Research Areas - (3) Atom Interferometry Gravimetric Sensing (SEQUIN)

Full path: Physics > Quantum Sensing > Gravimetry / Inertial Sensing > Atom Interferometry Gravimetric Sensing (SEQUIN)

Department(s)/lab(s): Electrical and Computer Engineering (Physics affiliate) | Lab of Quantum and Photonic Engineering @ UWMadison
Summary:

Develops quantum sensors based on neutral atoms and solid-state atom-like defects (e.g. NV diamond) for measuring inertial forces, magnetic fields, and time, and applies nanophotonics/nanofabrication to improve the size, weight, and performance of quantum sensing instruments; collaborates with Mikhail Kats on metasurface-enhanced atomic magnetometers.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics (Atomic and Laser Physics Sub-department) | Ultracold Quantum Matter Group / AION Oxford (Foot Group) @ Oxford
Summary:

Foot leads the Ultracold Quantum Matter group and is one of the two Oxford physics PIs co-leading the AION project at Oxford. His group develops laser-cooled strontium atom sources with the ultranarrow Sr-87 clock transition for large-scale single-photon atom interferometry. Near-term goals include the AION-10, a 10-m baseline vertical atom interferometer currently under construction in the Beecroft Building stairwell, targeting dark matter searches and mid-band gravitational wave detection. Foot's group also studies non-equilibrium 2D quantum gas physics (BKT transition, vortex dynamics) using matter-wave interferometry. AION is linked to MAGIS-100 at Fermilab.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics (Cavendish Laboratory – AMOP Group) | Many-Body Quantum Dynamics Group @ Cambridge
Summary:

Schneider leads the Many-Body Quantum Dynamics group. His primary work is on optical lattice quantum simulation with ultracold atoms (quasicrystalline and kagome potentials, non-equilibrium dynamics), but he also co-leads a significant quantum sensing arm: he is a core Cambridge PI in the AION collaboration building a 10 m strontium single-photon atom interferometer at Oxford and contributing to MAGIS-100 at Fermilab, targeting mid-band gravitational wave detection and ultralight dark matter. In 2026 he co-leads the UKRI-funded SEQUIN project, a hybrid quantum-classical interferometer array combining atom interferometry with seismometers to probe gravitational waves and Earth's interior.