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.
Allain (PPSM) designs luminescent and mechanofluorochromic molecular materials and lanthanide/organic probes acting as optical stress and environment sensors, including solid-state and time-resolved luminescence readouts. In the broader landscape of NV-centre ensemble quantum sensing (DEER, nano-NMR, T1 relaxometry) operating near pT/sqrt(Hz) sensitivity, this work is complemented by stimuli-responsive molecular luminescent sensors.
Basche is one of the founding figures of optical single-molecule spectroscopy. The group performs high-resolution fluorescence-excitation spectroscopy on single dibenzoterrylene (DBT) molecules in anthracene hosts at liquid-helium temperature, where zero-phonon lines approach the Fourier limit -- effectively a solid-state single-photon emitter with atom-like linewidths -- and studies how nanocrystal host engineering (e.g. electrohydrodynamic printing) preserves spectral stability, with polarization-resolved super-resolution imaging used to pin down crystal orientation. Further lines: photon-statistics and blinking in single quantum dots and QD/dye hybrids, and single-molecule studies of singlet fission, where photon-stream analysis of terrylenediimide dimers exposed coherent multiexciton superpositions that ensemble measurements average away. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), this is the molecular analogue of the colour-centre programme -- same photophysics toolkit (HBT, resonance fluorescence, orientation-resolved imaging), different emitter -- and it is the strongest single-emitter optics group in Mainz chemistry. Note: senior/long-established professor; confirm current group status and recruiting before applying.
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.
Boxer's group uses vibrational Stark effect spectroscopy -- measuring field-dependent shifts of nitrile, carbonyl, and other IR-active vibrational probes -- to quantify electrostatic fields inside proteins, membranes, and active sites, providing a molecular-scale, spectroscopic route to electric-field sensing distinct from device-based quantum sensors. [Borderline match: a molecular spectroscopic probe of local fields rather than a fabricated quantum sensor; kept for review.]
Develops second- and third-harmonic generation (SHG/THG) nonlinear optical microscopy to image collagen and other non-centrosymmetric structural proteins label-free in tissue, with applications to cancer diagnosis and fibrosis, pushing spatial/orientational resolution of structural imaging in intact tissue.
Curmi is a structural and single-molecule biophysicist whose most-cited work is on the light-harvesting antenna proteins of cryptophyte algae, where he and collaborators reported long-lived electronic coherence at ambient temperature — one of the founding results of the quantum-biology field and still one of its most argued-over. His group determines the structures of these antenna complexes and engineers them, and separately works on protein-based molecular motors and on single-molecule fluorescence and FRET measurements of conformational dynamics. 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 — Curmi supplies the biological systems in which quantum coherence is actually claimed to matter; a pT/sqrt(Hz)-class spin sensor capable of watching radical-pair or exciton dynamics in situ would be aimed at exactly the questions his structures raise. Preferred attribute present: genuine quantum-biology substrate rather than a quantum-flavoured metaphor.
Dhiman holds the professorship for Physical Chemistry of Supramolecular Systems at JGU and is affiliated with the Max Planck Graduate Center. Her group uses single-molecule and super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (SMLM/PAINT-type methods) to watch synthetic supramolecular polymers assemble, exchange monomers and age in real time -- i.e. applying the biological super-resolution toolkit to non-biological self-assembling matter, and toward bioinspired/adaptive systems that behave like living materials. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), this is a technique-driven inclusion: the emphasis is squarely on pushing spatial and temporal resolution of dye-based imaging past the ensemble limit, and it is a newer group where a postdoc would have room to shape the direction.
Research focuses on quantum dynamics and excited-state reactivity in biological and synthetic light-harvesting systems. Discovered long-lived quantum coherence in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes (FMO, 2007). Develops 2D electronic spectroscopy techniques to probe excitonic transport, open quantum systems, and photochemical reaction dynamics on femtosecond timescales. Director NSF QuBBE; co-director Berggren Center for Quantum Biology and Medicine.
Fayer's group develops and applies ultrafast 2D infrared spectroscopy to resolve structural dynamics of water, proteins, and complex fluids on femtosecond-to-picosecond timescales, pushing the temporal resolution of vibrational spectroscopy well past what linear methods can access.