Technique - (29) Coherent control of solid-state spins

Type: Experimental

Description: Optically or microwave-driven coherent manipulation of spin qubits in diamond, SiC, or Er-doped hosts.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics (Cavendish Laboratory – AMOP Group) | Quantum Optical Materials and Systems (QOMS) @ Cambridge
Summary:

AtatΓΌre leads the ~30-person QOMS group at the Cavendish. Three main thrusts: (1) Spin-based quantum networks β€” demonstrating distant entanglement generation and photonic cluster states using semiconductor quantum dots (InGaAs, GaAs) and diamond spin defects (NV, SiV, SnV), including a many-body nuclear-spin quantum register demonstrated in 2025 (Nature Physics); (2) Quantum-enhanced nanoscale sensing β€” scanning NV diamond magnetometry of emergent magnetism in novel 2D/layered materials and quantum transport in nanocircuits, plus nanodiamond-based in-cell sensing (nanoMRI, thermometry, diffusion in C. elegans); (3) Novel quantum materials β€” hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) optically-active spin defects at room temperature, and moirΓ© physics in TMD heterostructures. He is co-founder and CSO of Nu Quantum Ltd.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics / PME | Awschalom Group @ UChicago
Summary:

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).

Department(s)/lab(s): School of Physics | Quantum Integration Laboratory @ USyd
Summary:

Bartholomew trained with Sellars (ANU) and Faraon (Caltech) and runs the Quantum Integration Laboratory, which works on rare-earth ions (erbium, europium, ytterbium) in crystals and in nanophotonic devices. Rare-earth ions have the longest optical and spin coherence times of any solid-state emitter, which makes them simultaneously the best optical quantum memories and, less obviously, extremely good sensors: the group works on rare-earth-based microwave and RF quantum sensing, on-chip integration of ions with photonic and superconducting circuits, and telecom-band spin-photon interfaces. 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€” rare-earth ensembles are the closest solid-state analogue to NV ensembles, with narrower optical lines and longer coherence but cryogenic operation; protocols like DEER and dynamical-decoupling-enhanced sensing at pT/sqrt(Hz) map across directly. This is one of the best fits at Sydney for a solid-state spin-sensing candidate.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | Quantum Engineering Group (Cappellaro Lab) @ MIT
Summary:

PREFERRED. Cappellaro pioneered quantum magnetic sensing with electronic spin defects (NV centers) in diamond, and her group designs and controls solid-state spin qubit systems for quantum sensing, simulation, and quantum information processing, combining theoretical insight into spin dynamics with experimental control of dynamical decoupling and nuclear-spin registers for nanoscale NMR. This builds on the broader lineage of NV ensemble quantum sensing (DEER, NMR, T1 relaxometry) that has pushed AC/DC magnetic sensitivities toward the pT/sqrt(Hz) regime, which her group's Hamiltonian-engineering and nuclear-spin-register approaches aim to extend further.

Department(s)/lab(s): Electrical Engineering | Choi Lab @ Stanford
Summary:

Choi builds large-scale, individually addressable arrays of solid-state spin qubits (NV centers and related defects) and entangles ancilla nuclear/electronic spins to demonstrate high-precision, entanglement-enhanced quantum sensing, extending the ensemble NV magnetometry regime (DEER/T1 protocols at pT/√Hz) toward single- and few-spin sensors with quantum-error-corrected readout.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | Choi Research Group @ MIT
Summary:

PREFERRED. Choi is a theorist working at the intersection of quantum information science and out-of-equilibrium many-body dynamics, and with experimental collaborators (Lukin group) he developed quantum-logic-enhanced protocols that let dense, interacting NV ensembles surpass the interaction-limited sensitivity bound for AC magnetometry. This directly extends the lineage of NV ensemble quantum sensing experiments (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry) that have driven ensemble magnetometers toward pT/sqrt(Hz) sensitivities, by using engineered many-body Hamiltonians and quantum control rather than dilution alone.

Department(s)/lab(s): Electrical and Computer Engineering | de Leon Lab @ Princeton
Summary:

The de Leon lab engineers nitrogen-vacancy and other color centers in diamond and wide-bandgap materials as solid-state quantum sensors and qubits, spanning materials growth and surface chemistry, nanophotonic integration, and magnetic-field/thermal sensing of quantum materials, alongside a parallel effort on superconducting qubit noise and loss. This builds on the broader tradition of ensemble NV magnetometry (DEER, NMR, T1 relaxometry) that has reached pT/sqrt(Hz)-class sensitivities, which de Leon's group extends toward single- and few-spin scanning-probe magnetometry of correlated electron materials.

Department(s)/lab(s): School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications | Dzurak Silicon Quantum Devices Group @ UNSW
Summary:

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.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics and Astronomy | Figueroa-Feliciano Group @ Northwestern
Summary:

Prof. Figueroa-Feliciano leads Northwestern's experimental program in quantum sensing for particle physics. Key directions: (1) SuperCDMS SNOLAB β€” Northwestern's NU's role in the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search at SNOLAB (2 km underground in Canada), using ultra-pure Si and Ge crystals with superconducting TES sensors to detect low-mass dark matter (particles below the proton mass); in March 2026 the experiment reached operating temperature (<10 mK), transitioning to detector calibration for the first ever dark matter search at the site; (2) NEXUS facility at Fermilab: Northwestern-built test facility led by Figueroa-Feliciano for SuperCDMS detector calibration and for measuring how ionizing radiation affects superconducting qubits (published fall 2025); (3) Qubit-based quantum sensing: developing HVeV R&D devices with <1 eV resolution and qubit parity-detection techniques for eV-scale and sub-eV dark matter detection. Associate Vice President for Research at Northwestern; INQUIRE Executive Committee. Joint appointment at Fermilab.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics (Cavendish Laboratory – AMOP Group) | Quantum Engineering Group (QEG) @ Cambridge
Summary:

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 Cuβ‚‚O β€” exploring blockade-based optical quantum gates. The Integrated Quantum Networks Hub co-PI role underpins a broader quantum internet vision.