The development and deployment of quantum technologies has become one of the paramount tasks for science in the 21st century. Quantum systems are characterized by their coherence. In order to preserve coherence, the systems need to be extremely well isolated from their environment and cooled down to extremely low temperatures.
Levitated nanoparticles are exquisite mechanical oscillators with no mechanical clamping to the environment. As such, they present close-to-ideal quantum mesoscopic systems. They present a promising avenue to reach force sensitivities beyond current state-of-the-art sensors. These massive particles, made of billions of atoms, are particularly suited for studying macroscopic quantum physics and to probe the boundaries between quantum and classical physics. Thanks to active feedback on their motion, the levitated particle can be cooled down to its motional quantum ground state without the need of a cryostat.

In this project you will work in synergy between the Quantum Materials and Applications (QMAPP) group at Macquarie University and the Quantum Control Laboratory (QCL) at the University of Sydney. You will study and engineer a novel integrated design of an on-chip hybrid optical (optical tweezer) and electrodynamic trap (Paul trap) to trap micro- and nanoparticles. This design will allow for exquisite control, robustness and scalability while ultimately allowing for the integration of future new components such as magnetic or mechanical actuators. The developed platform will be used to simultaneously cool down all the motional degrees of freedom to their quantum ground states and explore schemes to bring the particle into more complex quantum states, from squeezed states to ultimately motional quantum superpositions.

This 3-year PhD scholarship is offered by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems (https://equs.org/) and you will have the opportunity to extend for 1 year through the Sydney Quantum Academy PhD Experience Program (https://sydneyquantum.org/programs/phd-programs/). You will build a strong expertise in theoretical and experimental quantum physics, optomechanics and atomic physics in addition to developing a range of technical skills in optical design, micro- and nanofabrication, vacuum engineering, CAD modelling, physical simulation and programming.
You can check out our facilities at our groups webpage: https://www.qmappmq.org/ and https://quantum.sydney.edu.au/research/quantum-control-laboratory/.
We welcome candidates from all background. We are looking for passionate and motivated students with a keen interest to learn new skills. The following skills are desirable but can be learned during your study: programming (Python, Matlab), previous experience in quantum information, optics, electronics and vacuum systems.
You will be jointly supervised by Dr Cyril Laplane (https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/persons/cyril-laplane ), Prof Thomas Volz (https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/persons/thomas-volz ), Dr Tingrei Tan (https://www.sydney.edu.au/science/about/our-people/academic-staff/tingre... ) and Dr Robert Wolf (https://www.sydney.edu.au/science/about/our-people/academic-staff/robert... ).
For more information, contact the project supervisor: Dr Cyril Laplane at cyril.laplane@mq.edu.au