Technique - (20) Atom interferometry (light-pulse)

Type: Experimental

Description: Large-momentum-transfer laser pulses act as beam splitters and mirrors for ultracold atomic wavepackets; used for gravimetry, inertial sensing, dark matter, and gravitational wave detection.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | SYRTE - Cold Atom Interferometry & Inertial Sensors Team @ CNRS
Summary:

Landragin directs SYRTE and its Cold Atom Interferometry and Inertial Sensors team, which develops light-pulse atom interferometers as absolute gravimeters and gyroscopes: the Cold Atom Gravimeter (CAG), whose single-laser pyramid-reflector design he co-invented and commercialized through the start-up Muquans (now Absolute Quantum Gravimeter, AQG), and continuously-operating cold-atom gyroscopes reaching record joint sensitivity. Applications span geodesy, hydrology, volcano monitoring and inertial navigation. He received the CNRS Innovation Medal in 2020.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | H. Mueller Atom Interferometry Lab @ UCB
Summary:

Mueller's group performs light-pulse atom interferometry at extreme precision to test the equivalence principle, measure the fine-structure constant, and search for new physics, developing techniques (large momentum transfer, squeezed-atom methods) that also underlie compact atom-interferometric gravimeters and gyroscopes. The lab is actively recruiting postdocs.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics / LKB-affiliated; SYRTE (Observatoire de Paris / PSL) | Atom Interferometry and Inertial Sensors (SYRTE/LKB) @ ENS Paris
Summary:

Franck Pereira dos Santos (CNRS DR, SYRTE) develops dual-species (Rb/Cs) atom interferometers and gravimeters with the highest accuracy. Research: (1) cold-atom gravimeters for absolute gravity measurement; (2) dual Rb/Cs fountain for equivalence principle tests; (3) interleaved interferometry to eliminate dead-time and aliasing noise; (4) quantum optimal control for Raman/Bragg pulse sequences. Key SYRTE inertial sensor PI.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | Prentiss Lab @ Harvard
Summary:

Prentiss's group works on cold-atom light-pulse interferometry for compact, potentially fieldable inertial sensors (gravimeters/gyroscopes), alongside a parallel biophysics program using optical tweezers and single-molecule methods to study DNA and cell mechanics. The atom-interferometric sensing work is squarely in the quantum-sensing gravimetry/inertial-navigation tradition alongside cold-atom-gradiometer and atom-chip clock efforts elsewhere in the field.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics (Cavendish Laboratory – AMOP Group) | Many-Body Quantum Dynamics Group @ Cambridge
Summary:

Schneider leads the Many-Body Quantum Dynamics group. His primary work is on optical lattice quantum simulation with ultracold atoms (quasicrystalline and kagome potentials, non-equilibrium dynamics), but he also co-leads a significant quantum sensing arm: he is a core Cambridge PI in the AION collaboration building a 10 m strontium single-photon atom interferometer at Oxford and contributing to MAGIS-100 at Fermilab, targeting mid-band gravitational wave detection and ultralight dark matter. In 2026 he co-leads the UKRI-funded SEQUIN project, a hybrid quantum-classical interferometer array combining atom interferometry with seismometers to probe gravitational waves and Earth's interior.

Department(s)/lab(s): Electrical and Computer Engineering | Shahriar Research Group @ Northwestern
Summary:

Prof. Shahriar's group uses atomic and optical systems for precision measurement and quantum information. Key directions: (1) White-light cavities β€” using anomalous dispersion media inside optical cavities to create a bandwidth-extended cavity enabling broadband gravitational wave detector sensitivity enhancement beyond current LIGO designs; (2) Superluminal (fast-light) gyroscopes β€” anomalous-dispersion-enhanced ring-laser gyroscopes for measuring the Lense-Thirring frame-dragging effect as a test of general relativity, with >10⁢× sensitivity enhancement over conventional Sagnac gyroscopes; (3) Quantum memories and computers using trapped atomic ensembles (PRISM protocol); (4) Ultra-low-light nonlinear optics with nanofibers and atoms for optical switching and quantum logic; (5) Holographic and polarimetric image processing. Member of LIGO Scientific Collaboration; contributed to GW170817 binary neutron star merger discovery. AT&T Professor of ECE.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics / Laboratoire Charles Fabry (IOGS/X) | Quantum Gases Group LCF (Westbrook/Aspect Lab) @ X
Summary:

Christoph Westbrook co-heads the Quantum Gases group at LCF/IOGS. Research: (1) metastable helium (He*) BEC and ultracold atomic gases β€” atom optics, Bose-Hubbard physics, Anderson localization; (2) correlated atom pair production via four-wave mixing for quantum atom optics sensing; (3) atom laser and matter-wave interferometry. The group pioneered the He* BEC and uses correlated atom pairs for quantum sensing analogous to two-photon quantum optics.

Department(s)/lab(s): Institute of Physics (QUANTUM) | AG Windpassinger - Experimental Quantum Optics and Quantum Information @ JGU
Summary:

Windpassinger's group works on cold neutral atoms as both a platform for fundamental light-matter physics and a deployable sensing technology. The fundamental line uses dysprosium -- the most magnetic element -- to study light propagation in dense dipolar media, where interatomic spacings fall below the optical wavelength and light-induced plus magnetic dipole-dipole interactions produce cooperative effects (superradiance, subradiance); controlled transport in optical dipole traps and microfocusing let them tune from single-atom to collective behaviour. The applied line builds ultracold-atom quantum sensors that survive outside the lab: atom interferometers and BEC sources flown in the Bremen drop tower, on sounding rockets, and on the ISS, aimed at inertial sensing, gravimetry and tests of fundamental constants under microgravity. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), this is the complementary 'cold and fragile but absolutely calibrated' end of the sensing spectrum; the group's real distinguishing asset for a postdoc is the space/microgravity engineering pipeline, which is rare. The group states it is continuously looking for motivated researchers and lists open positions via the PI.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | V. Xu Lab @ UCB
Summary:

Xu works on frequency-dependent squeezed-light injection for quantum-enhanced gravitational-wave detection at LIGO and on trapped-cavity atom interferometry for precision tests of fundamental physics, bridging quantum optics and atom-based inertial sensing.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics / LKB | Ultracold Fermi Gases Group (Yefsah/LKB) @ ENS Paris
Summary:

Tarik Yefsah's group at LKB studies strongly interacting ultracold Fermi gases. Research: (1) Fermi gas mixtures β€” quantum simulation of condensed matter phenomena (BCS-BEC crossover, Fermi polaron); (2) quantum gas microscope experiments imaging individual atoms in optical lattices; (3) novel quantum phases in Fermi-Hubbard systems ('fermionic waltz' publication 2026). Relevant to quantum simulation and quantum gas-based sensing.