Jeremy Hutson has up to two 2-year post-doc positions available to work on the Theory of Ultracold Molecules in my group at Durham (a beautiful cathedral city in northern England, with a fast train connection to London). Please would you point these out to any students or post-docs you know who might be interested? The positions are available as soon as convenient after January 2027.
The positions are funded under four EPSRC Grants: a Programme Grant on developing the use of ultracold molecules for use in quantum simulation, together with two others on forming ultracold molecules from CaF+Rb and Cs+Yb(^3P) and one on symmetry-protected states of Cs_2. All of them involve collaborations with experimental groups: principally those of Simon Cornish (Durham), Mike Tarbutt (Imperial College London) and Cheng Chin (Chicago), together with other leading experimental and theoretical groups around the world. We have already formed ultracold polar RbCs and CaF molecules in their absolute ground state at temperatures around 1 microKelvin. We are now exploring the properties of the molecules, particularly their interactions and collisions, in order to develop their use for quantum science.
Cold molecules provide a fascinating playground for molecular quantum mechanics. We develop theory that is closely related to current experiments in this fast-moving field. Applicants will need to have experience in developing theoretical methods in one of the branches of molecular quantum mechanics (collisions, wide-amplitude vibrations, electronic structure, etc.) and will share my fascination with understanding fundamental quantum behaviour in molecular systems.
Jeremy Hutson is a member of both the Physics and Chemistry Departments at Durham. This position will be based in the Chemistry Department, but with membership the Quantum Light and Matter grouping in the Physics Department and the Joint Quantum Centre (JQC) Durham-Newcastle.
For a description of what we do, look at https://jmhutson.webspace.durham.ac.uk. Further information on our recent research and the proposed projects is available as a pdf linked from that page, or I am happy to send it by email. We publish on average about 8 papers per year, including many in high-profile journals such as Phys. Rev. Lett. and Nature journals. There’s a full publications list on the site above too.
For formal information, or to apply, please go to
https://durham.taleo.net/careersection/du_ext/jobdetail.ftl?job=26000990
The closing date for applications is 30 September 2026, and applications must be made via the Web site above. I am happy to answer informal enquiries by email, but I’m away on holiday 24-29 Aug so I may not respond quickly then.
GEFAM 