PhD Studentship on Bio-magnetism for imaging the brain and central nervous system

A fully-funded PhD studentship in the Department of Physics and Astronomy for three and a half years

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).

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.

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.

Apply online at http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/apply

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.