Postgraduate research opportunities Computing with photonic quantum systems
ApplyKey facts
- Opens: Friday 1 November 2024
- Deadline: Friday 7 February 2025
- Number of places: 1
- Duration: 4 years
- Funding: Equipment costs, Home fee, International fee, Stipend, Travel costs
Overview
This 4-year PhD project is part of the EPSRC-funded Centre for Doctoral Training in Applied Quantum Technologies. As well as completing a PhD project in an aligned topic, CDT students will also benefit from technical and skills-based training in all aspects of quantum technologies.Eligibility
All applicants must have or expect to obtain a first-class or second-class honours degree, or equivalent, in a relevant subject OR have or expect to obtain a Masters degree.
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 interest
Further information
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Applied Quantum Technologies
Funding details
The funding provided for these fully funded PhDs will include four years of both tuition fees and monthly stipend payments.
Fully funded studentships are available at the UK home rate and international 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.
International Students
There are a limited number of international studentships for exceptional candidates who do not meet the UK home status mentioned above.
Candidates should check if they require an ATAS certificate; eligible nationalities are listed on GOV.UK (UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office).
International candidates whose first language is not English must demonstrate their proficiency in the English language with IELTS certification or equivalent.
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.
Supervisors
Primary Supervisor: Prof Viv Kendon
Additional Supervisor: Prof Susan Stepney (University of York)
Apply
Applications should be submitted via the AQT website in the first instance.
Number of places: 1
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