Postgraduate research opportunities Computing with photonic quantum systems
ApplyKey facts
- Opens: Thursday 1 May 2025
- Number of places: 1
- Duration: 3.5 years
- Funding: Home fee, Stipend, Travel costs
Overview
The first year will work closely with a funded project to develop a methodology for computing with photonic devices (both classical and quantum computing). Subsequent years will extend the work to develop applications and further examples of applying the methodology to physical devices suitable for computing.Eligibility
You should have an undergraduate degree in Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science or a related area. A strong education in quantum mechanics, especially quantum optics, is an advantage as are excellent computer programming skills.
Project Details
Loss is ubiquitous in natural systems, due to interactions with their environment. For information processing, it is a way to lose entropy, which is arguably what you need to do to extract only the salient features from data. Instead of seeing loss as an imperfection to be engineered around, can we harness it? For example, the natural properties of photons include that they aren’t conserved – one photon can be split into two lower energy photons. As part of a funded research project, we are currently developing ways to compute that use photon loss -and gain - as features, not bugs.
This PhD project will start from these novel ways to compute and develop the potential applications they are most suited for, devising test algorithms that can be run on existing hardware, such as the photonic quantum computer hosted by the National Quantum Computing Centre. There are many possible directions the research could take, and there will be freedom to explore multiple promising avenues depending on your interests.
Funding details
The funding provided for this fully funded PhD will include 3.5 years of both tuition fees and monthly stipend payments.
This opportunity is available at the UK home rate.
Home students
To be eligible for a fully funded UK home studentship you must:
- be a UK national or UK/EU dual national or non-UK national with settled status / pre-settled status / indefinite leave to remain / indefinite leave to enter / discretionary leave / EU migrant worker in the UK or non-UK national with a claim for asylum or the family member of such a person, and
- have ordinary residence in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or British Overseas Territory, at the Point of Application, and
- have three years residency in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, British Overseas Territory or EEA before the relevant date of application unless residency outside of the UK/EEA has been of a temporary nature only and of a period less than six years.
While there is no funding in place for opportunities marked "unfunded", there are lots of different options to help you fund postgraduate research. Visit funding your postgraduate research for links to government grants, research councils funding and more, that could be available.
Apply
Informal enquiries and applications should be made by email to Prof Viv Kendon (viv.kendon@strath.ac.uk), to check eligibility before applying through the Strathclyde website.
Number of places: 1
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Physics
Programme: Physics