Hutchison works on molecular polaritonics: what happens to chemistry when molecular electronic or vibrational transitions are strongly coupled to a confined optical mode in a Fabry-Perot or plasmonic nanocavity. He was among the first to show that vibrational strong coupling modifies ground-state chemical reactivity, and the group continues to probe polariton-modified energy transfer, photochemistry and transport, alongside single-molecule spectroscopy and 2D-material photonics. 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 — the connection to quantum sensing is the cavity: the same Purcell and collective-coupling physics that concentrates optical density of states around a molecule is what is used to improve photon collection and readout fidelity in NV ensembles operating at pT/sqrt(Hz). This is fundamental light-matter physics with a clear nonclassical-state angle.
Studies molecular and nano-optics, plasmonics, and near-field light-matter interactions, using super-resolution optical imaging to reveal active sites and phase transformations in heterogeneous catalysis and single nanodomains.
King develops polarization- and time-resolved PEEM together with ultrafast (scanning) transmission electron microscopy to image charge-carrier, exciton, and phonon dynamics with nanoscale (down to ~25 nm) spatial resolution at buried interfaces and in 2D materials such as black phosphorus. Her group is now retrofitting a high-throughput PEEM, in collaboration with the Kasthuri lab, for whole-brain connectomics -- an unpreferred/borderline inclusion since the core program is materials-science imaging rather than biosensing, but one that is directly extending resolution-pushing microscopy into neuroscience.
Lakhwani runs the Molecular Photophysics Group and is a chief investigator in ARC Exciton Science. The group works on strong light-matter coupling in organic semiconductors: forming exciton-polaritons in microcavities, driving them toward polariton lasing and condensation with electrically injected devices, and engineering host-guest energy funnelling to lower thresholds. A second thread is chiroptical spectroscopy — circular dichroism and circularly polarised luminescence of chiral organic films — which is a polarisation-resolved measurement of a very small differential signal. 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 — polaritonic quantum matter is a distinct route to non-classical states of light at room temperature, in contrast to the cryogenic or spin-based platforms that dominate pT/sqrt(Hz)-class sensing; the differential chiroptical measurements the group performs are, methodologically, small-signal detection problems of exactly the same type.
Maier's group works on nanophotonics and plasmonics, including metasurfaces, 2D-material photonics and plasmon-enhanced sensing, exploiting sub-wavelength light confinement for sensing and light-matter interaction applications.
Palpant (current LuMIn director) studies ultrafast optical response and thermoplasmonics of metal nanoparticles - photothermal nanoscale heat sources and sensors for photonics and biomedicine. Primary appointment CentraleSupelec; based at the ENS Paris-Saclay LuMIn site. In the broader landscape of NV-centre ensemble quantum sensing (DEER, nano-NMR, T1 relaxometry) operating near pT/sqrt(Hz) sensitivity, this work is adjacent through plasmonic photothermal transduction and sensing.
Sapienza studies light propagation and control in complex/disordered nanophotonic media, using wavefront shaping and transmission-matrix approaches to focus and image through scattering media, with applications to deep-tissue fluorescence imaging and nanophotonic light sources.
Zuerch combines tabletop attosecond/femtosecond XUV sources with photoemission electron microscopy to image ultrafast magnetic, electronic, and structural dynamics in quantum materials with combined nanometer spatial and femtosecond temporal resolution. The lab is actively recruiting postdocs.