This course introduces the techniques and approaches used to understand the physics of nanoscale materials and devices. (1) Introduction to nanophysics, qubits and the density matrix formalism. (2) Nanofabrication: Overview of the most common nanofabrication techniques and Nanostructure characterisation. (3) Quantisation by confinement, effect of confinement on transport properties of solids, Effect of confinement on excitons, screening and energy renormalization. (4) Spins in quantum mechanics, spin polarisation and readout, Nuclear spin baths , Applications to quantum sensing and quantum computing. (5) Intro to superconductivity, macroscopic quantum model, London equation, Meissner effect, Josephson junctions, kinetic inductance. Devices: kinetic inductance detectors, SQUIDs, SSPDs, superconducting qubits
Lecturer: Margherita Mazzera, Cristian Bonato
Institution: Heriot-Watt
Delivery: Video Conference
Hours Equivalent Credit: 20
Assessment: Problem Sheets (60%) and Final Oral Discussion (40%)
Course Work: Approximately 7 hours per week outside of class Course Summary
