Postgraduate Scholarship in Complex Quantum Order in Unconventional Superconductors

The aim of the project is to predict theoretically the experimental signatures and possible applications of the recently-proposed “Loop Josephson Current” superconducting state [SK Ghosh, JF Annett, and J Quintanilla, https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.02618]. In this state, Cooper pairs are in perpetual, quantum-coherent cyclic motion on the atomic scale. The theoretical discovery of a new state of matter is very rare and offers an excellent opportunity for a career-launching PhD project. The project will benefit from links to top experimental groups in Europe, Japan and China with whom we co-discovered the unusual nature of superconductivity in several materials leading to the Loop Josephson Current hypothesis.

The successful candidate will be based at the University of Kent’s main campus in Canterbury as part of the Quantum Theory and Simulation effort within the Functional Materials Group. The work will be carried out within the EPSRC-funded collaboration “Unconventional Superconductors: New Paradigms for New Materials” involving the Universities of Kent and Bristol in partnership with the ISIS Facility, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Kent is also a member of the Hubbard Theory Consortium.

This PhD project is due to start in September, 2018.