Summary: Europe's premier technical university for quantum sensing, with ~30 groups coordinated by the Quantum Center (qc.ethz.ch). Key groups directly relevant to quantum sensing: Degen (NV magnetometry, single-molecule NMR — world-leading for biological quantum sensing); Novotny (levitated optomechanics, near-field nanophotonics); Quidant (hybrid levitation, quantum sensing of force); Home/TIQI (trapped-ion metrology); Faist/IQE (quantum cascade lasers for molecular sensing); Esslinger (quantum gases). The FIRST Center cleanroom and ETH–PSI Quantum Computing Hub provide exceptional facilities. Strong for both bio and fundamental/astro sensing.
Notes: Top-5 global technical university (QS #7 overall, #1 engineering). The Quantum Center (qc.ethz.ch) and Quantum Engineering Initiative (QEI) coordinate ~30 member groups across D-PHYS, D-ITET, D-MATL, and D-MAVT. Flagship quantum facilities: FIRST Center (cleanrooms), BRNC (Basel research), and the ETH–PSI Quantum Computing Hub. Key groups in scope: Spin Physics (Degen, NV magnetometry/single-molecule NMR), Photonics Lab (Novotny, levitodynamics), Nanophotonic Systems Lab (Quidant, hybrid levitation), TIQI (Home, trapped-ion metrology), IQE (Faist, QCL; Esslinger, quantum optics; Craik, ion parity-violation), HyQu (Chu, quantum acoustics). Strong industry and national-lab ecosystem.
Murthy leads the Nanoscale Quantum Optics group at ETH, studying light-matter interactions in nanostructures to engineer novel quantum states of light. Research directions: (1) Photon-photon interactions — achieving strong effective photon-photon interactions via coupling to quantum emitters in 2D materials and optical nanocavities; exploring photonic Mott insulators and collective quantum phases of light; (2) 2D semiconductor quantum emitters — localized excitons in TMD heterostructures as sources of single photons and entangled photon pairs; (3) Quantum light from cavities — engineering photon statistics and squeezing using cavity-QED with 2D materials; (4) Ultrafast quantum optics — attosecond-scale probing of light-matter entanglement. New group as of ~2023.
Novotny leads the Photonics Lab with a primary focus on levitodynamics. Research directions: (1) Ground-state cooling of levitated nanoparticles — demonstrated quantum control and motional ground state cooling of silica nanospheres in cryogenic free space (Nature 2021) and all 6 degrees of freedom simultaneously via coherent scattering (Nature Physics 2023); (2) Quantum delocalization and matter-wave interference of levitated nanoparticles (arXiv 2408.01264, 2024); (3) Cavity-mediated long-range interactions between multiple levitated nanoparticles, enabling collective quantum sensing arrays; (4) Optical cold damping, measurement-free coherent feedback (PRL 2025); (5) 2D optoelectronics — graphene/hBN/TMD-based laser detectors and modulators. Heavily cited levitodynamics review (Science 2021, joint with Quidant). Group feeds into applications in quantum-limited force sensing and macroscopic quantum tests.
Quidant leads the Nanophotonic Systems Laboratory, developing hybrid integrated levitation platforms combining optical and RF fields. Research directions: (1) Measurement-free coherent optical feedback cooling of levitated nanoparticles (PRL 2025, phonon occupations ~100s); (2) Quantum sensing applications — ultra-sensitive force/acceleration sensing, directional dark matter detection with levitated sensors; (3) Meta-atom levitation — Mie-resonance high-permittivity particles in optical traps for extreme light-matter interaction; (4) Optofluidics — structured light for photothermal fluid control; (5) Cancer phototherapy — photothermal nanoparticle applications. Pioneer in nanoplasmonic tweezers, thermoplasmonics, and on-chip biosensing. Key co-author of Science levitodynamics review (2021).
Xu leads the Experimental Quantum Engineering group with a joint ETH–PSI appointment. Research directions: (1) Superconducting circuit quantum sensing — using qubits-as-sensors for detecting weak microwave signals beyond standard quantum limits, quantum non-demolition readout of photon fields; (2) Quantum error correction enabled sensing — integrating bosonic codes (cat qubits, binomial codes) into sensing protocols; (3) Quantum acoustics — coupling superconducting qubits to surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators for hybrid quantum sensing; (4) Novel quantum hardware at PSI — leveraging PSI's infrastructure for cryogenic device fabrication and testing. Connected to the ETH–PSI Quantum Computing Hub.