UCL is seeking to make two postdoctoral appointments in the area of experimental quantum annealing using superconducting quantum interference devices. We will appoint a SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE (ref.: 1628099) who will primarily work off-site at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Massachusetts. We will additionally appoint a RESEARCH ASSISTANT (ref.: 1627567) who will primarily work at UCL in London. Both postdocs will be supervised by Prof. Paul Warburton.
Applicants for both positions should hold a PhD in experimental physics or experimental materials science or experimental electrical engineering. Applicants for both positions should have hands-on experience of designing, installing and performing electrical transport measurements in a dilution refrigerator leading to publications in the international peer-reviewed literature; hands-on experience of performing radio frequency measurements in a dilution refrigerator at frequencies above 1 GHz; hands-on experience of designing, installing and performing measurements on Josephson junctions or superconducting quantum interference device; and a record of publication in peer-reviewed academic journals as first author.
Applicants for the Senior Research Associate position only should additionally be willing and in a position to undergo the usual security clearances for working at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
The work at UCL is part of the international collaborative project “FluQS” which has been selected for funding by the US government agency IARPA. Other team members in the collaboration include the University of Southern California, Caltech, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, MIT, Harvard University, the University of Waterloo (Canada), UC Berkeley, Tokyo Institute of Technology, the University of Saarland (Germany), Lockheed Martin Corporation and Northrop Grumman Corporation. The overall goal of this project is to demonstrate quantum speedup in a prototype quantum annealing machine. The FluQS project is initially funded for one year, with further options for an additional four years (subject to satisfactory performance).
Duties and Responsibilities (both positions):
Use off-the-shelf and tailored software tools to design and simulate novel elements for a superconducting annealer, including high-order couplers (i.e. cubic and quartic) and couplers which enable the encoding of non-stoquastic Hamiltonians (e.g. σₓσₓ).
Submit circuit-layout artwork for these circuit elements to the fabrication facility at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
Measure the electronic properties of the circuit elements at millikelvin temperatures with both annealing and r.f. spectroscopy techniques.
Liaise with colleagues in UCL and collaborators both at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and more widely within the FluQS team.
Assist with day-to-day supervision of graduate students working on the FluQS project.
Prepare reporting documentation for use within the FluQS team; attend and give presentations at FluQS team progress meetings.
Prepare articles for publication and presentation of papers at conferences.
Comply with relevant UCL policies, including Financial Regulations, Equal Opportunities Policy, Promoting Race Equality Policy, Health and Safety Policy, Information Systems Security Policy and Intellectual Property Rights and Register of Interests Policies.
Additional Duties and Responsibilities (Senior Research Associate only):
Take leadership responsibility for a small team of one postdoctoral researcher and three graduate students working on the FluQS project at UCL.
Take leadership responsibility for interactions with collaborators both at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and more widely within the FluQS team.
Salary Range:
Senior Research Associate: £42,304 to £54,240 per year. An additional market supplement of up to £18,421 per year will be payable to compensate for extended off-site working at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
Research Assistant: between £34,056 and £42,304 per year.
The closing date for applications for both positions is March 17th 2017.
For informal enquiries applicants should contact Paul Warburton p.warburton@ucl.ac.uk
Further details about the post and the application procedure are available at http://london-nano.com/our-people/vacancies/all
Applicants for both positions should hold a PhD in experimental physics or experimental materials science or experimental electrical engineering. Applicants for both positions should have hands-on experience of designing, installing and performing electrical transport measurements in a dilution refrigerator leading to publications in the international peer-reviewed literature; hands-on experience of performing radio frequency measurements in a dilution refrigerator at frequencies above 1 GHz; hands-on experience of designing, installing and performing measurements on Josephson junctions or superconducting quantum interference device; and a record of publication in peer-reviewed academic journals as first author.
