The Geraci group employs high-Q resonant sensors for ultra-sensitive force and field detection in searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model. Key thrusts: (1) Optically-trapped levitated dielectric nanospheres and microspheres achieving zeptonewton (10⁻²¹ N) force sensitivity, applied to probing short-range deviations from Newtonian gravity at micrometer scales; (2) ARIADNE, an international NMR-based experiment using superfluid ³He to search for the QCD axion via axion-mediated spin-dependent forces between a rotating mass and polarized nuclei; (3) Collaboration on MAGIS-100, the 100 m-tall atom interferometer at Fermilab for gravitational wave detection in the mid-band (0.3–10 Hz) and ultralight dark matter searches; (4) Cryogenic optical cavity dark matter comparisons with Gabrielse and Kovachy groups. Member of CFP Northwestern and CIERA. APS Francis M. Pipkin Award 2023.
Hogan leads the Stanford effort on MAGIS-100, a 100-meter atom-interferometric gradiometer at Fermilab designed to search for mid-band gravitational waves and ultralight dark matter using laser-cooled strontium atoms in free fall. His group also develops compact cold-atom gravimeters and gradiometers and explores large-momentum-transfer atom optics to push interferometer sensitivity toward tests of general relativity.
The Kovachy Group applies quantum wave properties of ultracold atoms to precision sensing. Primary focus: (1) Advanced large-momentum-transfer (LMT) atom interferometer pulse sequences using Bragg diffraction and Bloch oscillations to achieve record momentum splits of 100s of ℏk, enhancing sensitivity for fundamental physics tests; (2) MAGIS-100 collaboration — the 100 m-tall atom interferometer at Fermilab targeting gravitational waves in the mid-band complementary to LIGO/LISA, dark matter field searches, and tests of quantum mechanics at macroscopic scales; (3) Search for deviations from Newtonian gravity at micrometer range using atom-interferometric force sensing, and a new measurement of Newton's gravitational constant G; (4) Cryogenic optical cavity dark matter search (with Gabrielse and Geraci groups). David and Lucile Packard Fellow (2020), Paul Ehrenfest Best Paper Award 2020, NIST Precision Measurement Grant 2019. Member of CFP Northwestern and CIERA.