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Condensed Matter

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PhD Physics - 3 Years (Full-time)

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Contact information: Graduate School Secretary
Phone: +44 (0) 131 650 5273
Email: gradschool@ph.ed.ac.uk; Address: School of Physics & Astronomy
James Clerk Maxwell Building
The King's Buildings
Edinburgh
EH9 3JZ

Our group, which incorporates molecular and optical physics, covers a world of applications, from computational materials physics through quantum ordering to soft matter physics.

Condensed Matter Physics (CMP) overlaps considerably with materials science, as well as biological and earth sciences, and relies on fundamental developments in statistical physics and novel simulation methodologies.

Entry requirements

International students

All applicants must meet our general entry and language requirements. Detailed advice for international students is available here:

Research profile

Our research is concerned with the study of liquids and solids, and ‘viscoelastic’ materials (such as polymers and suspensions) with properties in between. We aim to discover and characterise the behaviour of these materials in the laboratory, and understand such behaviour in terms of the microscopic constituents.

Experimentally, the determination of structure and the characterisation of static and dynamic optical, electrical, magnetic, mechanical and other properties under ambient and extreme conditions call upon a wide range of tools.

Staff and student numbers

We have 49 staff members and 25 students.

Training and support

Our students learn primarily by active engagement in a research project within a supportive research group. We also offer training in experimental, simulated and theoretical techniques, as required by any particular PhD project.

Facilities

You will have access to the resources of some of the top facilities in Europe and the UK. COSMIC is a cross-disciplinary centre for optical characterisation, control and imaging of complex materials, which offers world-class equipment and a far-reaching research network.

We host the UK Centre for Astrobiology, where scientists study the responses of molecules to life in extreme environments – including the space environment. The Centre also simulates extraterrestrial environments, and maintains a subsurface biology laboratory 1.5km underground at the Boulby Mine in Yorkshire.

Our ability to probe the structures and properties of materials at extremes of pressure and temperature has been boosted by the creation of the Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions. Wet labs are available for work at biological hazard containment level 1, and upgradeable to containment level 2.

Among the powerful resources accessed by our computer simulators and theorists is a 5 teraflop IBM BlueGene supercomputer hosted by the EPCC. We are also participants in EPSRC’s ‘RealityGrid’ e-Science Testbed Project (part of a national initiative in grid Computing).

Funding

Please see Scholarships and Student Funding Services for information about funding opportunities:

Scholarships and Student Funding Services

Career opportunities

Our graduates have pursued highly diverse and successful careers in academia and industry.

Further Information

This article was published on Apr 25, 2013