Search by what the work actually is

Materials & Advanced Matter

Materials whose useful behaviour is quantum, and the calculations and measurements that establish it.

Scale 10^-10 m to 10^-8 m

Can relate a crystal structure to at least one measurable property and explain the mechanism. · Reads a phase diagram and can say what happens on cooling through a boundary. · Has analysed real characterisation data — diffraction, microscopy or mechanical testing — and stated its uncertainty. · Python for data analysis over a materials dataset. + 4 more

Semiconductors, Electronics & Micro/Nano Systems

Device design and TCAD modelling against a specification, including process variation.

Scale 10^-6 m to 10^-3 m

Can derive or explain the current-voltage characteristic of a diode or a MOSFET from device physics. · Has simulated a circuit in SPICE and compared the result against a hand calculation. · Semiconductor physics: carriers, doping, band structure, junctions. · Can read a datasheet and identify the conditions a specification was measured under. + 5 more

Semiconductors, Electronics & Micro/Nano Systems

One device characteristic derived, simulated, and compared against published measurements.

Scale 10^-6 m to 10^-3 m

Can derive or explain the current-voltage characteristic of a diode or a MOSFET from device physics. · Has simulated a circuit in SPICE and compared the result against a hand calculation. · Semiconductor physics: carriers, doping, band structure, junctions. · Can read a datasheet and identify the conditions a specification was measured under. + 5 more

Materials & Advanced Matter

Several materials programmes at once, and the provenance discipline applied across them.

Scale 10^-10 m to 10^0 m

Can relate a crystal structure to at least one measurable property and explain the mechanism. · Reads a phase diagram and can say what happens on cooling through a boundary. · Has analysed real characterisation data — diffraction, microscopy or mechanical testing — and stated its uncertainty. · Python for data analysis over a materials dataset. + 4 more

Molecular Engineering & Computational Chemistry

Several design and simulation programmes at once, and the standard of theory applied across them.

Scale 10^-10 m to 10^-7 m

Can explain what a basis set is, and what changes when you change one. · Has run a geometry optimisation and can say how convergence was judged. · Understands the difference between a force field and an electronic-structure calculation, and when each is appropriate. · Thermodynamics to the level of relating a free energy difference to an equilibrium constant. + 4 more

Nano Engineering & Nanotechnology

Several nanoscale programmes at once, and the maturity claims made about all of them.

Scale 10^-9 m to 10^-6 m

Can explain why a property changes when a material is made small, in terms of surface-to-volume ratio or quantum confinement. · Has interpreted characterisation data — microscopy, diffraction or spectroscopy — and can state what the technique cannot tell you. · Materials science to the level of relating structure to a measurable property. · Can carry out and document a calculation or an analysis in Python that somebody else can rerun. + 4 more

Materials & Advanced Matter

Films: deposition conditions, film-substrate interfaces, and whether the properties survive the process.

Scale 10^-9 m to 10^-6 m

Can relate a crystal structure to at least one measurable property and explain the mechanism. · Reads a phase diagram and can say what happens on cooling through a boundary. · Has analysed real characterisation data — diffraction, microscopy or mechanical testing — and stated its uncertainty. · Python for data analysis over a materials dataset. + 5 more

Semiconductors, Electronics & Micro/Nano Systems

A small digital block written in RTL, simulated, and verified against a testbench you wrote.

Scale 10^-6 m to 10^-3 m

Can derive or explain the current-voltage characteristic of a diode or a MOSFET from device physics. · Has simulated a circuit in SPICE and compared the result against a hand calculation. · Semiconductor physics: carriers, doping, band structure, junctions. · Can read a datasheet and identify the conditions a specification was measured under. + 5 more

Quantum, Atomic & Precision Systems

Many-body and atomic simulations at the sizes that can actually be converged.

