Bio-magnetism for imaging the brain and central nervous system (2018)

What you get

You will receive:

• fully-funded tuition fees for 3 and a half years (at the UK/EU rate)
• a tax free bursary for living costs for 3 and a half years. For 2018/19 this is £14,777 per year.
• a research training support grant for 3 and a half years of £1,650 per year.

You may also supplement your income with paid teaching (with your supervisor’s agreement).

Type of award

Postgraduate Research

PhD project

A 3-and-a-half year PhD position is available in in the Quantum Systems and Devices Group.

Whilst working on this project, you will develop quantum sensors based on the Larmor spin precession of optically-pumped atoms in room-temperature alkali vapour cells, which are currently the most sensitive magnetometers in the world.

Recent work has shown that optically-pumped magnetometers (OPMs) are sensitive enough to measure the tiny magnetic fields generated by the body. Such fields are around a billion times smaller than the earth’s magnetic field! As such, OPMs are now viable alternatives to expensive superconducting detectors for bio-magnetism. In particular, they have been shown to be capable of being used in magnetoencephalography – the measurement of the brain’s magnetic fields.

The aim of this work will be to develop arrays of micro-fabricated magnetometers which are adaptable to a variety of bio-magnetic systems including the brain and spinal cord.

You will play a central role in this investigation and will learn a wide array of tools in atomic physics, quantum technology and modelling. After an initial phase, you will work with the QSD group at the University of Sussex, including Drs Bason and Orucevic and Professor Kruger, as well as local neuroscientists and, where relevant, industry.

On this project, you would:

• Develop new atomic magnetometers in conjunction with members of the UK Quantum Hub in Sensors and Metrology.
• Learn about MEMs fabrication techniques.
• Apply active compensation techniques to reduce remnant magnetic fields in shielded environments
• Help to develop computationally inverse methods capable of localising current dipoles in three dimensions.
• Publish and present research in high-quality international journals and conferences.
• Report orally and prepare papers reporting progress and delivery of project outcomes.
• Pro-actively contribute to the activities of the research group.

Eligibility

To be eligible, you must:

-          be a UK/European Union (EU) student who has been resident in the UK/EU for at least three years.

-          have or expect to have a UK undergraduate/master’s degree, or equivalent, in Physics or a related subject.

-          you should have background in Atomic and Quantum Physics and have excellent IT skills including programming.

Deadline

31 December 2018 8:52

How to apply

Apply online here

Select the PhD in Physics with a February 2019 start date.

In the Finance section, you should enter the name of the studentship, which is: 'Bio-magnetism for imaging the brain and central nervous system'.

Be sure to supply all of the required documents, particularly your transcripts and the details of two referees.

Due to the high volume of applications received, you may only hear from us if your application is successful.

Contact us

Email Professor Peter Krueger if you have any informal enquiries or for further information.

Email mpsreasearchsupport@sussex.ac.uk if you have a question about your eligibility for the project.

You might also be interested in

Our group uses neutral atoms as precision sensors and combines a mix of fundamental and applied research. We aim to bring quantum technology out of the laboratory so that it can be harnessed by non-specialists. At the same time, we want to discover more about how the quantum world works. In particular, we use ultra-cold atomic gases to study complex many-body phenomena.

Having formed in 2016, we have five newly refurbished laboratories with prototyping facilitiesand a magnetically shielded room to develop precision magnetometry.

In collaboration with the Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre, we are investigating ways in which to use such sensors to perform magnetoencephalography (MEG) - a sophisticated tool that yields rich information on the spatial, spectral and temporal signatures of human brain function. It is possible to bring the sensors to within a few millimetres of the scalp (in contrast to several centimetres), thus promising increased sensitivity compared to traditional SQUID systems. Operation at room-temperature also alleviates the need for any cryogenic cooling, which typically requires liquid helium that is costly and in short supply.