MSc/PgDip Advanced Physics

This module will provide you with necessary skills in IT, working with literature, data analysis, and written and oral communication to support a great learning experience in your programme.

Students gain experience of research techniques by performing an open-ended cutting-edge research project that runs over summer after the taught component of the MSc. The topic may be from a programme relevant field in physics or its interdisciplinary applications. Students with the corresponding ambition and relevant qualification will be supported to find an alternative placement in chemistry or an industrial placement but this depends on availability. The work is normally carried out in the research laboratories under the individual supervision of an experienced researcher.

This course introduces core skills needed to obtain research funding and successfully manage the resulting research in both an academic and a commercial environment.

The course addresses basic concepts relating to nanoscale physics before progressing to the techniques associated with production and characterisation of nanomaterials/nanostructures, and their potential impact in engineering, energy and healthcare.

The aim of this course is to introduce the spectroscopy, imaging and microscopy techniques associated with modern nanoscience such as:

• Fluorescence methods
• Single molecule imaging and microscopic techniques
• Atomic force microscopy (AFM)
• Electron microscopy

This course introduces advanced key concepts in modern nano-scale condensed matter physics and optics.

Modern computational methods to investigate these systems will then be introduced to illustrate methods of applying these concepts to realistic nanosystems.

The course provides an introduction to laser physics, laser optics and nonlinear optics as required for the work in many photonic labs.

The course provides an introduction to laser-plasma interaction, in particular with very high power and ultrashort pulses, and the resulting applications in radiation sources from the terahertz to the X-ray region, laser fusion and laser-based particle acceleration.

The course provides an introduction into semiconductor physics, semiconductor electronics and semiconductor photonics with an outlook on micro and nano-structures and current hot topics.

This introduces advanced photonics devices including their principles and applications (quantum confinement, waveguide optics, photonic and electronic bandgaps, photonic crystals).

The course provides an introduction to the basic concepts and theoretical ideas of quantum information processing.

The course introduces concepts of complexity science as the synchronisation of nonlinear oscillators, nonlinear waves and solitons and self-organisation and pattern formation in spatially extended nonlinear systems.

The class introduces you to the primary methods for transmitting, storing and manipulating electromagnetic waves and the interaction of these waves with plasmas and plasma physics. It will look at both theoretical and practical considerations for a range of applications. 

This module will provide an introduction to advanced quantum physics concepts: Mixed states and density matrix, perturbation and scattering theory, quantization of the electromagnetic field, many particle systems, Dirac equation.

The class provides an awareness of Python programming and its application to solve physics-problems as curve fitting, Fourier transforms, solving ordinary differential equations, etc.

This class introduces students to open-ended practical work in the laboratory conveying the basic skills of instrument handling, data management, record keeping, and to encourage development of report-writing and oral presentation skills. You're required to complete two experiments selected from a range of topics.

You'll be introduced to modern developments in the field of quantum optics and light-matter interactions:

• interaction of light with two-level systems (Bloch equations, Mollow spectra, ...) and three-level systems (electromagnetically induced transparency, sub-natural linedwdiths, ...)
• complex susceptibility and the quantum origin of optical nonlinearities
• nonlinear  Schroedinger equation
• open quantum systems and quantum optics in cavities
• collective atom-light interactions