Scale 10^-12 m to 10^-8 m

Can write the state of a two-qubit system, apply a gate to it, and compute a measurement probability by hand. · Comfortable with Hermitian operators, eigendecomposition, tensor products and partial trace. · Has implemented a quantum circuit in Qiskit or an equivalent SDK and interpreted its output including noise. · Can state the difference between a simulated result and a result from hardware, and does so unprompted. + 4 more

Quantum, Atomic & Precision Systems

An atomic-structure or transition-rate calculation compared against spectroscopic tables.

Scale 10^-12 m to 10^-8 m

Can write the state of a two-qubit system, apply a gate to it, and compute a measurement probability by hand. · Comfortable with Hermitian operators, eigendecomposition, tensor products and partial trace. · Has implemented a quantum circuit in Qiskit or an equivalent SDK and interpreted its output including noise. · Can state the difference between a simulated result and a result from hardware, and does so unprompted. + 4 more

Molecular Engineering & Computational Chemistry

One property computed for a small molecule set, with a convergence study and a comparison to tabulated values.

Scale 10^-10 m to 10^-7 m

Can explain what a basis set is, and what changes when you change one. · Has run a geometry optimisation and can say how convergence was judged. · Understands the difference between a force field and an electronic-structure calculation, and when each is appropriate. · Thermodynamics to the level of relating a free energy difference to an equilibrium constant. + 4 more

Ultra-Fundamental & Mathematical Physics

Turning the division's derivations into numerical codes that converge, are seeded, and reproduce on another machine.

Scale 10^-100 m to 10^-35 m

Can derive the Euler-Lagrange equations for a field theory from its action and state the symmetries that follow. · Fluent with tensor calculus in index and index-free notation, including covariant differentiation and curvature. · Has taken a graduate course in general relativity or quantum field theory and can reproduce its central derivations. · Can implement a numerical calculation in Python, Julia or C++ and state its convergence behaviour. + 8 more

Particle, High-Energy & Nuclear Systems

Computing observables from the theory and confronting them with measured distributions.

Scale 10^-18 m to 10^-12 m

Can state what a cross-section is, in what units, and how it relates to an event rate. · Has written a Monte Carlo simulation and can explain its variance and how it was reduced. · Competent in statistics: likelihood, confidence intervals, and why a p-value is not a probability that a hypothesis is true. · Can write analysis code in Python or C++ that another person can run on the same data and reproduce. + 4 more

Particle, High-Energy & Nuclear Systems

Turning raw detector output into calibrated, analysable data with the calibration recorded.

Scale 10^-18 m to 10^-12 m

Can state what a cross-section is, in what units, and how it relates to an event rate. · Has written a Monte Carlo simulation and can explain its variance and how it was reduced. · Competent in statistics: likelihood, confidence intervals, and why a p-value is not a probability that a hypothesis is true. · Can write analysis code in Python or C++ that another person can run on the same data and reproduce. + 6 more

Ultra-Fundamental & Mathematical Physics

The theoretical thread that runs across the department's whole declared span, and keeping its claims honest at both ends.

Scale 10^-100 m to 10^100 m

Can derive the Euler-Lagrange equations for a field theory from its action and state the symmetries that follow. · Fluent with tensor calculus in index and index-free notation, including covariant differentiation and curvature. · Has taken a graduate course in general relativity or quantum field theory and can reproduce its central derivations. · Can implement a numerical calculation in Python, Julia or C++ and state its convergence behaviour. + 5 more

Ultra-Fundamental & Mathematical Physics

What this division works on, who works on it, and the written standard every result meets before it leaves.

Scale 10^-100 m to 10^-35 m

Can derive the Euler-Lagrange equations for a field theory from its action and state the symmetries that follow. · Fluent with tensor calculus in index and index-free notation, including covariant differentiation and curvature. · Has taken a graduate course in general relativity or quantum field theory and can reproduce its central derivations. · Can implement a numerical calculation in Python, Julia or C++ and state its convergence behaviour. + 5 more

Particle, High-Energy & Nuclear Systems

Reproducing a published measurement from open data, and writing up where the reproduction diverges.

