About Me
Hi, I’m James! I’m a physics postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago (UChicago). I completed my PhD at the Australian National University (ANU) and spent a few years visiting Caltech as part of my PhD research with LIGO.
My research interests include quantum metrology, quantum computation, gravitational waves, and quantum gravity. I enjoy discovering a simple understanding of physical phenomena from intuitive analytic models. I believe in Open Research and Open Source. My full CV is available upon request and I include highlights below.
My current office is the antechamber: Room 289, William Eckhardt Research Center (ERC). Do drop in!
Employment
University of Chicago (UChicago)
Postdoctoral Scholar
2025 - present
I currently hold the Chicago Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship in Theoretical Quantum Science at UChicago. I started this position in September 2025. My research is at the interface between quantum sensing and quantum computation.
Australian National University (ANU)
Research Officer Grade 5/6
2022
I worked as a research assistant at CGA on benchmarking future gravitational-wave detector networks to assess the science case for a detector in Australia. The associated paper is available here.
Australian National University (ANU)
Summer Research Intern
2020, 2021
Over two summers at CGA, I worked on analytic and numerical modelling of quantum optics configurations for squeezing in LIGO and experimental optics work in the CGA GW Laboratory into tilt-locking.
Education
Australian National University (ANU)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Physics
2022 - 2025
I completed a Physics PhD at ANU from June 2022 to August 2025. I was supervised by Joe Hope and Simon Haine at ANU and by Yanbei Chen on an three-year visit to Caltech as a Visiting Special Student. My research involved theoretical work in precision metrology for gravitational-wave detectors. My PhD thesis is available here.
Australian National University (ANU)
Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) in Science with First Class Honours in Physics
2018 - 2021
The Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) in Science is an advanced science degree offered at ANU which includes undergraduate research and a great freedom in course selection. During my undergraduate time at ANU, I enjoyed learning through asking many fruitful questions and found good company and help from my peers.
In my final Honours year, I explored a different way to use quantum squeezing to improve the sensitivity of gravitational-wave detectors (called Nondegenerate Internal Squeezing). The associated paper is available here. My First Class Honours thesis is available here.
Publications
- James W. Gardner, Federico Belliardo, Gideon Lee, Tuvia Gefen, and Liang Jiang, Quantum superresolution and noise spectroscopy with quantum computing. In review. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2602.17862
- James W. Gardner, Tuvia Gefen, Ethan Payne, Su Direkci, Sander M. Vermeulen, Simon A. Haine, Joseph J. Hope, Lee McCuller, and Yanbei Chen, Bayesian frequency estimation at the fundamental quantum limit. In review. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2507.02811
- James W. Gardner, Simon A. Haine, Joseph J. Hope, Yanbei Chen, and Tuvia Gefen, Lindblad estimation with fast and precise quantum control. Phys. Rev. Applied 24, 044055. https://doi.org/10.1103/6yzb-43rs
- James W. Gardner, Tuvia Gefen, Simon A. Haine, Joseph J. Hope, John Preskill, Yanbei Chen, and Lee McCuller, Stochastic waveform estimation at the fundamental quantum limit. PRX Quantum 6, 030311. https://doi.org/10.1103/h91r-4ws9
- James W. Gardner, Tuvia Gefen, Simon A. Haine, Joseph J. Hope, and Yanbei Chen, Achieving the Fundamental Quantum Limit of Linear Waveform Estimation. Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 130801. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.130801
- James W. Gardner, Ling Sun, Ssohrab Borhanian, Paul D. Lasky, Eric Thrane, David E. McClelland, and Bram J. J. Slagmolen, 2023, Multi-messenger astronomy with a Southern-Hemisphere gravitational-wave observatory, Phys. Rev. D 108, 123026. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.108.123026
- James W. Gardner, Min Jet Yap, Vaishali Adya, Sheon Chua, Bram J. J. Slagmolen, and David E. McClelland, 2022, Nondegenerate internal squeezing: an all-optical, loss-resistant quantum technique for gravitational-wave detection, Phys. Rev. D 106, L041101. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.106.L041101
- James W. Gardner, Hannah Middleton, Changrong Liu, Andrew Melatos, Robin Evans, William Moran, et al., 2022, Continuous gravitational waves in the lab: recovering audio signals with a table-top optical microphone, American Journal of Physics 90, 286 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1119/10.0009409
Awards and scholarships
- Invited visit with reimbursement to Tokyo Institute of Technology - 2024
- GWADW2024 - First Prize, Poster Presentation with Best Sparkler Talk - 2024
- Invited visit with reimbursement to Northwestern University - 2023
- Partial travel stipend from the USA NSF under Award No. PHY-2011968 - 2022-present
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) Travel Grant - 2022
- Australian Government Research Training Program Domestic Scholarship - 2022-present
- ANU Supplementary Scholarship - 2022-present
- The John Carver Physics Prize - 2021 (awarded in October 2022). Rewards academic excellence in the ANU Physics Honours specialisation.
