PhD Studentship: Modeling of silicon quantum bits

This thesis will be performed within the MAQSi project (funded by the National Research Agency) which gathers two theoretical groups that have unique capabilities in France on the simulation of quantum silicon devices, with the experimental group that is leader on SOI qubits. The PhD student will work at IEMN (Institut d'Electronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie), in the theoretical group located in Lille. IEMN is a joint Research Unit (CNRS, Universities of Lille and Valenciennes, ISEN, Ecole Centrale Lille) with large expertise in nanotechnology and nanocharacterization. Facilities comprise a top-level clean-room. The theory team has access to local and national computational facilities. Website: http://www.iemn.fr.

Quantum information technologies could lead to breakthroughs in computing and cryptography. In this context, research teams in France are presently developing an original platform for quantum information, based on the "Silicon on Insulator" (SOI) technology. Yet many aspects of the physics of silicon quantum bits (qubits) remain poorly understood, which complicates the interpretation of the experiments and the optimization of the devices.

The main goal of the PhD thesis will be to address modeling and simulation of silicon qubits in order to i) make significant progress in the understanding of the physics of these qubits, ii) sort the existing options, and make recommendations for the design of SOI qubits, iii) demonstrate ahead of the experimental work the relevance of SOI technologies for quantum information.

The candidate must have a solid background in physics, material science and quantum mechanics. He will have to combine analytical and numerical theoretical studies, and will be interested in the development of the simulation software.