26th Australian Institute of Physics Congress and the Australian and New Zealand Conference on Optics and Photonics

Session

AIP QST: Quantum precision sensors & gravitational physics

QST

9 Dec 2026, 14:30

Belinda Hutchinson Building (The University of Sydney )

332. GravNet-Australia: A Southern Hemisphere Network of Quantum Sensors for High-Frequency Gravitational Wave and Dark Matter Searches

Michael Tobar (The University of Western Australia)

09/12/2026, 14:30

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Contributed Oral

We will establish the Southern-Hemisphere node (GravNet-Australia) of an international quantum-sensor network for high-frequency-gravitational-wave (HFGW) and wave-like-dark-matter discovery (GravNet). By linking cryogenic acoustic resonators, electromagnetic cavities, inertial sensors, precision timing infrastructure, and low-noise quantum readout across UWA, Swinburne, SUPL, and NMI. The...

246. Cosmic-Ray-Induced Temporal Noise Structure in Precision Oscillators for Quantum Technologies

Maxim Goryachev

09/12/2026, 14:45

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Contributed Oral

Cosmic rays and environmental ionizing radiation are emerging as important error mechanisms in quantum technologies, particularly in superconducting circuits where particle-induced quasiparticles, phonons, and correlated relaxation events can produce non-local faults. Similar impulsive energy-deposition processes may also perturb precision oscillators, resonators, and timing systems used for...

165. Quantum Vacuum Nonlinearities in Laser Interferometers

Zain Mehdi

09/12/2026, 15:00

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Contributed Oral

A hitherto untested prediction of quantum field theory is the possibility of photon-photon interactions in vacuum mediated by zero-point fluctuations of charged matter, which manifests in the vacuum acquiring nonlinear properties akin to a dielectric medium. We point out that signatures of vacuum nonlinearities are intrinsically present in cavity-enhanced laser interferometers where the...

398. Unblockable Communication With Gravity

Andrew Groszek (The University of Queensland)

09/12/2026, 15:15

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Contributed Oral

All modern wireless communication technologies are based on electromagnetism. However, electromagnetic signals are readily susceptible to screening and blocking, so their availability cannot be guaranteed in adverse environments.

This raises a fundamental question: Can information be transmitted through an unblockable channel? Here we show that gravity, under physically realistic...