EPSRC DTP Fully Funded PhD Studentship

EPSRC DTP PhD Studentship: The “Geonium Chip” group at the Sussex Centre for Quantum Technologies (2022)

What you get

• Fully-paid tuition fees for three and a half years.
• A tax-free bursary for living costs for three and a half years. From October 2022/23 this is expected to be £16,062 per year
• A support grant for three and a half years of £1,650 per year for travel and conferences.

• If you are not a UK national, nor an EU national with UK settled/pre-settled status, you will need to apply for a student study visa before admission

Type of award

Postgraduate Research

PhD project

Our Research Group

The project will be in the “geonium chip” group which is part of the Sussex Centre for Quantum Technologies. 

The PhD candidate will work with an existing experimental cryogenic ion/electron trap setup at the University of Sussex. The successful candidate will receive training in ion trap technology, magnetic fields design with superconductors, cryogenics, RF electronics, MW engineering and quantum optics. The student will also have the chance present their work at international conferences. The project involves international collaboration with world-class quantum optics theorists in Italy and Spain, through the international collaboration QUITE (Quantum Illumination with a Trapped Electron), coordinated by the supervisor Jose Verdu. The PhD project will also profit from the strong collaboration with industry leaders in the UK for the development of a Quantum Radar, such as DSTL and Leonardo MW Ltd. 

The Project

This PhD project is centred on the area of Quantum Metrology and Sensing, namely on the use of quantum microwave radiation for the detection, measurement and scanning of objects with unprecedented sensitivity: from large devices to biologic samples, single virus particles, materials and others. The PhD project will focus on demonstrating experimentally, for the first time, the “Quantum Illumination” protocol in the microwave domain. “Quantum Illumination” has been proposed and theoretically demonstrated as a quantum metrology technique, potentially capable of overcoming the accuracy limitations of current MW measurement instruments, by probing the objects with entangled microwave photons. However, a practical implementation of the quantum illumination technique is still an open experimental challenge. At Sussex we are developing a pioneering ion trap quantum technology, which uses a single trapped electron as the quantum emitter and receiver of the microwave radiation. This will allow for the efficient and practical realisation of the “quantum illumination” protocol. The future real-world applications of our research are Near-Field Scanning Microwave Microscopy, Quantum Radar and Microwave Imaging

Eligibility

• Applicants must hold, or expect to hold, at least a UK upper second class degree (or non-UK equivalent qualification) in Physics, or a closely-related area, or else a lower second class degree followed by a relevant Master's degree.
• This award is open to UK and International students

Deadline

10 June 2022 23:45

How to apply

Apply through the University of Sussex on-line system. 

https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/apply/log-into-account

Select the PhD in Physics, with an entry date of September 2022.

In the Finance & Fees section, state that you wish to be considered for studentship no EPSRC/2022/Physics/02 

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

Contact us

If you have practical questions about the progress of your on-line application or your eligibility, contact Emma Ransley at mps-pgrsupport@sussex.ac.uk

For academic questions about the project, contact Dr Jose L. Verdu at

j.l.verdu-galiana@sussex.ac.uk