Tags - (12) molecular qubits EPR

Department(s)/lab(s): School of Chemistry | Boskovic Molecular Magnetism Group @ UMelb
Summary:

Boskovic is a synthetic inorganic chemist working on lanthanoid and polyoxometalate molecular magnets, valence tautomeric and redox-switchable complexes, and the design of molecules whose spin states can be addressed and switched. The group's relevance to quantum sensing is that these are chemically tunable spin qubits: unlike solid-state defects, their coordination environment, nuclear-spin bath and anisotropy can be designed atom by atom, which is the argument for molecular qubits as sensors. Characterisation is by SQUID magnetometry, EPR and ab initio calculation. 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 — molecular spin qubits are the chemistry community's answer to the NV centre, and DEER/pulsed-EPR protocols developed for NV ensembles at pT/sqrt(Hz) transfer more or less directly to these systems. Borderline inclusion (synthesis-led rather than sensitivity-led), kept per the inclusive rubric.

Techniques:
Department(s)/lab(s): LAC / Université Paris-Saclay | LAC MFC — Condensed Cold Matter (Comparat) @ Paris-Saclay
Summary:

Daniel Comparat (DR CNRS, LAC MFC coordinator) works on cold atoms, molecules and Rydberg physics. Research: (1) Rydberg atoms — spectroscopy, few-body interactions, frozen Rydberg gases with Cs/Yb; (2) cold molecules — BaF laser cooling and trapping for eEDM measurement; (3) antihydrogen laser manipulation for fundamental tests; (4) novel electron electric dipole moment measurement technique; (5) cold ion and electron sources (photo-ionization of laser-cooled atoms). ERC-linked funding.

Department(s)/lab(s): Electrical & Electronic Engineering – Photon Science Institute | Curry Group (Advanced Electronic Materials and Quantum Technologies) @ Manchester
Summary:

Curry's group works on advanced electronic materials with emphasis on quantum technology applications. Research directions: (1) Single-ion implantation and detection — using P-NAME (Manchester's unique instrument for ion implantation at 20 nm accuracy) to deterministically place single rare-earth ions (Er3+, Pr3+) in photonic substrates for quantum memory and sensing; (2) Er:Si and Er:SiO2 photonics — developing silicon-compatible Er-doped waveguides and cavities emitting at 1.5 µm for quantum network interfaces; (3) Colloidal quantum dots for sensing — photon-number-resolved detection using InAs QDs; (4) Ion beam technologies — SIMS and focused ion beam for quantum material characterization and fabrication. Access to P-NAME facility is unique in UK.

Department(s)/lab(s): School of Chemistry | Giansiracusa Lanthanoid Magnetism Group @ UMelb
Summary:

Giansiracusa is an early-career PI (ARC DECRA) working on ytterbium and other lanthanoid single-molecule magnets, combining synthesis, magnetometry and ab initio electronic-structure calculation to understand and engineer magnetic anisotropy and spin relaxation. The stated aim of his DECRA is to move Yb-based single-molecule magnets toward real-world application, which in practice means qubit and sensor use cases where long coherence at accessible temperatures matters. 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 relaxation-time engineering problem he is attacking is the molecular analogue of the T1/T2 optimisation that sets pT/sqrt(Hz) performance in NV ensembles. Small, new group; a candidate would have unusual latitude but limited infrastructure.

Department(s)/lab(s): School of Physics | McCamey Spin Physics and ODMR Laboratory @ UNSW
Summary:

McCamey is, for a candidate coming from NV ensemble sensing, the single most methodologically adjacent PI at UNSW. His laboratory does optically and electrically detected magnetic resonance on spins that are not defects in diamond: photogenerated spin-correlated radical pairs, triplet excitons in organic semiconductors, singlet-fission intermediates, and molecular spin systems. The instrumentation is the same toolkit — pulsed EPR, ODMR, dynamical decoupling, relaxometry — applied to systems where the spin is created by light and reports on chemistry. He directs the UNSW node of ARC Exciton Science. 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 group runs precisely those pulse sequences (Hahn echo, DEER, relaxometry) on a different spin species, and radical-pair spin chemistry is one of the few plausible mechanisms by which biology could be genuinely quantum — which makes this a strong landing spot for someone wanting to keep the NV skill set but change the physical system. Preferred attributes present: sensitivity-limited spin measurement, quantum-biology relevance.

