Person | Adolphe Merkle Institute | Université de Fribourg

ABENDROTH John

Quantum Sensing & Spin Chemistry

Adolphe Merkle Institute Chemin des Verdiers 4 CH-1700 Fribourg Switzerland

Office:	B224
Email:	john.abendroth@unifr.ch
	0000-0002-2369-4311

John Abendroth is an Assistant Professor and head of the Quantum Sensing & Spin Chemistry research group at AMI. John earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Florida and PhD in physical chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2018. His postdoctoral training was in materials science & engineering at Stanford University and in physics at ETH Zurich. From 2021 to 2025 he was a senior researcher at ETH Zurich with a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Ambizione Grant studying molecular systems using diamond-based quantum sensors. In 2025 he was awarded Starting Grants from both the European Research Council (ERC) and SNSF. Since 2026, his group at AMI focuses on probing photo- and spin chemistry at the nanoscale, focusing on charge transfer in biological systems and chirality-induced spin selectivity.

Publications

SimOS: A Python framework for simulations of optically addressable spins
Laura A. Völker, John M. Abendroth, Christian L. Degen, Konstantin Herb
Computer Physics Communications 320 , 109919 (2026)

Minimizing Sensor-Sample Distances in Scanning Nitrogen-Vacancy Magnetometry
Zhewen Xu, Marius L. Palm, William Huxter, Konstantin Herb, John M. Abendroth, Karim Bouzehouane, Olivier Boulle, Mihai S. Gabor, Joseba Urrestarazu Larranaga, Andrea Morales, Jan Rhensius, Gabriel Puebla-Hellmann, Christian L. Degen
ACS Nano 19 , 8255-8265 (2025)

Quantum magnetometry of transient signals with a time resolution of 1.1 nanoseconds
K. Herb, L. A. Völker, J. M. Abendroth, N. Meinhardt, L. van Schie, P. Gambardella, C. L. Degen
Nature Communications 16 (2025)

SimOS: A Python Framework for Simulations of Optically Addressable Spins

arXiv (2025)

Charge and Spin Dynamics and Destabilization of Shallow Nitrogen–Vacancy Centers under UV and Blue Excitation
Laura A. Völker, Konstantin Herb, Darin A. Merchant, Lorenzo Bechelli, Christian L. Degen, John M. Abendroth
Nano Letters 24 , 11895-11903 (2024)

Multidimensional Spectroscopy of Nuclear Spin Clusters in Diamond
Konstantin Herb, Takuya F. Segawa, Laura A. Völker, John M. Abendroth, Erika Janitz, Tianqi Zhu, Christian L. Degen
Physical Review Letters 132 (2024)

Rapid genetic screening with high quality factor metasurfaces
Jack Hu, Fareeha Safir, Kai Chang, Sahil Dagli, Halleh B. Balch, John M. Abendroth, Jefferson Dixon, Parivash Moradifar, Varun Dolia, Malaya K. Sahoo, Benjamin A. Pinsky, Stefanie S. Jeffrey, Mark Lawrence, Jennifer A. Dionne
Nature Communications 14 (2023)

Toward quantum sensing of chiral induced spin selectivity: Probing donor–bridge–acceptor molecules with NV centers in diamond
Laura A. Völker, Konstantin Herb, Erika Janitz, Christian L. Degen, John M. Abendroth
The Journal of Chemical Physics 158 (2023)

Single-Nitrogen–Vacancy NMR of Amine-Functionalized Diamond Surfaces
John M. Abendroth, Konstantin Herb, Erika Janitz, Tianqi Zhu, Laura A. Völker, Christian L. Degen
Nano Letters 22 , 7294-7303 (2022)

