Postgraduate research opportunities Vortex pinning dynamics in a quantum fluid
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
Originally discovered in liquid helium, superfluidity is an example of quantum mechanics on the macro-scale, where useful bulk behaviour (fluid flow without viscosity) arises from the cooperative behaviour of many tiny particles. This macroscopic quantum behaviour is found in systems as disparate as extremely dense and relatively hot neutron stars, and ultracold dilute-gas Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs), and has direct parallels to another important macroscopic quantum effect – superconductivity (flow of charge without resistance). This research project will explore the role that vortices, quantum whirlpools, play in both supporting and destroying such useful bulk quantum properties.
In particular, you will study the interaction between vortices and pinning potentials, of relevance to almost all superfluid and superconducting systems. Free vortices are associated with energy dissipation in both systems, meaning that engineering defects for vortex pinning is a key part of the design of high-temperature superconductors. On the cosmological scale, vortex depinning is expected to be at the heart of the internal dynamics of pulsars and neutron stars, offering an explanation for the peculiar glitches that are observed as the star slows its rotation. Superfluids formed of ultracold atoms provide an extremely clean and well-controlled system for studies of collective quantum behaviour in general, and vortex pinning dynamics in particular. They enable exquisite control over interactions, geometry, and vortex nucleation. Pinning potentials can be created with laser beams and arbitrarily reconfigured, and vortices can be directly imaged with standard optics and a camera. Importantly, in superfluids formed of mixtures of ultracold atoms we can tune the interactions to emphasize quantum effects such as fluctuations.
You will join the Quantum Fluids research team, run by Dr Kali Wilson. They will work closely with the supervisor and other team members on a state-of-the-art experimental apparatus designed to explore vortex dynamics in binary superfluids. The Phd project will focus on (1) the design and implementation of optical systems for controlled vortex nucleation in the superfluid mixture, and (2) a comprehensive study of the interaction between vortices and pinning potentials.
The successful student will also acquire practical skills in the areas of quantum technologies, optics and atomic physics. These skills include working
with lasers, designing optical systems, high-resolution imaging and state-of-the-art image processing techniques, cooling and trapping atoms, as well as electronics and mechanical design.
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.
Apply
Applications should be submitted via the AQT website in the first instance.
Number of places: 1
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