical imaging. Research directions: (1) STORM super-resolution microscopy — stochastic optical reconstruction for nanoscale imaging of biological structures at ~20 nm lateral resolution; imaging cytoskeletal dynamics, cellular organelles, and pathological structures; (2) Optical coherence tomography (OCT) — depth-resolved, label-free imaging for biomedical diagnostics (retinal, cardiovascular tissues); (3) Laser speckle imaging — blood flow and perfusion measurements in tissues; (4) Multiphoton microscopy — second harmonic generation (SHG) and two-photon for collagen structure imaging in connective tissues and cancer. Part of the Manchester Photon Science Institute biophotonics theme.
Gigan leads the Optical Imaging group at LKB, pioneering wavefront shaping and computational imaging through scattering media. Research directions: (1) Wavefront shaping / transmission matrix — measuring the ~10^5 optical modes of a scattering sample's transmission matrix to focus and image through highly scattering biological tissues; roadmap on deep tissue imaging (J. Phys. Photonics 2022, lead author); (2) Multimode quantum optics through complex media — spatially multimode squeezed states transmitted through scattering media for quantum-enhanced imaging; (3) Optical computing / AI — using multiple scattering as a physical neural network for reservoir computing and nonlinear machine learning (LightOn spin-off, 2016); (4) Neurophotonics applications — focusing through the skull for deep brain imaging. Two ERC grants (2011, 2017). Optica Fellow. IUF member (2016–2021).
Glorieux leads the Quantum Fluids of Light and Nanophotonics group at LKB. Research directions: (1) Quantum fluids of light in atomic vapors — hot Rb/Cs vapor as paraxial photon fluids exhibiting superfluidity, soliton dynamics, and vortex formation; first analogue cosmological particle creation (Hawking effect) in a photon fluid (Nature Communications 2022); (2) Polariton superfluids — exciton-polariton microcavities for analogue gravity, Bogoliubov dispersion mapping, and first-order dissipative phase transitions; (3) Nanophotonics — coupling single quantum emitters (nanofiber-coupled atoms, perovskite nanocrystals) for quantum photonics and sensing; displacement sensor based on optical nanofiber; (4) Optical computing interfaces with quantum systems. Marie Curie IOF Fellow (2011), City of Paris Young Scientist Award (2015).
Hogan's group studies atoms and molecules in high Rydberg states for precision measurements and quantum sensing. Research directions: (1) Rydberg atom electric field sensing — Rydberg atoms exhibit enormous electric polarizabilities; Stark-map and EIT-based electrometry with sub-mV/cm sensitivity and GHz-range frequency coverage; (2) Rydberg molecule spectroscopy — long-range Rydberg molecules as probes of intermolecular forces; (3) Stark deceleration and trapping of Rydberg atoms/molecules — producing cold samples for precision spectroscopy and scattering experiments; (4) Circular Rydberg states — extremely long-lived states for quantum information storage and sensing. Collaborates on quantum-enhanced sensing of RF/microwave fields.
Hoogenboom leads a biophysics group at UCL specializing in high-speed atomic force microscopy. Research directions: (1) High-speed AFM — imaging conformational dynamics of DNA, proteins (including membrane channels), and chromatin at ms time resolution and sub-nm spatial resolution in aqueous conditions; (2) Nuclear pore complex — mapping transport selectivity and structure of NPCs in native nuclear envelopes using AFM; (3) Antimicrobial mechanisms — imaging membrane disruption by antimicrobial peptides in real time; (4) AFM-based force spectroscopy — measuring single-molecule interaction forces in chromatin and protein assemblies. Strong relevance to biological sensing at the single-molecule level.