Supervisor
Professor Henning Schomerus
Description
Quantum systems can display robust features related to topological properties. These attain precise values that can only change in phase transitions where states change their topological properties. While the scope of these effects is well understood for electronic and superconducting systems, a much richer range is encountered for open quantum systems. In these systems particles can be created and annihilated, which results in loss, gain, and nonlinearity. Work of the supervisor has demonstrated that topological physics then acquires a much broader scope, followed by experimental demonstrations on a range of physical platforms. In recent years, the study of these systems has become a diverse and active field, resulting in a substantial body of literature on theoretical properties and models, and the identification of novel effects, such as directional amplification and sensing in quantum-limited devices.
This project aims to uncover the full physical scope of many of these discoveries, with emphasis on effects that directly unfold in the time domain, as well as effects that occur at the critical phase transitions. Key themes are the dynamical signatures of spectral singularities, dynamical quantum phase transitions, quantum-limited noise, and measurement dynamics. The project tackles these questions generally and practically by developing consistent dynamical descriptions that allow to derive and analyse effective models while respecting fundamental physical constraints. The development of this framework will be guided by considering concrete quantum-optical, photonic, and mechanical settings. The project develops analytical and numerical skills in quantum mechanics and dynamics, topology and symmetry, and evaluation of theoretical model systems.
Funding is available on a competitive basis. To be considered for funding, please submit your application by 31st January 2027.
Supervisor
Professor Henning Schomerus
Description
The quantum Fisher information (QFI) describes how parameters are encoded in quantum states, and is a central object at the foundation of quantum metrology. This project aims at developing systematic structural insights into the QFI in complex quantum systems, characterized by interactions and nonlinear underlying classical dynamics. The main goal is to provide a unified picture based on three key aspects - the system-specific dynamical information captured by semiclassical descriptions, the universal aspects gathered by random-matrix theory, and the topological and geometric structure imposed by the fundamental nature of quantum measurements as well as constraints imposed by symmetries. The developments will be exemplified in specific physical settings, ranging from fundamental investigations of quantum noise and observability limits of quantum effects to practical applications in sensing and interferometry. The project develops analytical and numerical skills in quantum mechanics and dynamics, deep insights into fundamental aspects of metrology and sensing, as well as experience in devising and evaluating theoretical models and transferring fundamental insights into specific physical settings.
Funding is available on a competitive basis. To be considered for funding, please submit your application by 31st January 2027.
Supervisor
Professor Janne Ruostekoski
Description
We invite applications for a PhD project theoretically exploring the quantum and collective optical response of atomic media and other structured light–matter systems.
One of the success stories of quantum physics is how individual quantum particles have been controlled and manipulated by light. This forms the underpinning science for the emerging quantum technologies However, the realisation of a fully controllable, strongly interacting and coherent quantum system, consisting of many particles, is an outstanding challenge. A new frontier of quantum physics has recently emerged utilising photons coupled collectively to quantum atomic gases, such as Bose-Einstein condensates and atoms trapped in optical lattice potentials. These cold atomic gases cooperatively coupled with light provide a rich strongly interacting quantum many-body system. Long-range interactions between atoms occur through exchange of photons.
The research will focus on microscopic and first-principles modelling of light scattering in atomic lattices, with potential applications ranging from negative refraction and epsilon-near-zero behaviour to quantum control of light–matter interactions. The work will combine theoretical and computational techniques to investigate how macroscopic optical phenomena emerge from microscopic quantum or classical scatterers, contributing to new regimes of synthetic atomic materials and quantum technologies.
Funding is available on a competitive basis. To be considered for funding, please submit your application by 31st January 2027.
Supervisor
Dr Alessandro Romito
Description
Measuring a quantum system changes it. In monitored many-body systems, measurements compete with the natural dynamics and give rise to a rich variety of non-equilibrium phase transitions. Some appear in the average (Lindbladian) dynamics, such as absorbing-state and dark-state transitions. Others, like measurement-induced entanglement transitions, are invisible in averages and show up only in individual measurement records, often exponentially rare ones.
This project will add feedback to the picture: using measurement outcomes to steer the system in real time. Feedback may make hidden phases accessible, stabilise new ones, and generate dynamics with memory, so that the system no longer evolves in a simple, memoryless (Markovian) way. The project will explore monitored quantum systems with feedback, aiming to identify feedback-induced phase transitions and to understand the new non-linear and non-Markovian dynamics that emerge.
The project develops analytical skills in open quantum systems and many-body physics, and numerical skills including stochastic and tensor-network methods.
Funding is available on a competitive basis. To be considered for funding, please submit your application by 31st January 2027
Supervisor
Dr Alessandro Romito
Description
Superconductors are at the heart of quantum technologies, from superconducting qubits to ultra-sensitive detectors, and managing heat in these devices is a growing challenge. A temperature difference can drive an electric current (thermoelectricity), opening routes to on-chip cooling, heat management and thermal sensing. In superconductors, however, this effect is normally strongly suppressed: at low temperature the energy gap blocks the particle–hole asymmetry that thermoelectricity needs.
Recent work shows that this suppression can be lifted. External periodic driving can strongly enhance thermoelectric response in nanostructures. Unconventional superconducting correlations, such as triplet pairing in proximitised quantum Hall edges, can produce a sizeable thermoelectric effect even below the superconducting gap. This project will explore how driving, unconventional pairing and topology can activate and control thermoelectricity in hybrid superconducting nanostructures. It may extend to the role of Majorana zero modes and to minimal quantum thermal machines.
The project develops analytical and numerical skills in quantum transport, superconductivity and topological matter, including Floquet scattering theory.
Funding is available on a competitive basis. To be considered for funding, please submit your application by 31st January 2027
