Pioneer in nanocrystal science. Sensing-relevant directions: (1) coherent Er spin defects in colloidal nanocrystal hosts as scalable solid-state spin qubit platform (2024 paper with Awschalom); (2) size- and shape-controlled nanocrystal synthesis for mid-IR sensing applications; (3) fundamental scaling laws governing optical properties for sensor design. Founder Nanosys and Quantum Dot Corp.
Congreve engineers excitonic materials -- perovskite nanocrystals and molecular sensitizer/annihilator pairs -- for photon upconversion, light emission, and sensing applications, with interests extending toward quantum-technology-relevant nanoscale light-matter devices. [Borderline match: materials/energy focus with a sensing angle rather than a core quantum-sensing program; kept for review.]
Develops colloidal semiconductor nanocrystal platforms for infrared detection and sensing. Directions: (1) HgTe and HgSe colloidal quantum dot mid-IR photodetectors operating at room temperature — record sensitivity for solution-processed IR sensors; (2) electro-optic modulation using nanocrystal films at ultrafast timescales; (3) fundamental optical and transport properties of doped nanocrystals. Primary application: low-cost infrared imaging and chemical sensing.
Mulvaney directs the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science and runs Melbourne's nanoscience laboratory. The group's distinctive capability is single-particle and single-emitter optical spectroscopy: photon-antibunching and blinking statistics from individual quantum dots and perovskite nanocrystals, photothermal and dark-field spectroscopy of individual metal nanoparticles, and the electrochemical control of single-nanocrystal charge state. Applications run from LEDs and solar cells to quantum-dot probes for single-particle tracking in cells. 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 single-emitter photon-statistics measurements share the shot-noise-limited photon-counting methodology of NV-ensemble ODMR readout, and the group's nanocrystal probes are direct competitors/complements to nanodiamond in cellular sensing. Large, well-resourced group.
Tilley directs the UNSW Electron Microscope Unit and runs a nanomaterials group whose distinctive capability is in-situ liquid-cell TEM: watching nanoparticle nucleation, growth and catalytic transformation in real time inside the microscope, in liquid, rather than inferring mechanism from before-and-after snapshots. The synthetic side produces magnetic and plasmonic nanoparticles used as biosensor labels and MRI contrast agents, largely in collaboration with Gooding and Reece. 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 group is a supplier and characteriser of the nanoparticle probes that in-cell quantum sensing depends on — including the magnetic-nanoparticle labels whose stray fields a pT/sqrt(Hz) NV sensor would actually detect — and the liquid-cell TEM capability is a rare way to validate what those particles are doing in situ. Borderline inclusion (materials characterisation rather than sensing), kept for the collaborative infrastructure it represents.