The LKB atom interferometry group (also at SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris) develops cold atom inertial sensors including the world's best gyroscopes and gravimeters. Key research (Geiger, Landragin et al.): (1) interleaved cold atom gyroscope with 3.75 Hz sampling and 800ms interrogation (record sensitivity); (2) cold atom gradiometer for gravity gradient mapping; (3) atom chip-based compact sources for inertial navigation; (4) quantum optimal control for robust matter-wave sensing. QAFCA project (PEPR Quantique) on quantum sensors for geoscience and navigation. Note: The main PI is Remi Geiger (CNRS) / Arnaud Landragin, both at SYRTE/Observatoire de Paris (PSL), but LKB atom interferometry team is at ENS site.
Tim Freegarde's Quantum Control group develops atom interferometric sensors and matter-wave optics. Research: (1) optimal Raman pulse design for cold atom inertial sensors β geometric approach to Ο-pulse optimisation and robust control; (2) matter-wave interferometric velocimetry of cold atom clouds; (3) point-source interferometry for real-time scale-factor calibration of cold atom gyroscopes; (4) large-area atom interferometry. Part of the UK Quantum Technology Hub in Sensors and Metrology. Director of the CDT in Quantum Technology Engineering.
Gratta's group works at the interface of atomic and particle physics, developing cold-atom interferometric gravimeters and gradiometers for tests of gravity alongside searches for neutrinoless double-beta decay using liquid-xenon TPCs (EXO-200/nEXO), spanning quantum sensing hardware and rare-event particle detection.
Hogan leads the Stanford effort on MAGIS-100, a 100-meter atom-interferometric gradiometer at Fermilab designed to search for mid-band gravitational waves and ultralight dark matter using laser-cooled strontium atoms in free fall. His group also develops compact cold-atom gravimeters and gradiometers and explores large-momentum-transfer atom optics to push interferometer sensitivity toward tests of general relativity.
Kasevich is a pioneer of light-pulse atom interferometry, building cold-atom sensors of rotation, acceleration, and gravity that rival or exceed classical inertial instruments, and precision tests of general relativity and searches for dark matter and gravitational waves via large-scale atom interferometers (including MAGIS-100). His 2022 Nature paper demonstrated distributed quantum sensing with mode-entangled, spin-squeezed atomic states, extending entanglement-enhanced metrology to networks of separated sensors.
Arnaud Landragin (CNRS DR, SYRTE) is director of the cold-atom inertial sensors team and one of the world's leading experts in quantum gravimeters and gyroscopes. Research: (1) GIRAFE transportable cold-atom gravimeter for marine and airborne campaigns; (2) QAFCA project (PEPR Quantique) for gravity sensors for geoscience and navigation; (3) ESA ODIN ultra-high performance gyroscope for space. CNRS Innovation Medal 2020. Co-authored key reviews on cold-atom inertial sensors.
Landragin directs SYRTE and its Cold Atom Interferometry and Inertial Sensors team, which develops light-pulse atom interferometers as absolute gravimeters and gyroscopes: the Cold Atom Gravimeter (CAG), whose single-laser pyramid-reflector design he co-invented and commercialized through the start-up Muquans (now Absolute Quantum Gravimeter, AQG), and continuously-operating cold-atom gyroscopes reaching record joint sensitivity. Applications span geodesy, hydrology, volcano monitoring and inertial navigation. He received the CNRS Innovation Medal in 2020.
Franck Pereira dos Santos (CNRS DR, SYRTE) develops dual-species (Rb/Cs) atom interferometers and gravimeters with the highest accuracy. Research: (1) cold-atom gravimeters for absolute gravity measurement; (2) dual Rb/Cs fountain for equivalence principle tests; (3) interleaved interferometry to eliminate dead-time and aliasing noise; (4) quantum optimal control for Raman/Bragg pulse sequences. Key SYRTE inertial sensor PI.
Prentiss's group works on cold-atom light-pulse interferometry for compact, potentially fieldable inertial sensors (gravimeters/gyroscopes), alongside a parallel biophysics program using optical tweezers and single-molecule methods to study DNA and cell mechanics. The atom-interferometric sensing work is squarely in the quantum-sensing gravimetry/inertial-navigation tradition alongside cold-atom-gradiometer and atom-chip clock efforts elsewhere in the field.