Characterisation Intern
C12 Quantum Electronics
Paris, France
Posted on Oct 24, 2024
C12 develops reliable & application-specific quantum computers, to solve highly complex computing tasks, currently out of reach of even most powerful supercomputers. Building a quantum computer still needs innovators ready to tackle exciting challenges. C12’s founders are convinced that only a new material for the qubit will bring a technological breakthrough. C12 uniquely uses carbon nanotubes as the fundamental building blocks of its quantum processor. This high-purity material minimises errors, radically improves performance and reduces hardware overhead for fault-tolerant computing. Combined with well-established semiconductor techniques, carbon nanotubes will help scale quantum computing, just as silicon revolutionised classical computing. Founded in 2020, C12 is a fast-growing start-up, who recently raised EUR 18 million in 2024 to further its research in its own lab in the heart of Paris (Panthéon).
Your role at C12 Quantum Electronics
- Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are very interesting candidates for nesting qubits, notably owing to the possibility to decouple them easily from their environment, in contrast to other bulk materials such as germanium or silicon. Unlike bulk materials for which the fabrication benefits from more than 70 years of technological development, the controlled synthesis of CNTs is still a major challenge, over 30 years after their discovery. Indeed, their synthesis yields a broad diversity of tubes, holding different electronic transport behaviours from metallic to semiconducting. C12 relies on CNT optical characterisation to mitigate this variability according to a two-fold approach, by providing feedback to the growth process to enable its optimisation and by selecting the CNTs that are integrated in devices. Increasing the throughput of optical characterisation is key to progress efficiently on this approach, one of the bottlenecks is the determination of the tube's positions on the growth substrate. This step can be significantly improved by collecting the scattered light from CNTs onto a single high-speed photodetector.
- Operate an existing confocal microscope set-up to collect data and optimise the set-up after getting familiar with it (automation, noise reduction, …)
- Develop the data analysis of the spatial distribution of carbon nanotubes on the growth substrate (density, length, orientation, ...)
The internship will be structured in two complementary parts:
About you:
- You are at the end of your bachelor or master in physics, mathematics, engineering, or any related field.
- You have an interest in experimental physics, particularly optics
- You speak and write English fluently
- You are familiar with Python
- You are self-motivated and are able to work independently.
- You are rigorous and meticulous.
You should join us if...
You want to contribute to achieving landmark results in quantum computing, making a difference in the emerging quantum technologies.
You want to work within a 40-people team with various backgrounds in nanofabrication, quantum electronics, and carbon nanotube science to create a revolutionary quantum computing processor.
You want to thrive in an exceptional scientific environment with several industrial and academic partners.
You share our values (excellence, scientific integrity, diversity, curiosity, and care) and want to help us define our product-focused culture and ambition to accelerate.
C12’s Quantum Electronics' unique technology
At C12, a qubit, the fundamental functional unit of a quantum computer, is built from an isotopically ultra-pure 12C nanotube suspended above a silicon chip containing control electrodes and a quantum communication bus. Our spin qubits hold great promises in terms of individual control and manipulation as well as for the circuit architecture. A suspended isotopically pure 12C nanotube holds great promises in terms of stability, as it reduces all sources of decoherence (charge noise, nuclear spin noise, phonon relaxation).
C12 encourages all who feel qualified to apply. Recruitment decisions are based solely on qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience. Applications from women are particularly welcomed.