The Quantum Technologies and Dark Matter research laboratory has a rich history of developing precision tools for testing fundamental physics at low energies. This includes the efforts to discover “Beyond Standard Model” physics, including the nature of Dark Matter and the unification of Quantum Mechanics with General Relativity to help uncover a unified theory of everything. In particular, our work includes searches for Lorentz invariance violations in the photon, phonon and gravity sectors, possible variations in fundamental constants, searches for wave-like dark matter, test of quantum gravity and the determination of temporal geometric phases. This includes experiments that take advantage of axion-photon coupling and axion-spin coupling to search for axion dark matter. High acoustic Q phonon systems to search for Lorentz violations, high frequency gravity waves, scalar dark matter, tests of quantum gravity from the possible modification of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and the new proposal to undertake a temporal Pound-Rebka experiment as gravitational Aharonov-Bohm effect.
 
About the speaker: Prof. Michael E Tobar,  University of Western Australia
Professor Tobar leads the Quantum Technologies and Dark Matter Research Laboratory at the University of Western Australia (qdmlab.com). The lab is part of two nation-wide Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence, the Centre for Engineered Quantum Systems and the Centre for Dark Matter Particle Physics. His broad research interests encompass the disciplines of frequency metrology, precision and quantum measurements, low temperature, condensed matter and quantum physics. Over his career he has developed a variety of measurement tools, allowing investigations in many areas of Physics and Engineering, leading to many prestigious awards. In particular, he has developed technologies to undertake precise tests of fundamental physics and has also adapted such technology to the commercial sector, which includes 12 patents on precision radar and detectors and around 350 refereed journal publications. He also leads the well-known ORGAN axion Dark Matter detector collaboration co-funded by both Centres, and in 2019 his group become an official collaborator of the famous Axion Dark Matter eXperiment situated at the University of Washington, Seattle.