Buchmueller's research interests focus on several of the most intriguing challenges of modern fundamental physics: dark matter and gravitational wave detection and physics processes beyond the standard model in general.
Buchmueller is a full Professor of Physics at Imperial College London, a senior member of the CMS Collaboration, and the leading Principal Investigator (PI) of the Atom Interferometer Observatory and Network (AION) consortium [1] as well as the lead author of the Atomic Experiment for Dark Matter and Gravity Exploration in Space (AEDGE) mission [2]. He also spearheads the international community building process for Cold Atoms in Space, which brings together representatives of the cold atom, astrophysics, cosmology, fundamental physics, geodesy and earth observation communities [3].
The AION Project
Since 2018 Buchmueller is collaborating closely with Prof. Ian Shipsey, Prof. Chris Foot, Prof. Daniela Bortoletto, and Prof. John March-Russel on the novel AION project.
The project will construct and operate a next-generation Atom Interferometric Observatory and Network (AION) in the UK that will enable exploration of properties of dark matter (DM) and searches for new fundamental interactions. It also provides a new technology for detecting gravitational waves (GWs) from the very early Universe and astrophysical sources in the mid-frequency band ranging from several mHz to a few Hz, which is mostly inaccessible as yet.
AION is a consortium of the University of Birmingham, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, Kings College London, University of Liverpool, University of Oxford, and STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. In addition, the project is in partnership with UK National Quantum Technology Hub in Sensors and Timing, Birmingham, UK, the MAGIS Collaboration, US and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, US.
The AION project has a staged plan to build a set of atom interferometers with baselines starting with an initial length of 10 m, which paves the way for 100 m and eventually km-scale detectors in future. The 10m detector will be in the newly-constructed low-vibration Beecroft building in Oxford, which provides world-class infrastructure, including an adjacent high-specification laser lab reserved for this project.
This programme will make the UK a leader in the exploitation of the enormous physics potential of the mid-frequency band with several possible ground-breaking discoveries. As an important by-product, AION will also develop technology for potentially highly disruptive class of applications of precision measurement instruments in surveying.
UKRI and university funding of about £10 million (UKRI part £7.2 million) will enable the AION project to prepare the construction of a 10 m-tall atomic interferometer in the Beecroft building at the University of Oxford to explore ultra-light dark matter and provide a pathway towards detecting gravitational waves in the unexplored mid-frequency band ranging from several mHz to a few Hz. This will be the largest quantum detector ever build in the UK.
The Beecroft building will become not only the physical but also intellectual centre of the AION collaboration, which is an interdisciplinary team of researchers, engineers and PhD students from the particle physics, cold atom, astronomy, and theory communities.
[1] AION, JCAP 05 (2020) 011, arXiv:1911.11755
[2] AEDGE, EPJ Quant. Tec. 7 (2020) 6, EPJ QT, 1908.00802,
[3] https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.07789