University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham’s Alkaline Group is led by Prof. Yeshpal Singh. The Alkaline Group was set up during 2008 and is part of the Midlands Ultra Cold Atoms Research Centre (MUARC) together with the University of Nottingham. Scientists of the Cold Atoms group in Birmingham are leading the national QT Hub for Sensing, Imaging and Timing (QuSIT) that has the aim of exploiting the exceptional properties of quantum matter to realise real-world applications like ultra-precise atomic clocks and interferometers and ‘gravitational cameras’ which can unveil the underworld – from modern urban infrastructure to the buried secrets of Stonehenge.

University of Birmingham- Founded in 1900, the University is one of the leading research-based universities in the United Kingdom; the breadth of research expertise is a distinctive characteristic of the University. The last UK Research Excellence Framework in 2014 confirmed that 87% of the University’s research has global reach, meaning it is recognised internationally in terms of its originality, significance and rigour. Birmingham is 84th in the 2018 QS World University Rankings, cementing our position in the top 100 universities globally and placing us 14th out of the 24 Russell Group universities to feature in the ranking. UoB has extensive experience of EU collaboration and partnerships and in-depth expertise of Framework Programme matters including management, reporting and auditing. The University of Birmingham Cold Atoms Group was founded in 2008 has flourished into a research centre of 60 persons working on a diverse set of experiments, including atom interferometry based gravity sensing, optical clocks, quantum simulation, quantum information, cavity quantum-electrodynamics, and rotational sensing.

Team members

Yeshpal Singh (YS) is Professor of Quantum Science and Innovation at University of Birmingham (UoB) and has performed world-leading research in ultracold atoms and mobile optical-lattice clocks. He has pioneered the idea of ‘quantum-enabled radars’ utilising unprecedented stability and ultralow phase-noise characteristics of quantum/optical clocks. He has been playing a key role in the UK National Quantum Technology Initiative right from start, since 2013. He has authored over 60 publications, 1 patent and his awards include from Royal Society, Birmingham Innovation Fellowship, and Marie-Curie Fellowship. His group consists of 25 researchers and several experiments. His timing lab is dark fibre connected to National Physical Lab (Teddington), UK dark fibre facility, National Timing Centre and EU metrology institutes via EU fibre network.

Contact: [email protected]

Meg Smith is a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham and has an extensive background covering spintronics, thin film fabrication and characterisation, x-ray and neutron reflectivity, nano-magnetism, electronics, CAD, ultracold atoms, optics, and transportable optical lattice clocks. Meg is currently leading a team of PhD students to build a transportable optical lattice clock with an uncertainty of ~5 x 10-18. This project has developed Meg’s skills in the field of quantum metrology as the system has been designed from an initial concept and is in the process of being built. Meg has presented at numerous conferences, most recently at EFTF 2025.

Contact: [email protected]