Research Areas - (443) Physics

Full path: Physics

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics (Clarendon Laboratory) | Quantum and Optical Technology Group @ Oxford
Summary:

Lvovsky works broadly across quantum and optical technology, from foundational quantum optics (non-classical light states) to quantum-enhanced imaging; recent work combines spatial-mode demultiplexing with image scanning microscopy to push lateral resolution beyond the classical diffraction limit.

Department(s)/lab(s): Applied Physics | Mabuchi Lab @ Stanford
Summary:

Mabuchi's group studies continuous quantum measurement and feedback in cavity-QED and photonic circuit platforms, developing the theory and hardware for real-time quantum-limited monitoring and control of light-matter systems, foundational to many quantum-sensing readout schemes.

Department(s)/lab(s): School of Physics | Quantum Theory Group @ USyd
Summary:

Mahmoodian is a quantum-optics theorist working on waveguide QED and photon-photon interactions: how strongly-coupled emitters in a one-dimensional photonic channel generate non-classical photon-number correlations, and how those correlated multi-photon states can be exploited. His most sensing-relevant result is the demonstration that photon-number-correlated states produced by a single emitter can be used for quantum-enhanced metrology and absorption spectroscopy, beating the shot-noise limit with a source that requires no squeezing. He also works on the fundamental limits of quantum-enhanced measurement. 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 — his work belongs to the 'fundamental light physics' arm of the search rather than the spin arm, and it addresses the question directly downstream of pT/sqrt(Hz) ensembles: given a shot-noise-limited readout, what does non-classical light buy you? Theory PI, but tightly coupled to photonics experiments.

Department(s)/lab(s): Department of Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics I | Main Group - Institute for Theoretical Physics I @ Stuttgart
Summary:

Main works on nonlinear dynamics, semiclassics and quantum chaos, and is the principal theorist behind Stuttgart's Rydberg-exciton programme: high-n excitons in cuprous oxide, where the giant excitonic Rydberg states show magnetoexciton spectra, level statistics and symmetry breaking that his group models quantitatively. This is the theoretical partner to Giessen's (existing PI) experimental Rydberg-exciton work. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), a borderline theory inclusion, kept because Rydberg excitons are a genuinely promising solid-state electrometry platform -- giant polarizability in a semiconductor rather than a vapour cell -- and this is the group that understands their spectra.

Department(s)/lab(s): School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications | Malaney Quantum Communications Group @ UNSW
Summary:

Malaney works on quantum communications with an emphasis on the satellite channel: continuous- and discrete-variable QKD through atmospheric turbulence, entanglement distribution from space, and the use of Gaussian and squeezed states as the carriers. A distinct thread is quantum-enhanced sensing and localisation — quantum illumination and quantum radar — where entangled probe states are used to detect weakly-reflecting targets in noisy backgrounds. 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 — his work belongs to the nonclassical-light arm of the search: it addresses whether squeezing and entanglement can be preserved through a lossy channel well enough to deliver a real metrological advantage, which is the practical question that determines whether quantum-enhanced sensing can ever beat a well-engineered shot-noise-limited pT/sqrt(Hz) device. Largely theory/simulation with some experimental collaboration.

Department(s)/lab(s): Electrical Engineering | Marandi Lab (Ultrafast & Nonlinear Photonics) @ Caltech
Summary:

Marandi's group develops ultrafast and nonlinear nanophotonics - on-chip optical parametric oscillators/amplifiers, mid-infrared frequency combs, squeezed-light sources, and photonic computing - to enable quantum-enhanced and mid-IR molecular sensing and low-noise measurement in integrated platforms. For context, this complements the established paradigm of NV-diamond ensemble magnetometry (Hahn-echo/DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry) operating near pT/√Hz sensitivity.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | Masui Synoptic Radio Lab @ MIT
Summary:

NON-PREFERRED (astronomy pivot, kept for review). Masui's Synoptic Radio Lab uses the CHIME telescope for hydrogen intensity mapping of large-scale structure and for detecting and localizing fast radio bursts as cosmological probes; work spans theory, data analysis, observation, and digital instrumentation, but the sensing elements are radio-frequency antennas/digital correlators rather than quantum sensors.

Department(s)/lab(s): PME | Maurer Lab @ UChicago
Summary:

Develops quantum sensing platforms at the biology interface. Core NV-center work: (1) widefield NV magnetic imaging of action potentials in neurons and cardiac tissue; (2) NV-based single-molecule NMR at 14 T resolving molecular structure with single-molecule sensitivity; (3) charge-sensitive shallow NV nanoprobes monitoring real-time cellular electrophysiology; (4) biocompatible diamond surface functionalization enabling multiplexed DNA microarray biosensing; (5) fluorescent-protein spin qubits as biological alternatives to diamond NV (2025 paper, Physics World Top-10 Breakthrough). Runs full NV stack: hot implantation, widefield and confocal ODMR, T1/T2/Hahn echo/DEER/Rabi, automated fitting pipelines. 2026 Sloan Fellow. PhD Lukin/Harvard; postdoc Chu/Stanford. Argonne joint appointment.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | MIT LIGO Laboratory @ MIT
Summary:

PREFERRED. Mavalvala's research (now balanced against her role as Dean of the School of Science) centers on gravitational-wave detection and quantum measurement science, including the original squeezed-light and quantum-noise work at LIGO that she led together with Matthew Evans. Given her administrative role, active new postdoc hiring in her own group is uncertain and should be confirmed directly.

Department(s)/lab(s): School of Physics | Electronic and Condensed Matter Physics Group (McCallum) @ UMelb
Summary:

McCallum works on the materials and detector physics of donor qubits in silicon and colour centres in diamond and silicon carbide: defect engineering by ion implantation and annealing, characterisation of the resulting spin coherence, and — most relevant to a sensing postdoc — the development of superconducting and semiconductor detectors capable of registering single implanted ions with near-unit efficiency, which is what turns implantation from a statistical process into a deterministic one. He also works on near-surface colour centres, where surface termination and Fermi-level control set the achievable coherence. 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 — his group supplies the near-surface, coherence-optimised spin ensembles that DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1-relaxometry protocols at pT/sqrt(Hz) sensitivity actually depend on.