A Chirality-Based Quantum Leap
Clarice D. Aiello, John M. Abendroth, Muneer Abbas, Andrei Afanasev, Shivang Agarwal, Amartya S. Banerjee, David N. Beratan, Jason N. Belling, Bertrand Berche, Antia Botana, Justin R. Caram, Giuseppe Luca Celardo, Gianaurelio Cuniberti, Aitzol Garcia-Etxarri, Arezoo Dianat, Ismael Diez-Perez, Yuqi Guo, Rafael Gutierrez, Carmen Herrmann, Joshua Hihath, Suneet Kale, Philip Kurian, Ying-Cheng Lai, Tianhan Liu, Alexander Lopez, Ernesto Medina, Vladimiro Mujica, Ron Naaman, Mohammadreza Noormandipour, Julio L. Palma, Yossi Paltiel, William Petuskey, João Carlos Ribeiro-Silva, Juan José Saenz, Elton J. G. Santos, Maria Solyanik-Gorgone, Volker J. Sorger, Dominik M. Stemer, Jesus M. Ugalde, Ana Valdes-Curiel, Solmar Varela, David H. Waldeck, Michael R. Wasielewski, Paul S. Weiss, Helmut Zacharias, Qing Hua Wang
ACS Nano 16 , 4989-5035 (2022)

Parallel detection and spatial mapping of large nuclear spin clusters
K. S. Cujia, K. Herb, J. Zopes, J. M. Abendroth, C. L. Degen
Nature Communications 13 (2022)

Diamond surface engineering for molecular sensing with nitrogen—vacancy centers
Erika Janitz, Konstantin Herb, Laura A. Völker, William S. Huxter, Christian L. Degen, John M. Abendroth
Journal of Materials Chemistry C 10 , 13533-13569 (2022)

Spatial Correlation between Fluctuating and Static Fields over Metal and Dielectric Substrates
Martin Héritier, Raphael Pachlatko, Ye Tao, John M. Abendroth, Christian L. Degen, Alexander Eichler
Physical Review Letters 127 (2021)

X-ray-Based Techniques to Study the Nano–Bio Interface
Carlos Sanchez-Cano, Ramon A. Alvarez-Puebla, John M. Abendroth, Tobias Beck, Robert Blick, Yuan Cao, Frank Caruso, Indranath Chakraborty, Henry N. Chapman, Chunying Chen, Bruce E. Cohen, Andre L. C. Conceição, David P. Cormode, Daxiang Cui, Kenneth A. Dawson, Gerald Falkenberg, Chunhai Fan, Neus Feliu, Mingyuan Gao, Elisabetta Gargioni, Claus-C. Glüer, Florian Grüner, Moustapha Hassan, Yong Hu, Yalan Huang, Samuel Huber, Nils Huse, Yanan Kang, Ali Khademhosseini, Thomas F. Keller, Christian Körnig, Nicholas A. Kotov, Dorota Koziej, Xing-Jie Liang, Beibei Liu, Sijin Liu, Yang Liu, Ziyao Liu, Luis M. Liz-Marzán, Xiaowei Ma, Andres Machicote, Wolfgang Maison, Adrian P. Mancuso, Saad Megahed, Bert Nickel, Ferdinand Otto, Cristina Palencia, Sakura Pascarelli, Arwen Pearson, Oula Peñate-Medina, Bing Qi, Joachim Rädler, Joseph J. Richardson, Axel Rosenhahn, Kai Rothkamm, Michael Rübhausen, Milan K. Sanyal, Raymond E. Schaak, Heinz-Peter Schlemmer, Marius Schmidt, Oliver Schmutzler, Theo Schotten, Florian Schulz, A. K. Sood, Kathryn M. Spiers, Theresa Staufer, Dominik M. Stemer, Andreas Stierle, Xing Sun, Gohar Tsakanova, Paul S. Weiss, Horst Weller, Fabian Westermeier, Ming Xu, Huijie Yan, Yuan Zeng, Ying Zhao, Yuliang Zhao, Dingcheng Zhu, Ying Zhu, Wolfgang J. Parak
ACS Nano 15 , 3754-3807 (2021)

Divalent Cation Dependence Enhances Dopamine Aptamer Biosensing
Nako Nakatsuka, John M. Abendroth, Kyung-Ae Yang, Anne M. Andrews
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 13 , 9425-9435 (2021)

Helicity‐Preserving Metasurfaces for Magneto‐Optical Enhancement in Ferromagnetic [Pt/Co]N Films
John M. Abendroth, Michelle L. Solomon, David R. Barton, Mohammed S. El Hadri, Eric E. Fullerton, Jennifer A. Dionne
Advanced Optical Materials 8 (2020)

Fluorescence-Detected Circular Dichroism of a Chiral Molecular Monolayer with Dielectric Metasurfaces
Michelle L. Solomon, John M. Abendroth, Lisa V. Poulikakos, Jack Hu, Jennifer A. Dionne
Journal of the American Chemical Society 142 , 18304-18309 (2020)

