Simon Groeblacher's lab probes quantum physics at meso- and macroscopic scales using mechanical motion, rare-earth ion emitters, and superconducting qubits. Key research directions: (1) quantum optomechanics with photonic crystal nano-beam resonators deep in the resolved-sideband regime; (2) silicon defect emitters (rare-earth doped silicon) for quantum network nodes; (3) quantum acoustics experiments coupling mechanical resonators to superconducting qubits. The lab fabricates all devices in-house at Kavli Nanolab and has received NWO Summit Grant for 'Quantum Limits' and QDNL/NWO grant for quantum network nodes.

Herkommer holds the chair for Design and Simulation of Optical Systems at Stuttgart's Institute of Applied Optics (ITO), the group behind much of the optical-design side of two-photon-3D-printed micro-optics -- printing complete multi-lens objectives on the tip of a single-mode fibre, which enables ultrathin endoscopic imaging and micro-objectives that cannot be made by conventional polishing. Related work covers freeform and metasurface optics, aberration theory, and adaptive/computational imaging. Long-running collaboration with Giessen (existing PI) at the 4th Institute of Physics. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), a borderline inclusion on the microscopy axis: the group does not do sensing itself, but it makes the optics that get a diffraction-limited spot into places you otherwise cannot reach -- directly useful for fibre-coupled NV probes and endoscopic quantum sensing.

Studies optical quantum science in solid-state systems with emphasis on photonic integration. Directions: (1) photonic integration of NV-center spin qubits in diamond nanophotonic circuits for scalable quantum sensing arrays; (2) 2D semiconductor (TMD) nanophotonic devices exploiting valley and spin-valley degrees of freedom; (3) engineering light-matter interactions for quantum information and sensing in nanoscale optical cavities. Key goal: scalable on-chip quantum sensing platforms.

Imamoglu leads the Quantum Photonics Group at ETH, working at the intersection of quantum optics and condensed matter physics. Research directions: (1) Quantum emitters in 2D semiconductors — TMD monolayers (MoSe2, WSe2) host localized excitons that act as single-photon emitters; electrically tunable quantum dots in TMD heterostructures with high purity and spin-photon entanglement; developing them as quantum sensors of local electronic correlations at nanometer scales; (2) Strongly correlated electron physics — Mott insulator / Wigner crystal phases in moiré TMD bilayers probed optically with single-photon resolution; mapping electronic phases with nanometer spatial resolution; (3) Polariton quantum fluids — exciton-polaritons in 2D semiconductor microcavities; (4) Quantum nonlinear optics — photon-photon interactions via giant Kerr nonlinearities in strongly coupled quantum dots. Quantum sensing angle: quantum emitters as nanoscale probes of correlated phases.

Kolthammer works on quantum photonics with an emphasis on nonclassical states of light and their applications to quantum information and sensing. Research highlights: (1) Gaussian Boson Sampling — first time-bin encoded GBS experiment using a loop-based interferometer with superconducting TES photon-number-resolving detectors, demonstrated enhancement in dense-subgraph search over classical methods (PRX 2022); (2) Squeezed state characterisation — nonclassicality certification using multiplexing layouts with superconducting TES detectors, sub-Poisson and sub-binomial statistics (PRA 2017); (3) Frequency-multiplexed photon pair sources — electro-optic frequency shifting for indistinguishable single-photon multiplexing without added multi-photon events; (4) Photonic quantum sensing — developing time-bin encoded platforms for quantum-enhanced sensing and quantum advantage demonstrations.

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.

Kuhn leads the Atom-Photon Connection group, working at the single-atom, single-photon level. Key research thrusts: (1) deterministic generation of indistinguishable single photons from single atoms in high-finesse cavities, with cluster-state production for one-way quantum computing; (2) development of integrated fibre-tip microcavities with small radius-of-curvature for >50% photon capture efficiency and direct fibre coupling; (3) single-photon quantum memories using cavity-coupled atom systems; and (4) optical trapping of single atoms in the Lamb-Dicke regime for quantum simulation and networking. The group uses reinforcement learning for optimal quantum control of atom-cavity systems.

Prof. Kumar's group spans classical and quantum optics across three inter-related areas: (1) Quantum Fiber Optics — generation and distribution of entanglement (photon-pair, multi-photon) over fiber networks, quantum key distribution, and first-ever quantum teleportation over active internet-carrying fiber; (2) Nonlinear Quantum Optics — squeezed light and twin-beam (two-mode squeezed) state generation via fiber-based four-wave mixing and χ⁽²⁾ processes, with applications to sub-shot-noise interferometry, quantum-enhanced imaging, and quantum communication; (3) Photon-entanglement-enhanced precision measurement and optical communications. AT&T Professor of Information Technology; INQUIRE Executive Committee member.

Leon-Saval co-invented the photonic lantern and is the fibre-device engineer of the SAIL programme. His group designs, draws and characterises multicore fibres, mode-selective lanterns, OH-suppression fibre Bragg gratings and hexabundles, and increasingly applies the same devices outside astronomy — in telecommunications space-division multiplexing and in medical endoscopy and imaging through fibre. The unifying technical problem is coupling a spatially-incoherent, aberrated beam into single-mode circuitry without losing photons. 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 — photonic lanterns are directly applicable to quantum sensing readout: the same device that feeds a seeing-limited telescope beam into a single-mode spectrograph can feed fluorescence from a scattering biological sample into a single-mode quantum-limited detector, preserving the photon budget that a pT/sqrt(Hz) NV measurement depends on.

Peter Lodahl's Quantum Photonics Group develops deterministic photon-emitter interfaces using semiconductor quantum dots embedded in photonic nanostructures (nanowires, photonic crystal waveguides). Research targets: single-photon sources with near-unity efficiency and indistinguishability; spin-photon interfaces for quantum repeaters; integrated quantum photonic circuits; and quantum networks based on single emitters. The group leads the Hy-Q Centre for Hybrid Quantum Networks and holds several quantum technology patents and spin-out companies. Borderline case — primarily quantum photonics for networking but with quantum sensing applications (single photon sensing, spin-photon).