The quantum group at the University of Malta is seeking one or more PhD students and a post-doctoral researcher to work on the Horizon 2020 project HOT: Hybrid Optomechanical Technologies. These positions are accompanied by a generous salary, a travel and equipment budget, and are fully funded for three years. We also promise copious sunshine and great beaches.

Mechanical metamaterials are devices that use multiple mechanical and/or electromagnetic degrees of freedom to generate and engineer the transport of signals. These theoretical projects will study the physics of networks composed of many interacting optomechanical devices. They will look at cooperative phenomena, transport properties, and topological effects in such devices. Concepts from open quantum systems, many-body dynamics, and quantum information will all come into play.

HOT is a Horizon 2020 network bringing together 13 European universities and 4 companies that will lay the foundation for a new generation of devices which connect several platforms at the nanoscale in a single hybrid system. They will allow the exploitation of the unique advantages of each subsystem within a nano-scale footprint, while as integrated devices they will enable entirely novel functionalities. A particular focus will be on nano-optomechanical devices that comprise electrical, microwave or optical systems together with micro- and nano-mechanical systems.

Prospective PhD students should have a good background in quantum mechanics. Prospective post-doctoral researchers should have a PhD in a related field. Applicants and are encouraged to contact André Xuereb ([email protected]) for more information.

Two detailed PhD project descriptions can be viewed at: https://goo.gl/RSNMPF and https://goo.gl/Nln544

The detailed post-doctoral description can be viewed at: https://goo.gl/4J7cHA