PhD Studentship in Cavity-QED with multi-species ion crystals

This project unites two distinct areas of quantum information processing: single ions stored in radio-frequency traps and single photons in optical fibres. Both fields have seen spectacular advances in recent years. Strings of ions are presently the most successful implementation of quantum computing, with elementary quantum algorithms and quantum simulations realised. Photons, on the other hand, are used to distribute entanglement over ever-increasing distances.

The principal challenge in the field is to enhance quantum processing power by scaling up current devices to larger quantum systems. We are pursuing one of the most promising strategies, distributed quantum computation, in which multiple small-scale ion processors are interlinked by exchanging photonic quantum bits via optical fibres. This requires novel ion trap structures that facilitate high-performance quantum computation and a photonic interconnect for networking. The Ion Trap Cavity-QED and Molecular Physics group in Sussex has a leading role in this field.

The aim of this project is to use an existing ion-cavity system to investigate the interaction of a multi-species ion crystal with an optical cavity. In our experiment, we use calcium and strontium ions.

In the first stage, the strontium ions are used to sympathetically cool the calcium ions while it is used to generate entanglement between its internal state and the state of a cavity photon. In the next stage, the entanglement between the calcium ion and the photon will be transferred to the strontium ion. This is a crucial process in a scalable quantum computer and this project aims to demonstrate this process for the first time.

Amount

• Fully-paid tuition fees for 3.5 years at the home fee status.
• A tax-free bursary for living costs for three and a half years (£17,668 per annum in 2022/23).
• Additional financial support is provided to cover short-term and long-term travel.
• If you are not a UK national, nor an EU national with UK settled/pre-settled status, you will need to apply for a student study visa before admission.

Eligibility

Applicants should hold or expect to hold, a UK undergraduate degree in physics or engineering.  If you are unsure about the equivalence of your qualifications, please contact us at mpsresearchsupport@sussex.ac.uk

Due to funding restrictions, the studentship is open to UK and EU resident students only. However, we also welcome applications from self-funded non-EU students.

Deadline

31^st March 2023

Contact us

If you have practical questions about the progress of your on-line application or your eligibility, contact Cara Gathern at mps-pgrsupport@sussex.ac.uk

For academic questions about the project, contact Prof Matthias Keller at m.k.keller@sussex.ac.uk

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