Research Fellow in Quantum Annealing

About us

The London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) is an interdisciplinary enterprise between University College London, King’s College London and Imperial College London. In bringing together world-class infrastructure and leading nanotechnology research activities, the Centre aims to attain the critical mass to compete with the best facilities abroad. The LCN has strong relationships with the broader nanotechnology and commercial communities, and is involved in much major collaboration. As the world’s only such facility to be located in the heart of a metropolis, the LCN has superb access to corporate, investment and industrial partners. It is at the forefront of training in nanotechnology, and has a strong media presence aimed at educating the public and bringing transparency to this emerging science

The LCN occupies a purpose-built eight storey facility in Gordon Street, Bloomsbury (opened in 2006) as well as extensive facilities within different departments at South Kensington and The Strand.

The Centre’s experimental research is supported by leading-edge modelling, visualisation and theory through its access to state-of-the-art clean-room, characterisation, fabrication, manipulation and design laboratories.

About the role

This post is funded by EPSRC through its grant QCI3 Hub, led by the University of Oxford. Collaboration with other hub members around the UK is strongly encouraged. This post has funding for 24 months in the first instance

The postholder will work in collaboration with Prof Jon Pritchard’s group at the University of Strathclyde, looking at new ways to implement the ideas on a neutral-atom quantum simulator.

The post holder will interact with international collaborators to develop new algorithmic approaches to minimising the effects of first and second order phase transitions in quantum annealing.

About you

The successful candidate will have a PhD (or about to submit a PhD Thesis before end of June 2025) in a relevant area of experimental physics or mathematics or electrical engineering. Additionally, you should have Excellent verbal and written communication skills and experience of writing manuscript in English.

Essential knowledge/experience in at least two of the following activities for this role:

• Condensed matter theory
• Theory of quantum computation
• Numerical modelling of quantum computation
• Quantum computation using neutral atoms

Appointment at Grade 7 (£43,374 - £51,860) is dependent upon having been awarded a PhD; if this is not the case, initial appointment will be at Research Assistant Grade 6B £38,607 -£41,255 including London Allowance, with payment at Grade 7 being backdated to the date of final submission of the PhD thesis.

What we offer
Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We, therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women. You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/.

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