Sahar Basiri-Esfahani is a quantum optics theorist working on squeezed light, continuous-variable quantum systems, quantum noise, and quantum measurement theory. Research interests include quantum noise reduction in optomechanical systems, theoretical frameworks for quantum sensing with squeezed and entangled states, and quantum-enhanced measurement protocols. Borderline theoretical inclusion.
Develops quantum metrology for ultra-weakly-coupled dark sectors and fundamental physics. Directions: (1) axion dark matter detection using entangled probe state preparation and superconducting qubit QND readout (HAYSTAC, ADMX); (2) dark radiation/energy detection with Cooper-pair box quasiparticle sensors; (3) GW detectors based on high-B-field microwave cavities probing early-universe phase transitions; (4) emergent gauge symmetries in quantum spin liquids. Co-PI DARPA QuSeN (quantum sensing of neutrinos, 2025). Devices/Sensors lead, DOE Quantum Science Center.
Specializes in quantum information and hybrid quantum systems. Directions: (1) superconducting qubit quantum computing and error correction; (2) hybrid quantum systems coupling superconducting qubits to mechanical resonators, spin systems, and optical photons; (3) quantum-limited microwave amplification; (4) co-PI DARPA QuSeN — quantum sensing of neutrinos via phonon-coupled SC qubit sensors (2025). Director Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility (PNF). AAAS and APS Fellow.
Theorist developing frameworks for quantum sensing, control, and amplification in driven-dissipative quantum systems. Directions: (1) quantum noise theory for optomechanical and electromechanical sensors — fundamental limits and backaction evasion; (2) parametric amplification and squeezing beyond standard quantum limit; (3) non-reciprocal quantum systems for quantum-limited amplifiers; (4) quantum sensing theory for GW detectors and CMB experiments. 2020 Simons Investigator in Theoretical Physics.
Combes is a theorist of continuous quantum measurement, quantum trajectories, quantum-limited amplification and quantum filtering, with a strong record of working directly alongside superconducting-circuit and optical experiments rather than in isolation. Recent directions include the fundamental limits of amplifier-based sensing, error-corrected and adaptive metrology protocols, and characterisation/verification of noisy quantum devices. 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 supplies the estimation-theoretic scaffolding — quantum Fisher information, back-action limits, adaptive protocols — that determines whether an NV ensemble running DEER or nanoscale NMR at pT/sqrt(Hz) is actually operating at its fundamental bound or leaving sensitivity on the table. Theory PI, but explicitly experiment-facing.
Doherty is a theorist whose early work established much of the modern framework for continuous quantum measurement and quantum feedback control, and who now works across quantum information theory, error correction and the characterisation of quantum devices. For a sensing candidate the relevant body of work is the measurement/feedback theory: conditional evolution under continuous observation, the role of back-action, and the design of feedback protocols that stabilise a quantum system while extracting information from it. 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 continuous-measurement formalism he helped build is what one uses to ask whether a pT/sqrt(Hz) NV ensemble measurement is saturating its quantum Fisher information bound or merely its shot-noise bound. Borderline inclusion — the current group output is largely quantum computing theory rather than sensing — but retained under the inclusive rubric given the measurement-theory pedigree.
Explores boundary between condensed-matter physics and quantum sensing using superconductor-semiconductor circuits. Directions: (1) gate-tunable superconductor-semiconductor parametric amplifier for quantum-limited readout (PRA 2023); (2) room-temperature capacitive strong coupling to mechanical motion for electromechanical sensing (Nano Letters 2025); (3) quantum criticality in Josephson junction arrays; (4) synthetic Hamiltonians in hybrid SC-semi devices probing hidden material behavior. IST Austria → Microsoft → JILA → UChicago Nov 2023.
Quantum information theorist with strong focus on quantum sensing. Directions: (1) error-correction-enhanced quantum sensing protocols surpassing Heisenberg limit; (2) quantum transduction theory for microwave-optical interfaces; (3) global-scale quantum network architecture; (4) room-temperature NV-based nanoscale magnetometry theory; (5) sub-wavelength quantum imaging protocols. Works closely with experimental quantum sensing groups at UChicago and beyond.
Murch studies continuous quantum measurement and feedback control in superconducting circuit QED systems, including some of the earliest experiments resolving quantum backaction and weak-value amplification, work directly relevant to the quantum limits of continuous sensing and metrology.
Whaley directs Berkeley's Quantum Information and Computation Center and develops theory for quantum control, quantum simulation, and error-corrected quantum sensing protocols using interacting spin ensembles, providing the theoretical underpinning for many solid-state and atomic sensing platforms on campus.