Detecting DNA and RNA and Differentiating Single-Nucleotide Variations via Field-Effect Transistors
Kevin M. Cheung, John M. Abendroth, Nako Nakatsuka, Bowen Zhu, Yang Yang, Anne M. Andrews, Paul S. Weiss
Nano Letters 20 , 5982-5990 (2020)

Nanophotonic Platforms for Chiral Sensing and Separation
Michelle L. Solomon, Amr A. E. Saleh, Lisa V. Poulikakos, John M. Abendroth, Loza F. Tadesse, Jennifer A. Dionne
Accounts of Chemical Research 53 , 588-598 (2020)

Differential Charging in Photoemission from Mercurated DNA Monolayers on Ferromagnetic Films
Dominik M. Stemer, John M. Abendroth, Kevin M. Cheung, Matthew Ye, Mohammed S. El Hadri, Eric E. Fullerton, Paul S. Weiss
Nano Letters 20 , 1218-1225 (2020)

Spin Selectivity in Photoinduced Charge-Transfer Mediated by Chiral Molecules
John M. Abendroth, Dominik M. Stemer, Brian P. Bloom, Partha Roy, Ron Naaman, David H. Waldeck, Paul S. Weiss, Prakash Chandra Mondal
ACS Nano 13 , 4928-4946 (2019)

Spin-Dependent Ionization of Chiral Molecular Films
John M. Abendroth, Kevin M. Cheung, Dominik M. Stemer, Mohammed S. El Hadri, Chuanzhen Zhao, Eric E. Fullerton, Paul S. Weiss
Journal of the American Chemical Society 141 , 3863-3874 (2019)

Aptamer–field-effect transistors overcome Debye length limitations for small-molecule sensing
Nako Nakatsuka, Kyung-Ae Yang, John M. Abendroth, Kevin M. Cheung, Xiaobin Xu, Hongyan Yang, Chuanzhen Zhao, Bowen Zhu, You Seung Rim, Yang Yang, Paul S. Weiss, Milan N. Stojanović, Anne M. Andrews
Science 362 , 319-324 (2018)

Small-Molecule Patterning via Prefunctionalized Alkanethiols
Huan H. Cao, Nako Nakatsuka, Stephanie Deshayes, John M. Abendroth, Hongyan Yang, Paul S. Weiss, Andrea M. Kasko, Anne M. Andrews
Chemistry of Materials 30 , 4017-4030 (2018)

Analyzing Spin Selectivity in DNA-Mediated Charge Transfer via Fluorescence Microscopy
John M. Abendroth, Nako Nakatsuka, Matthew Ye, Dokyun Kim, Eric E. Fullerton, Anne M. Andrews, Paul S. Weiss
ACS Nano 11 , 7516-7526 (2017)

Polymer-Pen Chemical Lift-Off Lithography
Xiaobin Xu, Qing Yang, Kevin M. Cheung, Chuanzhen Zhao, Natcha Wattanatorn, Jason N. Belling, John M. Abendroth, Liane S. Slaughter, Chad A. Mirkin, Anne M. Andrews, Paul S. Weiss
Nano Letters 17 , 3302-3311 (2017)

Surface Structure and Electron Transfer Dynamics of the Self-Assembly of Cyanide on Au{111}
Andrew I. Guttentag, Tobias Wächter, Kristopher K. Barr, John M. Abendroth, Tze-Bin Song, Nichole F. Sullivan, Yang Yang, David L. Allara, Michael Zharnikov, Paul S. Weiss
The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 120 , 26736-26746 (2016)

Controlling Motion at the Nanoscale: Rise of the Molecular Machines
John M. Abendroth, Oleksandr S. Bushuyev, Paul S. Weiss, Christopher J. Barrett
ACS Nano 9 , 7746-7768 (2015)

Halide Anions as Shape-Directing Agents for Obtaining High-Quality Anisotropic Gold Nanostructures
Joseph S. DuChene, Wenxin Niu, John M. Abendroth, Qi Sun, Wenbo Zhao, Fengwei Huo, W. David Wei
Chemistry of Materials 25 , 1392-1399 (2013)