Description: Microwave-driven coherent spin rotations for calibration and characterization.
Craik leads the RAVIOLIS project (SNSF Starting Grant, started July 2025) measuring atomic parity violation in barium ions at <0.1% precision. Her entanglement protocol uses multi-ion entangled states with photonic integrated waveguide addressing to common-mode-reject parity-conserving systematics. Previous work: precision measurement of Ba+ dipole transition probabilities below 1% uncertainty; first laser-guided individual addressing of Ba+ qubits with <10^-4 intensity crosstalk; isotope-shift spectroscopy in Ca+ for fifth-force searches. She is actively recruiting for postdocs and PhD students for the new Ba+ ion trap experiment.
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).
Poul Martin Bendix (Associate Professor, BendixLab/NBI) investigates physical properties of living cells using advanced optical techniques. Research: (1) optical tweezers for mechanosensing β GPCR mechanosensing with picoNewton force resolution, membrane curvature sensing by proteins (annexins, BAR-domain proteins); (2) thermoplasmonics β gold nanoparticle laser heating for controlled membrane microsurgery, cell fusion, and plasma membrane repair; (3) single-molecule biophysics β DNA-protein interactions using 4-trap optical tweezers (LUMICKS C-Trap) with STED imaging; (4) filopodia dynamics β twist and rotation of actin filaments; (5) Brillouin microscopy for cell mechanics; (6) COBM center management. GPCRmec consortium (Novo Nordisk). 2026 BPS Annual Meeting featured.
Biercuk's Quantum Control Laboratory sits precisely at the intersection of control engineering and precision measurement. The group uses trapped ytterbium ions β including large 2D Penning-trap crystals β as both quantum simulators and as calibrated sensors, and is best known for noise spectroscopy: using the qubit itself as a spectrum analyser of its environment, then designing dynamical-decoupling and open-loop control sequences that null the dominant noise. That programme produced Q-CTRL, his quantum control software company, and more recently a serious push into quantum sensing for navigation (magnetic anomaly navigation, quantum-enhanced RF sensing) as a commercial and defence application. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work β DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity β his filter-function and noise-spectroscopy formalism is now standard equipment in the NV community for designing the DEER and dynamical-decoupling sequences that deliver pT/sqrt(Hz) sensitivity; a candidate from that background would find the theoretical toolkit immediately familiar. Large, well-funded group with strong industry pathways.
Brune leads the Circular Rydberg Atom / Cavity QED group at LKB (CollΓ¨ge de France site), continuing the work of Serge Haroche (Nobel 2012). Note: Brune is employed by ENS, not Sorbonne UniversitΓ©; postdoc contracts are typically ENS/CNRS. Research directions: (1) Circular Rydberg atoms β atoms in extremely high principal quantum number states (n~50) with extremely long radiative lifetimes (~30 ms) and large dipole moments; (2) Cavity QED quantum sensing β single circular atoms probe the microwave field in a superconducting cavity photon-by-photon via quantum non-demolition measurement; (3) Quantum state engineering β generating Fock states, SchrΓΆdinger cat states, and entangled atom-field states in the cavity; (4) Tests of quantum complementarity β observing decoherence of mesoscopic superpositions in real time as a probe of quantum-to-classical transition. The 'quantum radio receiver' using single atoms to sense individual microwave photons is a landmark quantum sensing demonstration.
Chu leads the Hybrid Quantum Systems Group coupling mechanical resonators to superconducting circuits and diamond color centers. Research directions: (1) Circuit quantum acousto-dynamics (cQAD) β HBAR resonators coupled to transmon qubits achieve single-phonon nonlinearity (coherence/anharmonicity ratio 6.8), mechanical qubit gates demonstrated (arXiv 2406.07360, 2024); (2) Optimal control for high Fock state preparation in bulk resonators; (3) Ultra-cold mechanical quantum sensor β cryogenically cooled nanomechanical oscillators as probes for new physics beyond the standard model; (4) Coupling NV/SiV color centers in diamond to acoustic waves for hybrid quantum memory and transduction. Targets long-lived phonon storage for quantum networking and quantum sensing beyond the standard quantum limit.
Cohadon and Heidmann co-lead the Optomechanics and Quantum Measurements group at LKB. Research directions: (1) Back-action evasion and Standard Quantum Limit (SQL) β early demonstration of radiation-pressure back-action in a micro-mirror (Nature 2006), subsequent beating of SQL via quantum correlations; (2) Micro/nanomechanical resonators β 2D photonic crystal deformable slabs, membrane-in-the-middle cavities, micropillar resonators for radiation-pressure optomechanics; (3) Superconducting qubitβmacroscopic membrane coupling β Jacqmin & DelΓ©glise team: resonant coupling of transmon qubit to MHz membrane oscillator, tracking quantum motion with 300 repeated interactions (2025); high-impedance hyperinductors for electromechanics; (4) Gravitational wave detector contributions β VIRGO/LIGO data analysis and quantum noise modeling. Applications include back-action-evading force sensing and tests of quantum mechanics at macroscopic scales.
Degen leads the Spin Physics and Imaging group, one of the world's leading NV-center magnetometry labs. Research directions (as of 2025): (1) Scanning NV magnetometry of quantum materials β NV-tipped cantilevers image current flow (β²50 nm resolution) in graphene heterostructures and resolve domain walls in antiferromagnets/ferroelectrics; cryogenic scanning down to 350 mK in dilution refrigerator (published Appl. Phys. Lett. 2022). (2) Single-molecule NMR β shallow NV centers detect nuclear spins from surface-adsorbed molecules with sub-nanometer 3D resolution; 2022 Nano Lett. on amine-functionalized diamond surfaces; exploring chirality-induced spin selectivity at few-molecule level. (3) NV magnetometry protocols β reconstruction-free waveform sensing (1.1 ns time resolution, Nature 2025), gradiometric detection, spectrum demodulation for rapid scanning, multi-NV addressing. (4) Diamond nanoengineering β multicone pillar waveguides, surface engineering, scanning probe fabrication. ERC Proof-of-Concept 2025 for photonic IC single-photon NV excitation/detection for commercial quantum sensing.
Dzurak leads the silicon CMOS quantum dot spin qubit programme at UNSW and co-founded Diraq, the company commercialising it. The group demonstrated the first silicon MOS qubit, two-qubit logic in silicon, and has pushed toward fidelities above the fault-tolerance threshold in industrially-manufactured CMOS devices, including work on gate-stack engineering for low charge noise and on single-electron-transistor charge sensing for readout. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work β DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity β the relevant transferable asset is the readout: the single-electron-transistor and gate-based dispersive sensors this group builds are among the most sensitive electrometers in existence, the charge-domain analogue of pT/sqrt(Hz) magnetometry. Caveat against the stated preference: the programme is now heavily fabrication- and yield-driven and closely tied to a commercial roadmap, so a sensing-focused postdoc would be somewhat off the group's main axis.
Gangloff leads the Quantum Engineering Group at the Cavendish. Research spans three platforms: (1) Semiconductor quantum dots (InGaAs, GaAs) β demonstrating optical coherent control of quantum-dot nuclear spin ensembles (magnons, time crystals, many-body quantum registers); developing QD-based quantum repeater nodes (MEEDGARD QuantERA project); (2) Diamond group-IV spin defects (SiV, SnV, GeV) β precision positioning and high-purity single-photon generation from tin-vacancy centers; (3) Rydberg excitons in CuβO β exploring blockade-based optical quantum gates. The Integrated Quantum Networks Hub co-PI role underpins a broader quantum internet vision.