SD-25047 PHD IN THEORETICAL STUDY OF ELECTRIC BUBBLES FOR UNCONVENTIONAL COMPUTING

Topic description

How will you contribute?

Are you passionate about research? Do you want to get a PhD in an emerging field that will impact the future? Do you want to join one of the world-leading groups for theoretical research in functional materials? This may be your chance!

The trend toward reduced energy consumption and increased speed is leading to ever smaller memory and computing components of nearly atomistic dimensions. In that limit thermal fluctuations are prominent, which renders devices unreliable. But here is a teaser : can we take advantage of the thermal noise? This is a focus of “Unconventional Computing” paradigms that often exploit physical systems suited to specific tasks. Particularly exciting are novel designs employing quasiparticles, including magnetic skyrmions and potentially the so-called electric skyrmion bubbles, which are attracting growing interest.

Our LIST team has been involved in the discovery of electric skyrmion bubbles or “e-bubbles”, the electric counterpart of magnetic skyrmions. Recently, we have used accurate computer simulations to predict regimes in which “e-bubbles” display spontaneous Brownian motion, and we have also predicted strategies to create e-bubble currents. It is thus clear that these electric quasiparticles might also be useful in computing applications, potentially with some advantages over their magnetic relatives (e-bubbles can be controlled by electric fields, as opposed to the electric currents needed to control magnetic skyrmions). This is a distinct possibility that clearly warrants attention. This project is our ticket to this exciting journey!

The work will involve the use (and, potentially, the development) of theoretical and simulation methods to investigate the diffusion and behavior of e-bubbles, and to explore their application in specific computing devices. The student will be part of LIST’s Modeling of Functional Materials group, developing theoretical and simulation-based research under the supervision of Jorge Íñiguez-González / site / jorgeiniguezresearch).

The position is for 4 years, and the strongly preferred starting date is September 1, . We offer a competitive salary and a dynamic work environment in one of the most rapidly-growing and best-funded research ecosystems in Europe.

Starting date

• 09-01

Funding category

Public / private mixed funding

Funding further details