- ANU Chancellor’s Letters of Commendation - 2020–2022. For outstanding academic achievement in 2019–21.
- ANU First Class Honours - 2021
- ANU Achievement Prize for Third Year Physics - 2020
- ANU Dean’s Science Education Commendation Award - 2020
- ANU National University Scholarship - 2018–2021
Engagement with the research community
Membership
- The American Physical Society (APS) - 2024–present
- The Australian Institute of Physics (AIP) - 2022–present
- The Cosmic Explorer Consortium (ANU group) - 2022–2025
- The LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC - OzGrav - ANU group) - 2022–2025
- The Centre for Gravitational Astrophysics - ANU - 2020–2025
- The Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav, ANU Node) - 2020–2025
Presentations and posters
- Northwestern University - Shahriar Group Seminar - December 2023, Realising the waveform-estimation Holevo Cramér-Rao Bound for gravitational-wave detectors.
- (Poster) Frontiers of Quantum Metrology: Fundamental Physics, Unexpected Connections, and Novel Applications – KITP UCSB - October 2023, Optimal measurement for detuned–cavity based quantum metrology with applications to gravitational-wave detection.
- LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration (LVK) joint meeting of the advanced interferometer configurations (AIC), quantum noise (QN), and laser and auxiliary (LA) working groups - September 2023, Proposal for realising the waveform-estimation Holevo Cramér-Rao Bound
- Cosmic Explorer Consortium - Cosmic Explorer Science Call - April 2023, Prospects for multi-messenger astronomy using an Australian gravitational-wave detector
- OzGrav - Data/Astrophysics meeting - March 2023, Prospects for an Australian gravitational-wave detector
- LVK joint meeting of the AIC, QN, and LA working groups - March 2023, Optimal measurement for detuned–cavity based quantum metrology with applications to gravitational-wave detection.
- American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting - March 2023, Optimal measurement for detuned–cavity based quantum metrology with applications to gravitational-wave detection.
- (Poster also presented)
- Gordon Research Conference (GRC) - Mechanical Systems in the Quantum Regime - June 2022, Two-mode squeezing for gravitational-wave detection. Presented jointly with Mr Daniel Gould.
- (Poster also presented), Nondegenerate internal squeezing: an all-optical, loss-resistant quantum technique for gravitational-wave detection.
- LVK joint meeting of AIC, QN, and LA working groups - March 2022, Nondegenerate internal squeezing.
- OzGrav data/astrophysics meeting - February 2022, Continuous gravitational waves in the lab: recovering audio signals with a table-top optical microphone.
- LVK interferometer simulation working group - December 2020, Verification of the newly-added non-linear element in Finesse for optical modelling of advanced gravitational-wave detector configurations.
- Various internal presentations to the ANU Centre for Gravitational Astrophysics.
Presentation slides and posters are available upon request.
Media coverage
- Universe Today - August 2023, It’s Time for a Gravitational Wave Observatory in the Southern Hemisphere, by Brian Koberlein. Available at https://www.universetoday.com/162961/its-time-for-a-gravitational-wave-observatory-in-the-southern-hemisphere/
- SciTechDaily - April 2022, Continuous Gravitational Waves in the Lab. Available at https://scitechdaily.com/continuous-gravitational-waves-in-the-lab/.
Teaching
- Guest Lecturer, Caltech - Ph125c Lectures 2 and 3, 2023. Introduction to density matrices and the quantum theory of measurement.
- Science Mentors ACT (pro bono), 2019
Outside of academia
When I’m not lost in the quantum realm, I enjoy playing games and making music with friends. I love storytelling and Dungeons & Dragons. I play the trombone (jazz) and piano accordion (folk) and adore Don Ellis’s Autumn. When the weather is fine, you may also find me resting on a mountainside or by a lake these days.