Cooling nano-electro-mechanical systems to ultra-low temperatures"

In this project, the PhD student will work within the ULT group to investigate the behaviour of Micro-Electro-Mechanical (MEM) and Nano-Electro-Mechanical (NEM) resonators in the vacuum and superfluid 3He at world record low temperatures. There is growing demand for cooling micro and nano-electromechanical oscillators down to submillikelvin temperatures, and existing research indicates that 3He superfluid is the best available coolant to achieve this. The goals of the project are to understand and overcome existing cooling restrictions and to reach submillikelvin temperatures. Furthermore, MEM and NEM beams could be used to probe superfluid 3He at various sub-gap frequencies and length scales comparable to the coherence length of the condensate. This would have very far-reaching scientific and technological impacts.