EPSRC Industrial CASE PhD Studentship in Optical Single-Electron Spin Detector

The National Physical Laboratory and the University of Cambridge seek a PhD candidate to work on a project to develop a single-electron spin detector using optical techniques.

For the use of electron spins in quantum information processing, we need to be able to detect the spin state (up/down in some basis). This project will develop a spin detection technique for travelling electron wave packets, which would enable the use of electron wave packets as flying qubits interconnecting stationary qubit elements, as well the generation of entangled pairs. This new technology will be based on single-electron device technology and a lateral p-n junction LED technology developed jointly by the Quantum Detection Group (http://www.npl.co.uk/science-technology/quantum-detection/) at NPL and the Semiconductor Physics Group (http://www.sp.phy.cam.ac.uk/) at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Wave packets of single-electrons will be generated on-demand from a semiconductor quantum dot in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. These wave packets will be transported through quantum-Hall edge states to a p-type region created on the same substrate. When the electrons recombine with holes, photons will be generated and their circular polarisation states will depend on the electron spin states. Device fabrication will be performed using the semiconductor cleanroom facility in Cambridge, and electrical and optical measurements will be performed using the cryogenic facility at NPL in Teddington. The student will be co-supervised by Prof Chris Ford (Cambridge) and Dr Masaya Kataoka (NPL).

The project is a collaboration between the University of Cambridge and NPL and is supported by an EPSRC ICASE award. The funding (fees and maintenance at the RCUK rate) for this 4 year project is available for UK and EU students who are EPSRC eligible. Therefore, EU students must have been resident in the UK for the past three years

We invite interest from recent graduates or final year undergraduates who hold, or expect to obtain, the equivalent of at least a 2:i UK four-year "undergraduate Master’s" (Honours) degree or a UK three-year Bachelor’s (Honours) degree plus a relevant one/two-year Master’s degree in a relevant science or engineering discipline. Full requirements of the University of Cambridge and the Department of Physics apply.

If you are interested in applying for this position please send an up to date CV and covering letter to Professor Chris Ford ([Email Address Removed]) or Dr Masaya Kataoka ([Email Address Removed]) by 1 June 2017. The successful applicant will be required to submit a formal application form via the University’s online application portal by 30 June 2017