Summary: One of Europe's largest and most productive AMO/quantum sensing groups. The QOLS group at the Blackett Laboratory (~15 academics, 30 postdocs, 50+ PhD students) spans cold matter (CCM: eEDM/YbF, atom interferometry for inertial/gravitational sensing), attoscience, quantum navigation, and biophotonics (FLIM, super-resolution). Imperial leads the AION consortium for atom interferometry (dark matter, gravitational waves). The Quantum Science and Device Facility (QSDF) and Blackett cleanroom support device work. Exceptionally strong for astro-oriented quantum sensing (AION, gravity gradiometry) and emerging biophotonics.
Notes: Top-10 global research university, ranked #2 in UK. The Department of Physics at the Blackett Laboratory hosts the Quantum Optics and Laser Science (QOLS) group — ~15 academic staff, 30 postdocs, 50+ PhD students — one of the largest AMO/quantum photonics groups in Europe. Key divisions: Centre for Cold Matter (CCM; eEDM/YbF, cold molecules, atom interferometry, quantum navigation), Laser Consortium (attoscience), Controlled Quantum Dynamics (theory), and Photonics Group (FLIM/super-resolution biophotonics). Imperial is lead institution of the AION consortium for atom interferometry. Has cleanroom facilities in the Blackett Building and a shared Quantum Science and Device Facility (QSDF). Cost of living in London is high (~£3,600/month). Very strong quantum technology ecosystem via QuEST and EPSRC Quantum Technology Hub.
Patel's research focuses on quantum photonics and quantum information, developing high-performance single-photon and entangled-photon sources and photonic circuits for quantum communication and computing applications.
Paterson develops adaptive-optics and wavefront-sensing techniques to correct optical aberrations in fluorescence microscopy and imaging through complex/turbid media, improving resolution and depth in biological and biomedical imaging.
Phillips works on quantum imaging (entangled/twin-photon imaging at the quantum limit) and label-free mid-infrared spectroscopic biomedical imaging; he co-founded Digistain, a spin-out applying infrared spectroscopic histopathology to rapid cancer diagnostics.
Pickering performs high-resolution Fourier-transform spectroscopy of atomic and ionic transitions in the laboratory to provide accurate wavelengths, oscillator strengths and transition probabilities that underpin the analysis of stellar and nebular astronomical spectra.
Roessler uses continuous-wave and pulsed EPR/ENDOR spectroscopy to probe paramagnetic metal centres and radical intermediates in catalytic and bioinorganic systems, work that overlaps with the use of molecular spin centres as candidate EPR-addressable qubits/sensors.
Rowlands develops new optical imaging technologies for biology and medicine, including label-free vibrational (coherent Raman) microscopy and computational imaging approaches aimed at faster, higher-resolution biomedical imaging.
Rudolph is a pioneer of measurement-based and fusion-based photonic quantum computing architectures; he co-founded PsiQuantum and continues to work on the theory of scalable linear-optical quantum computation and quantum foundations at Imperial.
Rueda leads a single-molecule imaging group (jointly at Imperial and the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences) that combines single-molecule FRET, fluorogenic RNA aptamer imaging and optical tweezers to reveal the structural dynamics of RNA folding/splicing, CRISPR-Cas9 target search and off-target activity, and chromatin-remodelling complexes; the aptamer-imaging technology has been spun out as the startup Irida.
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.
Sauer co-leads both YbF eEDM experiments at the Centre for Cold Matter together with Tarbutt and Lim. Key contributions: magnetometry for EDM measurement (design and characterisation of precision magnetic field systems for the ultracold eEDM experiment), precision spectroscopy of heavy polar molecules (YbF, lattice eEDM), and development of spin polarisation/analysis schemes. Co-PI on STFC grants for eEDM and magnetometry. Together the group aims to probe the eEDM at the 10^−30 e·cm level — several orders of magnitude improvement over existing measurements from ACME (Harvard/Yale).