PhD position in theoretical condensed matter physics

Title of the the PhD project: Local phenomena in superconducting nanostructures

In the last decade, study of semiconductor-superconductor hybrids has become one of the most active research areas in mesoscopic condensed matter physics. The combination of the rich spin physics of a low-dimensional semiconductor and electron pairing provided by the superconductor allows revealing uncanny phenomena. This includes proximity-induced superconductivity, which allows the supercurrent flow through the semiconducting material or the appearance of elusive Majorana quasiparticles that can store topologically protected quantum information [see https://arxiv.org/pdf/1911.04512.pdf for a nice review].

Within this project, we will theoretically investigate the possibility to go beyond the "blind" spectroscopic measurement, so far used to characterize those devices. In particular, we will study local phenomena, i.e., electron-hole charge distribution and trajectories, their spatial coupling through a nearby superconductor, which can be used to understand the properties of hybrid nanostructures. We will focus on scanning gate microscopy technique and analyse theoretically its suitability for detecting the formation of Majorana bound states and on spectroscopic signatures of topological transition in multi-terminal devices.

The student's work will be closely related to the ongoing experimental progress, as the research will be conducted in collaboration with experimental team of prof. Stefan Heun [http://web.nano.cnr.it/heun/] .

The PhD will be carried out under the SONATA BIS project "Topological nanostructures and their junctions" [https://www.ncn.gov.pl/sites/default/files/listy-rankingowe/2020-06-15vp... .

The research will be carried out in the theory team of ACMiN AGH [https://acmin.agh.edu.pl/en/2021/06/theory-of-quantum-systems/] , which actively collaborates with the theory group of Faculty of Physic and Applied Computer Science AGH and several theory and experimental teams.

The research equipment available for the student will include local computational clusters, TeraACMiN supercomputer, the Prometheus supercomputer at ACK Cyfronet, and a personal desktop and laptop. We will use state-of-the-art numerical tools (including Kwant Python package) and a remote computational environment (Project Jupyter).

Travel expenses, foreign visits, and a stipend (in total 5 000 PLN per month) for the PhD student will be covered by the NCN SONATA BIS project.