PIs

Status: unreviewed revisit date: None Application status: none LOR status: not_needed
Department(s)/lab(s): School of Physics | Chantler X-ray and Precision Atomic Physics Group @ UMelb
Summary:

Chantler's group is built around the idea that X-ray measurements can be made accurate, not just precise: the X-ray Extended Range Technique (XERT) delivers absolute absorption coefficients at the 0.02 per cent level, which in turn allows XAFS to be used for quantitative structure determination and allows high-accuracy tests of atomic theory. The second thread is precision X-ray spectroscopy of highly charged ions and exotic atoms as a test of bound-state QED, where discrepancies between theory and experiment remain unresolved. 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 — this is precision measurement at the other end of the electromagnetic spectrum: the methodological common ground with pT/sqrt(Hz) NV ensemble sensing is the obsessive treatment of systematics and absolute calibration that separates a sensitive measurement from an accurate one. Borderline inclusion, kept because the group's core competency is metrology rather than X-ray applications.

Created at: July 12, 2026, 1:03 a.m. Updated at: July 12, 2026, 1:03 a.m. Metadata: Fresh 2026-07-11. Primary lab: X-ray and precision atomic physics, School of Physics; heavy use of Australian Synchrotron and international beamlines.