Scale 10^-18 m to 10^-12 m

Can state what a cross-section is, in what units, and how it relates to an event rate. · Has written a Monte Carlo simulation and can explain its variance and how it was reduced. · Competent in statistics: likelihood, confidence intervals, and why a p-value is not a probability that a hypothesis is true. · Can write analysis code in Python or C++ that another person can run on the same data and reproduce. + 4 more

Particle, High-Energy & Nuclear Systems

What this division analyses, who analyses it, and how uncertainty is reported before anything is published.

Scale 10^-18 m to 10^-12 m

Can state what a cross-section is, in what units, and how it relates to an event rate. · Has written a Monte Carlo simulation and can explain its variance and how it was reduced. · Competent in statistics: likelihood, confidence intervals, and why a p-value is not a probability that a hypothesis is true. · Can write analysis code in Python or C++ that another person can run on the same data and reproduce. + 4 more

Ultra-Fundamental & Mathematical Physics

Reconstructing a published derivation in full, including the steps the paper omitted, and writing up where it becomes ambiguous.

Scale 10^-100 m to 10^-35 m

Can derive the Euler-Lagrange equations for a field theory from its action and state the symmetries that follow. · Fluent with tensor calculus in index and index-free notation, including covariant differentiation and curvature. · Has taken a graduate course in general relativity or quantum field theory and can reproduce its central derivations. · Can implement a numerical calculation in Python, Julia or C++ and state its convergence behaviour. + 5 more

Ultra-Fundamental & Mathematical Physics

Framing and answering a whole mathematical question in the division's programme, and reporting its limits.

Scale 10^-100 m to 10^-35 m

Can derive the Euler-Lagrange equations for a field theory from its action and state the symmetries that follow. · Fluent with tensor calculus in index and index-free notation, including covariant differentiation and curvature. · Has taken a graduate course in general relativity or quantum field theory and can reproduce its central derivations. · Can implement a numerical calculation in Python, Julia or C++ and state its convergence behaviour. + 5 more

Molecular Engineering & Computational Chemistry

A scoped molecular design question, taken from a hypothesis to a ranked candidate list with stated uncertainty.

Scale 10^-10 m to 10^-7 m

Can explain what a basis set is, and what changes when you change one. · Has run a geometry optimisation and can say how convergence was judged. · Understands the difference between a force field and an electronic-structure calculation, and when each is appropriate. · Thermodynamics to the level of relating a free energy difference to an equilibrium constant. + 4 more

Molecular Engineering & Computational Chemistry

A molecular dynamics run set up, equilibrated and analysed, with the ensemble choice justified.

Scale 10^-10 m to 10^-7 m

Can explain what a basis set is, and what changes when you change one. · Has run a geometry optimisation and can say how convergence was judged. · Understands the difference between a force field and an electronic-structure calculation, and when each is appropriate. · Thermodynamics to the level of relating a free energy difference to an equilibrium constant. + 4 more

Particle, High-Energy & Nuclear Systems

How radiation damages a material over time, modelled at the level where the damage is created.

Scale 10^-12 m to 10^-6 m

Can state what a cross-section is, in what units, and how it relates to an event rate. · Has written a Monte Carlo simulation and can explain its variance and how it was reduced. · Competent in statistics: likelihood, confidence intervals, and why a p-value is not a probability that a hypothesis is true. · Can write analysis code in Python or C++ that another person can run on the same data and reproduce. + 6 more

Particle, High-Energy & Nuclear Systems

A scoped nuclear-structure or reaction-rate calculation checked against tabulated values.

Scale 10^-18 m to 10^-12 m

Can state what a cross-section is, in what units, and how it relates to an event rate. · Has written a Monte Carlo simulation and can explain its variance and how it was reduced. · Competent in statistics: likelihood, confidence intervals, and why a p-value is not a probability that a hypothesis is true. · Can write analysis code in Python or C++ that another person can run on the same data and reproduce. + 4 more