Dr Dmitry Zmeev

Senior Lecturer and EPSRC Research Fellow

PhD Supervision Interests

1. “Precisely controlled levitating sphere moving in superfluid helium” The student will develop a new type of instrument for studying the properties of cryogenic fluids: a system for controlling the motion of a magnetically levitated superconducting sphere. Several problems remain unresolved in superfluid physics and we will aim to find the solutions. We will concentrate our effort on the following.

Firstly, pinning and nucleation of vortices in superfluid helium-4. Currently, there are two contradictory pictures of how vortices attach (‘pin’) to surfaces and how it affects their motion. The development of quantum turbulence around an object moving in a superfluid has hardly been studied at all. Our instrument promises to be suitable for addressing these issues.

Secondly, the surface-bound states in superfluid helium-3 at microkelvin temperatures represent a largely unexplored physical system with potentially extremely unusual properties. We know how to probe this system by driving it out of equilibrium, and the new instrument promises to enhance our capabilities.

The sphere represents an ideal, numerically tractable geometry, paving the way to direct interpretations of the experiments.

In, principle, the sphere moving in a classical fluid in a circular trajectory at a constant speed is a simpler and more efficient replacement of a hydrodynamic wind tunnel. We will explore the advantages and disadvantages of scale model testing in a cryogenic environment.

We have a track record of successfully secured funding and numerous impactful publications.

2. “The coldest liquid in the Universe” The student working with other members of the Ultralow Temperature Group will attempt to achieve the lowest temperature for any liquid. The project is concentrated around developing and demonstrating a new technique for cooling superfluid Helium-3. By utilising the nuclei of solid Helium-3 adsorbed on the surface of aerogel as a refrigerant in the adiabatic demagnetisation process, we will try and cool the superfluid to well below 100 microkelvins. Measuring such low temperatures is an arduous task. We will develop a method based on creating a Bose-Einstein Condensate of magnons within the superfluid and measure its decay due to the very few thermal excitations remaining in the liquid.

If successful, we will seek to apply the developed technique to cooling other systems, such as electrons in quantum devices and low-dimensional electron systems, where lower temperature means longer coherence times and perhaps new, yet undiscovered phenomena. We have a track record of successfully secured funding and numerous impactful publications.

By joining this project you will design, build and run experiments at the forefront of modern physics. You will become a part of the Lancaster Ultralow Temperature Group led by 6 research-active academics working at the frontiers of experimental Low Temperature Physics. The group is world leading in the field and has an excellent record of high-rank publications and of securing research funding at national and international level.

3. "Superfluid 3He as an instrument for fundamental physics" We are seeking PhD students to join our team in building and implementing experiments at temperatures significantly below one millikelvin. Our current projects include using superfluid 3He as an instrument for fundamental physics: a dark matter detector and a simulator of the early universe.

The detector will use an ultrasensitive superfluid 3He calorimeter and superconducting transition edge sensors for achieving a high resolution in detecting spin-dependent interactions between 3He nuclei and hypothetical dark matter particles.

The simulator will probe the dynamics of phase transitions between two superfluid states in 3He, which is found to be of surprising similarity to the hypothetical phase transitions in the quantum vacuum of the early universe. The results of the experiments will inform the interpretation of the gravitational wave signatures from processes that took place shortly after the Big Bang.

Carlos Uriarte Gonzalez
Hosting an academic visitor

EMP user meeting 2022
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Jose Luis Trueba
Hosting an academic visitor

M. Arrayas
Hosting an academic visitor

ULT2022 Ultra Low Temperature Physics 2022
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

WOMAD Festival 2022, World of Music, Arts and Dance
Festival/Exhibition/Concert

Carlos Uriarte Gonzalez
Hosting an academic visitor

QFS 2021
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Condensed Matter and Quantum Materials
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

APS March Meeting
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

MSc internal examiner
Examination

WOMAD Festival, World of Music, Arts and Dance
Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition

Continuous Professional Development event for physics teachers
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Driving commercial and public engagement with ultralow-temperature technologies
Other

IOP Low Temperature Techniques Course
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Condensed Matter and Quantum Materials
Oral presentation

International Conference on Quantum Fluids and Solids 2019
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Workshop on non-autonomous oscillatory systems
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Symposium on Quantum Fluids and Solids 2018, Tokyo
Invited talk

Workshop on Unconventional Superfluids
Invited talk

External Assessor of MSci thesis
Examination

Pre-examiner PhD
Examination

The Annual General Meeting of the Low Temperature Group of the IOP
Oral presentation

2019 Research Highlights: top research that made an impact
Other distinction

Bristol Science Film Festival
Prize (including medals and awards)

Vienna Science Film Festival
Prize (including medals and awards)

Superfluid 3He Far from Equilibrium
Fellowship awarded competitively

Poster prize and Conference Highlight
Prize (including medals and awards)

  • Low Temperature Physics