Aurèle Adam develops THz near-field imaging and spectroscopy. Research: (1) apertureless scattering-type near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) at THz frequencies for nanometre spatial resolution imaging of material properties; (2) THz time-domain spectroscopy of quantum materials and condensed matter systems; (3) antenna-coupled detectors and sources for THz near-field imaging. Relevant to quantum material characterisation at the nanoscale.

Boland's group focuses on THz spectroscopy of semiconductor nanostructures and 2D materials for quantum sensing applications. Research directions: (1) THz optical pump–THz probe spectroscopy — measuring ultrafast carrier dynamics in semiconductor nanowires, quantum wells, and 2D materials (graphene, TMDs, perovskites) after optical excitation; (2) Near-field THz nanoscopy — sub-wavelength THz imaging of carrier distributions and quantum phase domains; (3) THz-active quantum devices — studying exciton and polaron dynamics in perovskite and III-V semiconductors at THz frequencies; (4) 2D material sensors — graphene-based THz detectors and emitters. Applications in quantum-material characterization and quantum sensing.

Gardner's group develops infrared and Raman microspectroscopy for biomedical diagnostics and disease sensing. Research directions: (1) FTIR synchrotron microspectroscopy — using Diamond Light Source synchrotron IR beam for high-spatial-resolution chemical mapping of biological tissues for cancer diagnosis; (2) Raman microspectroscopy — label-free chemical imaging of cells and tissue for disease classification using machine-learning chemometrics; (3) SERS probes — developing gold nanoparticle SERS labels for targeted cancer biomarker detection; (4) Breathomics — on-chip photonic sensors for exhaled breath analysis for early disease detection. The infrared and Raman methods provide label-free molecular sensing with potential for quantum-enhanced sensitivity.

Grange leads the Optical Nanomaterial Group at ETH, developing nonlinear materials for quantum photonic integrated circuits. Research directions: (1) Barium titanate (BTO) nanophotonics — scalable CMOS-compatible BTO thin-film integrated circuits exploiting large χ(2) nonlinearity for quantum entangled photon-pair generation via SPDC; (2) Lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) — quantum photonic integrated circuits for heralded single-photon sources and electro-optic transduction; (3) Second-harmonic generation sensing — SHG-active nanocrystals as contrast agents and phase-sensitive probes in biological imaging; (4) On-chip entangled photon sources for quantum communication and sensing. Strong quantum sensing application in nonlinear optical readout of quantum states.

Halsall is a senior PSI photonics researcher focusing on semiconductor spectroscopy and photonic quantum device characterization. Research directions: (1) Deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) — characterizing defects and impurities in semiconductor quantum device structures (Si, GaN, SiC) that are relevant to qubit coherence; (2) Photoluminescence mapping — spatial mapping of optical quality in quantum well and dot wafers for quantum sensing device development; (3) InGaN/GaN quantum wells — non-destructive optical characterization of LED and sensor structures; (4) THz and infrared spectroscopy — contactless Hall measurements and Drude response for quantum material characterization. Provides photonic metrology tools for characterizing quantum sensing device materials.

Hibberd holds an EPSRC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship at Manchester's PSI. Research directions: (1) Ultrafast THz spectroscopy of magnetic materials — probing spin dynamics, magnon modes, and phase transitions in correlated magnetic materials with sub-ps time resolution using intense THz pulses; (2) THz-driven spintronics — using THz electric and magnetic fields to switch magnetization and induce spin currents; (3) THz generation from spintronic heterostructures — using ultrafast spin-charge conversion as a broadband THz emitter for materials characterization; (4) Quantum magnonics — studying collective spin excitations (magnons) as quantum sensors of materials order parameters. Bridges ultrafast optics and quantum sensing of magnetic phases.

Kuhlmey works on structured electromagnetic materials across an unusually wide frequency range: microstructured optical fibres, metamaterials, non-reciprocal and time-varying media, and — the newest and most sensing-relevant thread — quantum terahertz photonics, in collaboration with ENS Paris and CSIRO. The THz programme is explicitly aimed at single-photon/single-electron coupling in the THz band, which if it works would allow quantum devices to operate at a few kelvin rather than millikelvin. The group runs a THz time-domain spectroscopy lab with cryogenic capability. 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 THz band is the one part of the spectrum where neither superconducting circuits nor NV ensembles currently offer quantum-limited detection, so this is a genuine gap-filling programme rather than a variation on existing pT/sqrt(Hz) approaches.

Merkt leads the Molecular Physics and Spectroscopy group at ETH D-CHAB. Research directions: (1) High-resolution XUV/VUV spectroscopy — using synchrotron radiation and table-top laser sources to study molecular Rydberg states, ionization thresholds, and ro-vibrational structure at sub-MHz precision; (2) Precision molecular clock transitions — proposing and measuring molecular transitions suitable for fundamental constant variation searches (μ, α); (3) Metastable atom and ion trapping — developing new trapping methods for precision spectroscopy of exotic species; (4) Pulse and Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy — rotational spectroscopy of transient species. Direct applications to molecular quantum sensing and fundamental physics.

Parkinson's group uses ultrafast optical spectroscopy to study carrier dynamics in photonic materials with quantum device applications. Research directions: (1) Time-resolved photoluminescence — TRPL with single-photon counting to map exciton lifetimes, diffusion, and defect trapping in GaN, perovskite, and 2D semiconductor quantum wells; (2) Optical single-particle spectroscopy — isolating single nanowires or nanocrystals for defect-free measurements of intrinsic optical properties; (3) Photon-number statistics — Hanbury Brown–Twiss measurements of single-photon purity from quantum dots and localized excitons; (4) Semiconductor quantum sensing interfaces — studying how carrier dynamics affect the fidelity of semiconductor-based quantum sensors and emitters.