Matter and light waves, from fundamental physics to biophysics 

Our research has been advancing atomic, molecular and optical physics to probe nature at the utmost sensitivity. Examples are matter-wave interferometry, phase-contrast electron microscopy, and optical recording of biological signals.

We’re a member of the Berkeley Physics department, the Biophysics program, LBNL Molecular Biology and Integrated Bioimaging, as well as QB3.

Recent News

March 2024: Jeremy Axelrod has graduated with the thesis “A Laser Phase Plate for Transmission Electron Microscopy”.

April 2023: Laser phase plate team shows how to overcome resolution limitations due to thermal magnetic field noise in phase plate TEM! Ultramicroscopy 249, 113730 (2023) and https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.12.528160v1 (2023).

April 2023: Please join me in congratulating Matt Tao for being selected for a TEX Fellowship from the John Templeton Foundation! Congratulations Matt!

March 2023: Congratulations to Philipp Haslinger and his group for receiving tenure at Technical University Vienna!

September 2022: Please join me in congratulating Shau-Yu Lan for being promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure at Nanyang University, Singapore!

May 2022: Osip Schwartz named a Zuckerman Faculty Scholar for 2022-2023 at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Congratulations Osip!

March 2022: Graduate student Jack Roth and undergraduate Ocean Zhou win NSF graduate research fellowships! Congrats Jack and Ocean!

October 8, 2021: Postdoc Lothar Maisenbacher received the Feodor-Lynen Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Congrats Lothar!

September 2021: Collaborator Bob Glaeser wins Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been a central contributor and mentor to the electron microscopy project.

August 31, 2021: IS GRAVITY A QUANTUM FORCE?

August 2021: Laser phase plate project earns MAJOR grant by Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). CZI will fund a brand-new transmission electron microscope for taking laser-based phase contrast to a much higher level. Learn more here.

July 2021: Group retreat!

July 2021: Congratulations to Paul Hamilton for earning Tenure at UCLA! https://hamiltonlab.physics.ucla.edu/

June 2021: Optical electrophysiology review https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.1c02960

May 2021: News on laser phase contrast! https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0045496

The phase contrast electron microscopy project has been awarded a National Jury’s Choice Award in the U.S. Wiki Science Competition 2019 and is a Q-SORT special prize winner in the international Wiki Science Competition 2019 with their electron micrograph of a laser beam, titled “See the Light”!

Congratulations to Dr. Xuejian Wu for accepting an Assistant Professor position in the Physics Department at Rutgers University!

Our lattice interferometer is one of 10 finalists for physicsworld’s ‘Breakthrough of the Year’!

Dr. Philipp Haslinger has been awarded the Young Scientist Prize 2019 of the Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Division (AMOPD) of the European Physical Society (EPS)! Congratulations, Philipp!

Graduate student Zack Pagel has been awarded an NSF Graduate Fellowship! Congratulations Zack!

Congratulations to the new doctor in town, Dr. Matt Jaffe, for completion of an epic PhD thesis!

Congratulations to Dr. Philipp Haslinger for a 1.2-million euro START-prize by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, which will enable him to start an independent research group. There are only six such prizes among all fields of science.

Congratulations to our two newly minted PhDs, Dr. Kayleigh Cassella and Dr. Chenghui Yu!

The lithium interferometer has been featured in an APS Focus: Interferometer for lighter atoms, by Michael Schriber.

Graduate student Jeremy Axelrod was awarded an NSF Graduate Fellowship. Congratulations, Jeremy!

Dr. Brian Estey has sent out the final version of a phenomenal PhD thesis. Future generations of interferometeers will forever thank him!

Congratulations to our own Dr. Philipp Haslinger on his receipt of the 2016 ASciNA award!

We congratulate Geena Kim (Ph.D. '14, pictured right) for accepting an assistant professor position in computer science at Regis University!

Professor Holger Müller will present a talk through the Mt. Tamalpais Astronomy Program! The date is Saturday September 10, location is under the stars on Mt. Tam in Marin! More details here.

The cavity interferometer's chameleon dark energy search was recently featured in a BBC Horizon documentary "The Mystery of Dark Energy". Check it out!

Graduate student Matt Jaffe has received the Hellman Graduate Award. Congratulations, Matt!

Graduate student Jordan Dudley was awarded an NSF Graduate Fellowship. Congratulations, Jordan!

Postdoc Osip Schwartz was awarded a fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program. Congratulations, Osip!

The Mini-g experiment has been featured on the Berkeley Research page! An article highlights the experiment's work with the Bakar Fellows Program. The write-up can be found here.

Professor Holger Müller will headline a Science@Cal lecture titled "Shining light on dark matter and dark energy with lasers and atoms" on Saturday, Feb 20. Details can be found here!

We have won the 2016 President's Research Catalyst Award for Professor Holger Müller's "Network of Sensors for Exotic Physics" proposal. This multi-UC campus collaboration will search for ultralight dark matter candidates.

May 2018: Group members Dr. Kayleigh Cassella and Dr. Chenghui Yu have been awarded well-deserved doctorates!

January 2017: Dr. Brian Estey has sent out the final version of a phenomenal PhD thesis. Future generations of interferometeers will forever thank him!

October 2016: Congratulations to our own Dr. Philipp Haslinger on his receipt of the 2016 ASciNA award!

September 2016: We congratulate Geena Kim (Ph.D. 2014) for accepting an assistant professor position in computer science at Regis University.

December 2015: Professor Holger Müller wins 2016 President's Research Catalyst Award for his "Network of Sensors for Exotic Physics" proposal. This multi-UC campus collaboration will search for ultralight dark matter candidates.

November 2015: Grad student Kayleigh Cassella passed her qualifying exam!

August 2015: Grad student Brian Estey passed his qualifying exam!

Thanks to the funding agencies who provide us the means to pursue our work.