Research Areas - (415) Physics

Full path: Physics

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | LuMIn - NV & Nanodiamond Biosensing (Treussart) @ ENSPS
Summary:

Treussart uses fluorescent nanodiamonds (NV centres) as photostable bio-probes: intracellular single-particle tracking, nanoscale thermometry/magnetometry, and multimodal biosensing in cells and organisms, alongside super-resolution imaging - a direct NV-ensemble-to-biology bridge. In the broader landscape of NV-centre ensemble quantum sensing (DEER, nano-NMR, T1 relaxometry) operating near pT/sqrt(Hz) sensitivity, this work is applied here to living cells via nanodiamond probes.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics – QOLS / Centre for Cold Matter | Centre for Cold Matter – Ultracold Molecular Spectroscopy (Truppe) @ Imperial
Summary:

Truppe is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Cold Matter, specialising in laser cooling of atoms and diatomic molecules using deep-UV lasers. His current focus is aluminium monofluoride (AlF) and magnesium fluoride (MgF): AlF can be produced in a bright cryogenic buffer-gas beam and rapidly optically cycled on the A¹Π↔X¹Σ⁺ transition, making it a candidate for high-density laser trapping; MgF is characterised for its A²Π↔X²Σ⁺ hyperfine structure, relevant to laser cooling. These molecules open routes to ultracold chemistry studies, precision spectroscopy, and quantum simulation. Truppe returned to Imperial as faculty after a period at the Fritz Haber Institute (ERC Starting Grant, 'CoMoFun', cold molecules for fundamental physics).

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics and Astronomy | Ulbricht Lab @ Southampton
Summary:

Hendrik Ulbricht's group pioneers levitated optomechanics and macroscopic quantum systems. Research: (1) optical levitation of nanoparticles for zeptonewton force sensing and quantum-to-classical transition tests; (2) magnetic levitation of micromagnets (diamagnetically stabilised) as ultralight dark matter detectors and magnetometers (fT/√Hz sensitivity demonstrated with LeMaMa levitated ferromagnet); (3) spin entanglement witness for quantum gravity (BMV experiment β€” levitated diamond with NV centre); (4) tests of the DiΓ³si-Penrose model of wavefunction collapse. Multiple Reviews of Modern Physics; active in macroscopic quantum physics community.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics (LKB) | Quantum Networks Team @ ENS Paris
Summary:

Urvoy develops cold-atom/optical-nanofiber quantum interfaces for atom-photon entanglement and quantum-memory applications, part of LKB's quantum-network research line alongside Julien Laurat and Hanna Le Jeannic.

Department(s)/lab(s): Chemistry | Utzat Lab @ UCB
Summary:

Utzat studies the quantum optical properties of single colloidal quantum dots and perovskite nanocrystals, using photon-correlation spectroscopy to characterize and improve their performance as solid-state single-photon sources for quantum photonic applications. The group is actively recruiting postdocs.

Department(s)/lab(s): Quantum Nanoscience | Van der Sar Lab @ TU Delft
Summary:

Toeno van der Sar's group uses NV-centre diamond magnetometry to study correlated spin dynamics and electric currents in magnetic and 2D materials. Research directions: (1) scanning NV magnetometry of topological magnets, 2D magnetic materials (CrI3, Fe3GeTe2), and superconductors; (2) spin-wave (magnon) spectroscopy in magnetic thin films using NV sensors; (3) widefield NV imaging of biological samples and materials. The group develops both NV scanning probes and widefield NV ensembles for nanoscale spatial mapping of magnetic phenomena.

Department(s)/lab(s): Institute of Physics | AG van Loock - Theoretical Quantum Optics @ JGU
Summary:

van Loock leads theoretical quantum optics and quantum information at Mainz, with a long-standing focus on continuous-variable quantum optics: squeezed and other nonclassical Gaussian states, non-Gaussian resources such as cat and GKP states, hybrid discrete/continuous-variable encodings, and the error-correction and repeater architectures built on them. The group also works on the fundamental limits of quantum-enhanced measurement and on how nonclassical light can be used as a metrological resource. He is theory-first, with output that directly serves the experimental quantum-optics and trapped-ion groups in Mainz. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), the relevance is on the fundamental-light-physics axis rather than the magnetometry axis: this is where the squeezing/nonclassical-state theory sits that would let a spin-ensemble sensor beat the standard quantum limit.

Department(s)/lab(s): Institute of Physical Chemistry | van Slageren Group - Molecular Quantum Spintronics @ Stuttgart
Summary:

van Slageren's group is one of the leading molecular-qubit labs. They synthesize their own paramagnetic molecules, characterize them with a wide spectroscopic and magnetometric arsenal (multi-frequency and high-field EPR, pulsed EPR/DEER, THz spectroscopy, SQUID magnetometry) and back it with ab-initio calculation. Landmarks include room-temperature quantum coherence in a copper(II) molecular qubit, quantitative prediction of nuclear-spin-diffusion-limited coherence times, measurement of coherence in thin films without post-processing, and recent observation of a sizeable spin-electric effect -- electric-field control of a molecular spin state, which is the mechanism you would exploit for a molecular electrometer. Current direction: molecular quantum spintronics, marrying organic spintronics to molecular magnetism. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), this is the molecular alternative to the diamond defect: chemically tunable spin qubits whose coherence can be engineered by ligand design rather than by host-crystal purification. Immediate neighbours are Krueger (nanodiamond chemistry) and Wrachtrup (NV readout), both already on file -- an unusually complete local ecosystem.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics – QOLS / Light Community | Quantum Measurement Lab (Vanner) @ Imperial
Summary:

Vanner leads the Quantum Measurement Lab, combining experiment and theory. Key research areas: (1) Cavity quantum optomechanics β€” developed a theoretical framework capturing nonlinear radiation-pressure beyond the linearised approximation, showing deterministic mechanical Wigner-negativity generation; demonstrated mechanical position-squared measurements in Nature Comms (2016); thermal noise squeezing by 36 dB (Nat. Comms 2013); (2) Brillouin-Mandelstam scattering β€” demonstrated strong coupling to high-frequency phonons (Optica 2019); single-phonon addition/subtraction via Brillouin (PRL 2021); quantum state tomography with non-Gaussianity; (3) Hybrid quantum systems β€” 'displacemon' architecture (nanobeam magnetically coupled to superconducting qubit, PRX 2018) for testing objective collapse and dark matter; (4) Quantum gravity tests β€” proposals for testing the generalised uncertainty principle (GUP) using optomechanical protocols. UKRI QTFP fellowship.

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Department(s)/lab(s): Imaging Physics | Curious Beams Lab @ TU Delft
Summary:

Varnavides leads the Curious Beams Lab, using scanning transmission electron microscopy, 4D-STEM/electron ptychography, and computational phase-retrieval to obtain atomic-resolution, three-dimensional maps of electrostatic and magnetic order (e.g., antiferromagnetic textures, charge/heat/spin transport) in quantum materials β€” a solid-state, electron-beam analogue to optical quantum-material imaging that similarly pushes spatial resolution past conventional limits. He joined TU Delft ImPhys as Assistant Professor in 2025 after a Miller Fellowship at UC Berkeley and is building out instrumentation for functional imaging of both materials and biological systems.