We seek a motivated postdoctoral researcher to implement an experimental research programme on supersolids and quantum droplets in a laser-driven Bose-Einstein condensate of ultracold caesium atoms via light-mediated interactions introduced by feedback from a retroreflecting mirror.

We are recruiting a Research Associate in Theoretical Physics to work with Drs Kirton and Robb on the theory of the formation of supersolids and droplet structures via light mediated interactions in a BEC.

For the starting EPSRC funded project Supersolids and quantum droplets via light mediated interactions we are looking for two motivated postdoctoral researchers with a start date from February 2026.

A colloboration between the Experimental Quantum Optics and Photonics Group (T. Ackemann, E. Haller) and Computional Nonlonerar and Quantum Optics Group (G. Robb, P. Kirton) obtained funding from EPSRC for the investigation of Supersolids and quantum droplets via light mediated interactions.

In a collaboration with the INPHYNI in Nice and the TU Vienna which just appeared in Physical Review A we are looking now at the interplay of diffraction within the atomic cloud and diffraction in vacuum. It turns out that for most situations it is sufficient to look at the linear Talbot effect but things get more involved, if one puts the mirror “into the cloud”. If you are curious, how to do this and what the resulting length scales are, please look at Phys. Rev. A 111, 063506.