Dr Anna Marchant

My broad research interest is in the field of ultracold quantum gases and the manipulation of atomic scattering properties using magnetic Feshbach resonances.

I completed my PhD in the Atomic and Molecular Physics group at Durham University working with Prof. Simon Cornish on the production of Bose-Einstein condensates with tunable atomic interactions and their application in the study of bright solitary matter-waves. Here we were able to controllably form solitary waves and observe both their classical and quantum reflection from light sheet potentials. Following my PhD, I remained in Durham as a postdoc, continuing to work on solitary waves and also spending some time working on the production of ultracold molecules.

After many happy years in Durham I finally bid farewell to the northeast and headed to Houston, Texas to join Prof. Randy Hulet at Rice University. At Rice my research focused on the use of atomic systems to explore condensed matter phenomena, in particular the search for the exotic superconducting phase FFLO which is predicted to support both superconducting and magnetic order.

On my return to the UK I took a brief detour into quantum optics, moving to Oxford to work with Prof. Ian Walmsley on a quantum enhanced microscope as part of QuantIC, the UK Quantum Technologies hub for quantum enhanced imaging.  In September 2018 I finally joined Dr Rob Smith's group to work on a new project to build an erbium BEC machine in order to study dipolar gases in novel trapping geometries.