Patrick Maletinsky was born in 1979 in Baden, AG and grew up in the town of Schaffhausen, Switzerland. He studied Physics at ETH Zurich with stays at the Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris and at JILA in Boulder, Colorado. For his doctoral studies, he returned to ETH Zurich, where he graduated under the supervision of Prof. Atac Imamoglu on optical studies of hyperfine-interactions in individual, self-assembled quantum dots. His doctoral thesis was awarded the Schläfli-prize of the Swiss Academy of Sciences in 2010. From 2008 to 2011, he was a postdoc in the group of Amir Yacoby at Harvard University, where he developed and applied novel, highly precise methods for nanoscale magnetic field sensing. In 2012, Patrick Maletinsky assumed the Georg-H.-Endress-Professorship as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics of the University of Basel; he was promoted to Associate Professor in February 2017.

Our research is driven by the goal to establish and employ innovative and powerful quantum technologies for nanoscale quantum sensing and imaging. For this, we focus on developing novel sensory tools based on individual quantum systems and on applying these sensors to scientific problems, where established technologies are reaching their limits. The prime example for such sensing systems is a single electron spin, which can be used to image magnetic fields with nanoscale spatial resolution. Our group specialises on applying such approaches to problems in condensed matter physics with a particular focus on mesoscopic systems. Our current focus lies on the use of Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) center spins for such sensing applications. We exploit these spins for mechanical sensing in hybrid quantum systems, for nanoscale magnetometry in scanning probe experiments and for nanophotonics in engineered diamond nanostructures. Recent highlights from our group include the coupling of NV spins to mechanical oscillators by strain (PRL ’14, Nature Phys. ’15) and our achievements in nanoscale sensing and imaging of weak magnetic fields in mesoscopic samples (Nature Nano. ’15, ’16, Rev. Sci. Instr. ’16). For example, we have recently demonstrated the first cryogenic, nanoscale magnetometer based on single NV spins and have applied it to quantitative, nanoscale imaging of vortex stray fields in a cuprate superconductor. Based on these achievements, we will continue to extend our studies to exotic states of matter including complex magnetic materials or strongly correlated electron systems. Our novel quantum technologies will thereby offer significant new insights and progress for these materials, which are of highest scientific interest and potential technological relevance.