Daniel Shaddock

Prof. Daniel Shaddock is a Professor in Physics at the Australian National University (ANU) and leads Australia’s participation in the GRACE Follow-on mission to map Earth’s gravity. He previously served as a Director’s Fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, contributing to the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission and the Advanced LIGO project, which detected gravitational waves. As Founder and CEO of Liquid Instruments, he develops high-end test and measurement tools. His research focuses on precision laser interferometry, gravitational wave detection, and space-based instrumentation.

His academic contributions include advancing interferometer control systems for LISA, suppressing frequency noise in gravitational wave detectors, and developing optical phase tracking techniques. He collaborates on projects such as the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems and the Neutron Star Extreme Matter Observatory (NEMO). His work bridges fundamental physics with applied technologies, including quantum communication and adaptive optics for space debris tracking.

Key projects include the Coherent LiDAR for self-driving vehicles, Space-Based Quantum Communications with UNSW, and a Guidestar Laser for adaptive optics. His research has produced over 300 publications, emphasizing gravitational astrophysics, laser metrology, and space instrumentation. He holds patents in FPGA-based instrumentation and optical phased arrays.