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Magnetic resonance is the broad term for techniques that exploit the fundamental and fascinating property of spin. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy is where the spin being used or probed is from a paramagnetic centre, i.e. electron spins. The electron interacts with the environment and the result is that EPR spectroscopy measures details of that environment. 
In this project you will apply existing, and develop bespoke, EPR experiments to a range of open questions about the properties of materials. These materials may be biomolecules and in particular proteins or semiconductors for solar cells depending upon your background and interests. You will work primarily with Dr Janet Lovett, but also collaborate with other researchers. For example, in the St Andrews School of Physics and Astronomy this will include Professor Graham Smith and Dr Lethy Jagadamma.
The EPR equipment is based in the School of Physics and Astronomy and supplemented by equipment in the School of Chemistry. We currently have X-band CW and pulsed spectrometers, Q-band pulsed (with a recent successful grant proposal providing a second soon) and also our home-built world-leading and continuously developed W-band spectrometer, HiPER. You will have access to preparation laboratory space.

Please see https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~jel20/.
 

Over the last decade, we have developed a transformative new approach to modelling non-Markovian open quantum systems—i.e. quantum systems coupled to external environments where we cannot make standard textbook approximations of assuming weak-coupling to the environment, or that the environment rapidly "forgets" information. These methods are based on the Process Tensor approach [1] and in particular its efficient representation and calculation using matrix product operator methods. Much of this is now available through an open-source library, OQuPy [2].

These methods have enabled the exact modelling of open systems that was previously thought not possible, owing to the exponential growth of computational resources required as the simulation time increases.

We seek students who are interested in either technical developments of these methods, or applying these methods to new classes of physical systems.

Among technical extensions, there are challenges in making methods work for high temperature simulations, applying methods to problems with large Hilbert spaces, on modelling baths with slowly (algebraically) decaying correlations, and on exploiting time-translation invariance for generic environments (beyond the case of non-interacting harmonic oscillators).

Among applications, we are keen to apply these methods to open problems in modelling chemical reaction rates, modelling molecular magnets, modelling coherent processes in complex (e.g. biological) systems, and to explore how these methods might be applied in many-body systems.

We would be happy to discuss with potential students which of these, or other related directions, you would be most keen to explore.

[1] J. Keeling, E. M. Stoudenmire, M.-C. Banuls, D. R. Reichman. Process Tensor Approaches to Non-Markovian Quantum Dynamics.  arXiv:2509.07661
[2] G. E. Fux, P. Fowler-Wright, J. Beckles, E. P. Butler, P. R. Eastham, D. Gribben, J. Keeling, D. Kilda, P. Kirton, E. D. C. Lawrence, B. W. Lovett, E. O'Neill, A. Strathearn, and R. de Wit. OQuPy: A Python package to efficiently simulate non-Markovian open quantum systems with process tensors. J. Chem. Phys. 161 124108 (2024)

• The Centre for Designer Quantum Materials

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) provides arguably the most direct experimental probe of the electronic structure of crystalline solids, yielding the dispersions of electronic bands, and providing a sensitive momentum-resolved probe of many-body interactions in the solid [1]. Typically, however, ARPES has required the preparation of large-area near-perfect single crystals, dramatically limiting its applicability. Through the development of schemes for focussing vacuum ultraviolet and soft x-ray photon beams, it has recently become possible to perform ARPES measurements with a sub-micron probe, alleviating many of these restrictions, and opening a new form of microscopy where ARPES can be used to provide electronic contrast [2-4], or even to allow performing ARPES measurements from operating devices [4,5]. We are applying this method to study spatially-varying electronic structures at, for example, surfaces of metal-intercalated transition-metal dichalcogenides [3] and delafossite oxides [4,6], as well as to probe mesoscopic systems.
We seek motivated MSc students to join our work in this area, with interests in the study of spatial-dependent electronic structures of topical quantum materials; the development of data-driven approaches for the analysis of the 4D data sets obtained, including incorporating machine learning methods; and/or the development of our lab setup for spin-resolved ARPES incorporating microfocus laser sources to enable to a new generation of micro-spin-ARPES experiments. These projects require good experimental and computational skills, and would benefit from prior knowledge of Python. As part of this project, you will also undertake experiments at national and international facilities.
For further information, or to discuss specific research possibilities, please contact pdk6@st-andrews.ac.uk.

[1] King et al., Chemical Reviews 121, 2816 (2021)
[2] Rotenberg and Bostwick, J. Synchrotron Radiation https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600577514015409
[3] Edwards et al., Nature Mater. 22 (2023) 459
[4] Yim et al., Nature Commun. 15 (2024) 8098
[4] Hofmann, AVS Quantum Sci. 3, 021101 (2021)
[5] Nguyen et al., Nature 572 (2019) 220
[6] Sunko et al., Nature 549 (2017) 492

• The Centre for Designer Quantum Materials

We are seeking ambitious and motivated MSc students to join a major research initiative aimed at investigating the electronic structure and collective states of two-dimensional quantum materials. The remarkable electronic, optical, and structural properties of graphene, a single atom-thick layer of carbon, has spurred enormous interest in atomically-thin materials. We have recently pioneered a universal method to fabricate high-quality and large-area epitaxial monolayers of 2D chalcogenides [1]. In turn, this advances new routes to study their electronic structure and collective states using state-of-the-art spectroscopic probes [2,3]. In this project, you will work to exploit these advances to develop a tuneable platform for studying electronic interactions in 2D materials. You will work to develop novel 2D heterostructures, creating hybrid materials with control over their superconducting, magnetic and/or charge-ordering instabilities. You will investigate the potential of moiré superlattices as a powerful route to further control the correlated ground states of these systems, and seek to understand how these can be tuned using electrostatic gating approaches, similar to that utilised in field-effect transistors. The work undertaken will build on the group’s existing activity in the study of bulk and monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides [https://www.quantummatter.co.uk/king; e.g. 2-7], and ultimately aims to develop new routes towards the "on-demand" control of the quantum many-body system underpinning the physical properties of 2D quantum materials.  Projects are available working on materials fabrication and on spectroscopic studies of their electronic structure. These projects will make extensive use of the unique facilities of the Centre for Designer Quantum Materials in St Andrews, with integrated facilities for molecular-beam epitaxy growth, glove-box-based mechanical exfoliation, and in situ spectroscopy. Further ARPES, spin-resolved ARPES and time-resolved ARPES may be performed at international facilities, further increasing the possibilities to probe the electronic structure and many-body interactions of the materials synthesized. 
For further information, or to discuss specific research possibilities, please contact pdk6@st-andrews.ac.uk. 

• The Centre for Designer Quantum Materials