Pioneer in spintronics and quantum information engineering. Research spans: (1) NV-center spin qubits in diamond for quantum sensing and communication including nanomagnetic imaging; (2) spin defects in SiC and Er-doped hosts for quantum network nodes at telecom wavelengths; (3) molecular and protein-based spin qubits (2025 fluorescent-protein spin qubit, Physics World Top-10); (4) coherent Er spin defects in colloidal nanocrystal hosts (2024, with Alivisatos). Founding Director Chicago Quantum Exchange. Joint Senior Scientist Argonne. Large infrastructure-rich group with strong industry ties (IBM, Intel, Google quantum).
Combines optical microscopy, quantum sensing, and magnetic resonance to develop single-molecule and super-resolution microscopy methods, including orientation-resolved imaging and metrology, spanning biophysics and condensed matter applications.
Backman develops nanoscale-sensitive optical biophotonics -- including chromatin-sensitive partial-wave spectroscopic (PWS) microscopy, which is label-free and detects mass-density fluctuations of chromatin packing domains below the diffraction limit -- and combines it with super-resolution imaging, electron tomography, and computational genome modeling in his nano-ChIA platform. The lab links this multi-scale nanoscale chromatin imaging to gene-expression physics and has translated the technology into cancer early-detection diagnostics through several spinout companies.
Bain develops advanced laser spectroscopy and super-resolution microscopy techniques for biological applications. Research directions: (1) Femtosecond time-resolved STED (stimulated emission depletion) — combining sub-diffraction spatial resolution with picosecond time resolution to study FRET dynamics in live cells with both spatial and lifetime precision; (2) Time-resolved polarized fluorescence — probing orientation distributions and rotational dynamics of fluorophores; (3) CW STED fluorescence lifetime reconstruction — lower-photodose STED for longer live-cell imaging; (4) Single-molecule FRET to study protein-protein interactions; (5) Single-particle tracking of membrane receptors relevant to viral entry and cancer signaling. Former PhD students include Siân Culley (now King's College, SMLM).
Bakkali-Hassani works within LKB's BEC team on two-dimensional and low-dimensional quantum-gas physics, including superfluid phase transitions and collective excitations in ultracold Bose gases.
Bakr pioneered quantum gas microscopy, imaging individual atoms in Hubbard-regime optical lattices with single-site resolution to directly visualize charge, spin, and polaronic correlations in strongly correlated many-body systems, including recent work resolving itinerant spin polarons and the Nagaoka effect in triangular-lattice Hubbard systems. His single-particle/single-molecule-resolved imaging platforms are a borderline but relevant pivot into the quantum-sensing space via ultra-precise, quantum-limited detection of individual quantum particles; included here for review given the emphasis on cutting-edge spatial resolution rather than sensing per se.
Bale directs Space Sciences Laboratory and leads the FIELDS instrument suite on NASA's Parker Solar Probe, which combines search-coil and fluxgate magnetometers with electric-field antennas to make in-situ, high-cadence measurements of the electromagnetic fields threading the solar wind and corona. His group also contributes field instrumentation to Solar Orbiter and other heliophysics missions, pushing the sensitivity and bandwidth of spacecraft field sensors used to study particle acceleration and turbulence.
Ballance develops techniques and technologies (including cryogenic ion traps and integrated photonic addressing chips) to control trapped atomic-ion qubits with high fidelity at scale, co-founding the spin-out company Oxford Ionics to commercialise the approach.
Krishna Balram (inaugural lecture May 2026) develops photonic quantum engineering at the intersection of photonics, mechanics, and quantum information. Research: (1) piezoelectric optomechanical resonators (GaAs, AlN) for microwave-optical quantum transduction; (2) photonic integrated circuits for quantum sensing; (3) on-chip phononic and photonic crystal devices. Focuses on enabling technologies for quantum repeater nodes and sensors.
Barbosa de Aguiar develops label-free, chemically-selective coherent Raman (CARS/SRS) and computational microscopy — including compressive-sensing-accelerated Raman microspectroscopy and wavefront-shaping through strongly scattering biological tissue — to push spatial and spectral resolution of label-free biomedical imaging, working within Sylvain Gigan's Complex Media Optics team (Photonics, Information & Complexity axis).