Description: Steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence for characterizing optical transitions in materials.
Hibberd holds an EPSRC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship at Manchester's PSI. Research directions: (1) Ultrafast THz spectroscopy of magnetic materials β probing spin dynamics, magnon modes, and phase transitions in correlated magnetic materials with sub-ps time resolution using intense THz pulses; (2) THz-driven spintronics β using THz electric and magnetic fields to switch magnetization and induce spin currents; (3) THz generation from spintronic heterostructures β using ultrafast spin-charge conversion as a broadband THz emitter for materials characterization; (4) Quantum magnonics β studying collective spin excitations (magnons) as quantum sensors of materials order parameters. Bridges ultrafast optics and quantum sensing of magnetic phases.
Studies optical quantum science in solid-state systems with emphasis on photonic integration. Directions: (1) photonic integration of NV-center spin qubits in diamond nanophotonic circuits for scalable quantum sensing arrays; (2) 2D semiconductor (TMD) nanophotonic devices exploiting valley and spin-valley degrees of freedom; (3) engineering light-matter interactions for quantum information and sensing in nanoscale optical cavities. Key goal: scalable on-chip quantum sensing platforms.
The Hosseini Lab (Quantum Atom Optics) investigates lightβatom interactions in rare-earth crystals, room-temperature gases, and nanophotonic structures. Directions: (1) Quantum optical memories in TmΒ³βΊ:YAG and ErΒ³βΊ-doped solids using atomic frequency comb (AFC) and gradient echo memory (GEM) protocols for telecom-wavelength quantum networking; demonstrated efficient storage of multi-dimensional telecom photons (Optica Quantum 2025, Phys. Rev. Appl. 2025); (2) Cooperative/collective lightβmatter interactions in periodic rare-earth ion arrays in nano/micro-photonic structures (collaboration with Oak Ridge NL, Aydin group) for enhanced quantum memory coherence; (3) Quantum squeezed light β applied to enhanced thermoreflectance sensing of electronic hotspots (Appl. Phys. Lett. 2024); (4) Coherent levitation of macroscopic sensors (DARPA YFA 2024, $500k): magnetic and optical trapping of mm-scale objects as high-Q oscillators for magnetometry, vibrational sensing, accelerometry, inertial, and force sensing. Lab actively seeking postdocs in integrated photonics, quantum memory, and levitation sensing (2024β2025). ASEE Curtis W. McGraw Research Award 2026.
Hutchison works on molecular polaritonics: what happens to chemistry when molecular electronic or vibrational transitions are strongly coupled to a confined optical mode in a Fabry-Perot or plasmonic nanocavity. He was among the first to show that vibrational strong coupling modifies ground-state chemical reactivity, and the group continues to probe polariton-modified energy transfer, photochemistry and transport, alongside single-molecule spectroscopy and 2D-material photonics. 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 connection to quantum sensing is the cavity: the same Purcell and collective-coupling physics that concentrates optical density of states around a molecule is what is used to improve photon collection and readout fidelity in NV ensembles operating at pT/sqrt(Hz). This is fundamental light-matter physics with a clear nonclassical-state angle.
Imamoglu leads the Quantum Photonics Group at ETH, working at the intersection of quantum optics and condensed matter physics. Research directions: (1) Quantum emitters in 2D semiconductors β TMD monolayers (MoSe2, WSe2) host localized excitons that act as single-photon emitters; electrically tunable quantum dots in TMD heterostructures with high purity and spin-photon entanglement; developing them as quantum sensors of local electronic correlations at nanometer scales; (2) Strongly correlated electron physics β Mott insulator / Wigner crystal phases in moirΓ© TMD bilayers probed optically with single-photon resolution; mapping electronic phases with nanometer spatial resolution; (3) Polariton quantum fluids β exciton-polaritons in 2D semiconductor microcavities; (4) Quantum nonlinear optics β photon-photon interactions via giant Kerr nonlinearities in strongly coupled quantum dots. Quantum sensing angle: quantum emitters as nanoscale probes of correlated phases.
Lakhwani runs the Molecular Photophysics Group and is a chief investigator in ARC Exciton Science. The group works on strong light-matter coupling in organic semiconductors: forming exciton-polaritons in microcavities, driving them toward polariton lasing and condensation with electrically injected devices, and engineering host-guest energy funnelling to lower thresholds. A second thread is chiroptical spectroscopy β circular dichroism and circularly polarised luminescence of chiral organic films β which is a polarisation-resolved measurement of a very small differential signal. 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 polaritonic quantum matter is a distinct route to non-classical states of light at room temperature, in contrast to the cryogenic or spin-based platforms that dominate pT/sqrt(Hz)-class sensing; the differential chiroptical measurements the group performs are, methodologically, small-signal detection problems of exactly the same type.
Laucht works on the quantum control of spins across two platforms: donor spin qubits in silicon (with Morello and Dzurak), where he demonstrated electrically-driven single-spin control in a continuous microwave field and pioneered dressed-state protection against decoherence; and, more recently, spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride β a 2D material whose optically addressable spin defects are the most promising candidate for a van der Waals analogue of the NV centre, with the enormous advantage that the sensor can be placed a single atomic layer from the sample. 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 hBN spin defects are the field's most active attempt to beat the standoff-distance limitation that caps near-surface NV ensemble sensitivity; a candidate with NV ODMR experience would be immediately productive here, running the same pulse sequences on a new defect. Strong fit.
Laurat leads the Quantum Networks team at LKB, developing quantum memories and atom-photon interfaces for quantum network applications. Research directions: (1) High-efficiency cold-atom quantum memories β DLCZ-protocol and AFC memories for telecom photons; demonstrating >90% efficiency and multimode operation; quantum cryptography integrating optical quantum memory (arXiv Mar 2025); (2) Waveguide QED β cold atoms coupled to nanofibers and nanophotonic waveguides for super-radiance, photon-bound states, and atom-photon gates; (3) Quantum network protocols β entanglement distribution, quantum repeater segments; part of European Quantum Flagship 'Quantum Internet Alliance'; (4) Hybrid entanglement β continuous-variable and discrete-variable hybrid entanglement for CHSH Bell tests (PRA 2024). Senior IUF member.
Ledoux-Rak works on molecular and polymer nonlinear optics - second-harmonic generation, electro-optic modulators, and photonic materials/devices - a fundamental-light and nonlinear-photonics program (legacy LPQM at ENS Cachan). In the broader landscape of NV-centre ensemble quantum sensing (DEER, nano-NMR, T1 relaxometry) operating near pT/sqrt(Hz) sensitivity, this work connects via nonlinear-optical materials for photon-pair generation and modulation.
Prof. Mohseni's group (Bio-inspired Sensors and Optoelectronics) pushes III-V semiconductor photodetector technology toward thermodynamic and quantum limits of photon sensitivity. Key directions: (1) Nanoscale IR photodetectors: shrinking pixel dimensions below the diffraction limit using quantum confinement effects (InGaAs/InAlAs quantum well and dot structures) to improve sensitivity, bandwidth, and resolution simultaneously; (2) Superlattice photomultipliers β high-gain, low-noise avalanche photodetectors at room temperature approaching quantum-limited sensitivity for mid-wave and long-wave infrared detection; (3) Quantum sensing applications including squeezed-light-enhanced thermoreflectance imaging of electronic hotspots, and photon-counting receivers for quantum communications. Co-author on 275+ papers, 33+ US patents; NAI Fellow 2023; W.M. Keck Foundation Award, DARPA YFA, NSF CAREER. Fellow of SPIE and Optica. Also Professor of Physics and Astronomy.