Job description

Job summary

We are seeking an experimental Research Associate for 12 months to work on our research project “Optimal Control for Robust Ion Trap Quantum Logic”.  The goal of the project is to develop optimal control of coherent operations on trapped ions, including quantum logic gates, in non-ideal conditions.  This includes situations where the ions are outside the Lamb-Dicke regime; where they are hot; or where there is significant experimental noise present. The project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of schemes such as multi-tone driving of the qubit transition to improve the fidelity of gates, and to investigate the use of machine-learning techniques for further improvement of the gates.

This project is part of a close collaboration between experiment and theory, led by Professor Richard Thompson and Professor Florian Mintert.  Our initial work with RF traps was originally funded by a 4-year EPSRC grant, and the current studies are supported through the Oxford Quantum Technology Hub in Quantum Computing and Simulation, also funded by EPSRC.

Duties and responsibilities

It is expected that the appointee to this experimental position will have extensive experience with laser cooling of trapped ions. The appointee will be responsible for running and further developing our linear RF trap system for calcium ions, which uses diode lasers for laser cooling. A highly stable laser at 729 nm is used for addressing the optical qubit transition and a ground state Raman transition driven by lasers at 397 nm is also available. This system will be used for evaluation and improvement of the theoretically-developed optimal control procedures, moving into the regime of large Lamb-Dicke parameters.

Essential requirements

You must hold a PhD (or equivalent) in a relevant field of experimental physical science or related discipline.

You must also be able to demonstrate all the following essential criteria:

• Strong record of experimental work in ion trapping or a related field


• Knowledge and experience in modelling and data analysis is desirable


• Proven ability to work in experiment-centred teams is desirable

Further information

*Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant within the salary range £36,694 - £39,888 per annum.

More information about the research project can be found at: www.imperial.ac.uk/ion-trapping/research/ or by email to Richard Thompson (r.thompson@imperial.ac.uk) or Florian Mintert (f.mintert@imperial.ac.uk).

Queries relating to the application process should be directed to Judith Baylis (Senior Section Administrator),  j.baylis@imperial.ac.uk

For any technical queries during the application process please contact - recruitment@imperial.ac.uk

Thank you for your interest in this post.  We look forward to receiving your application.

Documents

• Job Description Ion Trap Project.pdf