Techniques:
Department(s)/lab(s): LKB / Collège de France | LKB Quantum Gases Group (Nascimbène / Dalibard) — Collège de France @ ENS Paris
Summary:

Sylvain Nascimbène (Assoc. Prof./Maître de conférences, LKB BEC/Collège de France, IUF 2022) leads the Dysprosium lab. Research: (1) large-spin dysprosium Bose-Einstein condensates for quantum simulation of exotic magnetic phases; (2) quantum metrology with entangled spin states; (3) realisation of topological matter (2025: parity anomaly in 2D); also theory on topological quantum simulation (with Nathan Goldman). Strong connection to quantum sensing via entanglement-enhanced metrology.

Department(s)/lab(s): LKB / Physics, Sorbonne Université | Atom Chips Group (Reichel/LKB) @ ENS Paris
Summary:

Jakob Reichel (Professor, LKB Atom Chips) leads work on fiber Fabry-Perot microcavities for atom-light quantum interfaces and miniaturised sensors. Research: (1) fiber Fabry-Perot microcavities — sub-micron mirrors on fibre tips enabling strong single-atom coupling; integrated directly into atom chips; (2) TACC (Trapped Atom Clock on a Chip) — Rb atom clock with 5.8×10⁻¹³/√τ stability; ERC Advanced grant EQUEMI; (3) Sr optical-lattice cavity QED with quantum metrology; (4) MIREGA spinout — miniature portable greenhouse gas analyser combining FFP microcavities with telecom fibre optics for drone mounting; ERC Proof-of-Concept grant; (5) Rubidium CQED 'Sarocema' — individually addressable atom-tweezer array in fibre cavity for quantum simulation with long-range cavity-mediated interactions.

Department(s)/lab(s): Department of Chemistry, Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry | AK Rentschler - Molecular Magnetism @ JGU
Summary:

Rentschler's group synthesizes and characterizes molecular magnetic materials: single-molecule magnets, spin-crossover complexes and polynuclear coordination clusters, with magnetic anisotropy engineered through ligand-field design and characterized by SQUID magnetometry, EPR and ab-initio calculations. The overlap with this search is the molecular-qubit angle -- these are the same chemical objects being pursued elsewhere as optically or electrically addressable spin qubits and as molecular quantum sensors. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), the value here is chemical: designed spin systems with tunable coherence and anisotropy, rather than defects in a host crystal. Borderline-strong inclusion; the group is chemistry-first, so a physicist postdoc would bring the spin-readout side.

Techniques:
Department(s)/lab(s): CPHT / École Polytechnique | CPHT Quantum Matter Group (Sanchez-Palencia) @ X
Summary:

Laurent Sanchez-Palencia (CNRS DR / Professor, CPHT, École Polytechnique) leads the Quantum Matter theory group. Research: (1) many-body quantum simulation with cold atoms in optical lattices — disorder and Anderson localisation, strongly correlated phases; (2) ultracold atoms in optical quasicrystals and moiré lattices — exotic band structures and correlated phases; (3) quantum entanglement and metrology — theoretical proposals for entanglement-enhanced sensing; (4) non-equilibrium quantum dynamics and thermalization. Deputy Director Quantum-Saclay. ERC Starting 2011. Prix Leconte 2012 (Académie des Sciences). Moved to CPHT from Institut d'Optique 2016.

Department(s)/lab(s): Institute of Physical Chemistry | Tesi Group - Optically Addressable Molecular Spins @ Stuttgart
Summary:

Tesi leads an independent group at Stuttgart's Institute of Physical Chemistry working on optically addressable molecular spin systems -- the effort to reproduce the NV centre's defining trick (optical initialization and readout of a spin) in a designed molecule, where chemistry rather than crystal growth sets the properties. Work spans photogenerated spin-correlated radical pairs, ODMR on molecular chromophore-radical systems, spin-phonon coupling and coherence engineering, and embedding of molecular spins in films and matrices. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), this is arguably the most direct molecular analogue in the search: the target sensitivity and readout protocols are borrowed straight from NV ensembles, but the emitter is synthetic. Newer, smaller group; good fit for a postdoc who wants to own a direction rather than inherit one.