Atomic clocks are the most precise scientific instruments ever made, and are key to advanced technologies for navigation, communication, and radar. The most accurate atomic clocks cost millions of pounds and take up entire rooms, but some of the fastest development is at the other extreme: miniature atomic clocks for portable electronics. The need for these clocks has never been greater: a temporary loss of the time standard distributed by GPS, which could happen following a solar storm or deliberate jamming, is estimated to cost over a billion pounds per day.
We are developing a new type of clock that could fit on a chip. Present-day atomic clocks are based on atomic vapours confined in a vacuum chamber. Our new approach is to use electron and nuclear spins in endohedral fullerene molecules – nature’s atom traps – whose energy levels offer an exquisitely stable frequency reference. To make this novel approach work, we must overcome a range of physics and engineering challenges, including detecting spin resonance from a small number of spins, understanding the physics that determines the strength and sharpness of the signal, and miniaturizing the control electronics. The reward will be a completely new technology with a wide range of civilian and military uses.
We are looking for a candidate who has a strong interest in applying quantum physics in new technology and is motivated to develop the new and demanding electronic measurement techniques that will be necessary. Our project is in collaboration with a local technology company, Teleplan Forsberg. You learn important and marketable skills in quantum electronics, radio-frequency engineering, and miniaturisation.
For further information, contact Prof. Laird or see https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/laird-group/