Research Areas - (443) Physics

Full path: Physics

Department(s)/lab(s): Applied Physics | Byer Group @ Stanford
Summary:

Byer's long-running program in nonlinear optics and laser physics has produced key technologies for precision measurement, including low-noise laser sources, optical materials, and interferometric techniques that underpin gravitational-wave detectors and frequency metrology.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics & Astronomy – AMOPP | Molecular Quantum Matter Lab (Caldwell Group) @ UCL
Summary:

Caldwell is a Royal Society University Research Fellow establishing the Molecular Quantum Matter Lab at UCL. Research directions: (1) Precision molecular spectroscopy for dark matter and fifth-force searches β€” measuring isotope shifts in molecular systems to test Standard Model predictions and probe new forces between neutrons and electrons; (2) Quantum control of molecules in external fields β€” laser cooling, Stark deceleration, and magneto-optical trapping of polar molecules; (3) Molecular beam spectroscopy with frequency comb referencing for ultra-high-precision lineshape measurements. The lab aims to build the most precise molecular spectrometer for BSM physics searches. Actively building the lab and seeking motivated students/postdocs.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | Quantum Engineering Group (Cappellaro Lab) @ MIT
Summary:

PREFERRED. Cappellaro pioneered quantum magnetic sensing with electronic spin defects (NV centers) in diamond, and her group designs and controls solid-state spin qubit systems for quantum sensing, simulation, and quantum information processing, combining theoretical insight into spin dynamics with experimental control of dynamical decoupling and nuclear-spin registers for nanoscale NMR. This builds on the broader lineage of NV ensemble quantum sensing (DEER, NMR, T1 relaxometry) that has pushed AC/DC magnetic sensitivities toward the pT/sqrt(Hz) regime, which her group's Hamiltonian-engineering and nuclear-spin-register approaches aim to extend further.

Department(s)/lab(s): School of Physics | Cassidy Quantum Devices Group @ UNSW
Summary:

Cassidy (formerly Microsoft/Sydney) builds hybrid superconductor-semiconductor quantum devices and the microwave measurement chains needed to read them out: dispersive gate sensing, superconducting resonators coupled to semiconductor nanostructures, and quantum-limited parametric amplification. The programme sits at the boundary between quantum computing hardware and quantum sensing β€” many of the same circuits used to read a qubit are, viewed differently, near-quantum-limited detectors of microwave photons or of charge. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work β€” DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity β€” a superconducting-resonator readout chain with a quantum-limited amplifier is the leading route to inductively-detected spin resonance at sensitivities well below the pT/sqrt(Hz) regime accessible to optical NV ensembles, and Cassidy's group has the full stack of skills required. Mid-career, actively building; good autonomy for a postdoc.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | Changala Group (JILA) @ CUBoulder
Summary:

Changala's group develops cavity-enhanced frequency-comb and microwave spectroscopy to measure molecules, radicals and molecular ions with extreme precision and sensitivity, resolving rovibrational structure relevant to fundamental physics and astrochemistry (borderline inclusion: precision molecular spectroscopy). 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): School of Physics | Chantler X-ray and Precision Atomic Physics Group @ UMelb
Summary:

Chantler's group is built around the idea that X-ray measurements can be made accurate, not just precise: the X-ray Extended Range Technique (XERT) delivers absolute absorption coefficients at the 0.02 per cent level, which in turn allows XAFS to be used for quantitative structure determination and allows high-accuracy tests of atomic theory. The second thread is precision X-ray spectroscopy of highly charged ions and exotic atoms as a test of bound-state QED, where discrepancies between theory and experiment remain unresolved. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work β€” DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity β€” this is precision measurement at the other end of the electromagnetic spectrum: the methodological common ground with pT/sqrt(Hz) NV ensemble sensing is the obsessive treatment of systematics and absolute calibration that separates a sensitive measurement from an accurate one. Borderline inclusion, kept because the group's core competency is metrology rather than X-ray applications.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | Princeton Axion Search (Chaudhuri Lab) @ Princeton
Summary:

Chaudhuri leads the Princeton Axion Search (PXS) and is a core contributor to the DMRadio program, using solenoidal lumped-element LC resonators, DC-SQUID and near-quantum-limited (traveling-wave parametric amplifier) readout to search for QCD axion dark matter from roughly neV to ueV masses; his group explicitly frames this as electromagnetic quantum sensing beyond the Standard Quantum Limit. He is actively developing superconducting resonators and RF quantum upconverters that push readout sensitivity toward and below the SQL.

Department(s)/lab(s): Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences | Z. Chen Photonics Lab @ UCB
Summary:

Chen (PhD, Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics) develops chip-scale frequency-comb sources for precision metrology and dual-comb spectroscopic sensing, and is now extending integrated thin-film lithium-niobate photonics toward on-chip squeezed-light generation for quantum-enhanced sensing alongside photonic AI accelerators. The lab is actively recruiting postdocs.

Techniques:
Department(s)/lab(s): Physics (LKB) | Quantum Fluids of Light and Nanophotonics Team @ ENS Paris
Summary:

Cherroret develops the theory of multiple light scattering, Anderson localization, and quantum-fluid-of-light phenomena in disordered polariton/photonic systems, supporting the experimental polariton-fluid programme led by Alberto Bramati's team.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | Cheuk Lab @ Princeton
Summary:

Cheuk laser-cools and traps individual laser-coolable molecules (e.g. CaF) in optical tweezer arrays, achieving high-fidelity non-destructive imaging, Raman sideband cooling, and on-demand entanglement of molecular qubits, with explicit applications to quantum simulation, quantum information processing, and quantum-enhanced sensing/precision measurement. The rich internal structure of molecules gives access to new sensing modalities (e.g. searches for new physics) that complement atom-based quantum sensors.