Ben Stray is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Quantum Sciences and Technology Group, working in the area of atom interferometry and quantum sensing.

Ben holds a Master’s degree in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Southampton, with a focus on photonics and quantum systems. He then completed his Ph.D. in the Atom Interferometry Group at the University of Birmingham, developing portable cold atom gravity gradiometers for field applications. Afterwards, Ben completed a two-year postdoc at Birmingham on the UK collaboration: AION, working towards an atom interferometry based gravitational wave detector, where his focus was on enabling technologies, such as large momentum transfer.

Atom interferometry can be used to measure the local gravitational field at sensitivities far exceeding existing classical sensors. To create the most sensitive atom interferometers, there are physics challenges still to overcome; Ben is working to develop cold atom cloud splitting techniques, necessary for a future space-based hybridized gravity gradiometer.

• PhD, University of Birmingham (2016-2021)
• MPhys, University of Southampton (2012-2016)

Ben’s research interests are towards the applied side of quantum technologies, translating laboratory physics into deployable sensors.  

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Birmingham (2021-2023)

1. Stray, B., Lamb, A., Kaushik, A. et al. Quantum sensing for gravity cartography. Nature 602, 590–594 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04315-3
2. Vovrosh, J.; Dragomir, A.; Stray, B.; Boddice, D. Advances in Portable Atom Interferometry-Based Gravity Sensing. Sensors 2023, 23, 7651. https://doi.org/10.3390/s23177651
3. B. Stray, O. Ennis, S. Hedges, et al.; Centralised Design and Production of the Ultra-High Vacuum and Laser-Stabilisation Systems for the AION Ultra-Cold Strontium Laboratories, preprint 2023 https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2305.20060
4. Stray, Ben (2021). A portable cold atom gravity gradiometer with field application performance. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.