Potential student research projects

The Research School of Physics performs research at the cutting edge of a wide range of disciplines.

By undertaking your own research project at ANU you could open up an exciting career in science.

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Topological and Structural Science

Wood-based mechanical metamaterials

The field of mechanical metamaterials is a fast-developing research domain, here the project aims at studying and developping wood-based and wood-inspired metamaterials.

Associate Professor Nicolas Francois, Dr Mohammad Saadatfar, Professor Mark Knackstedt

Nonlinear topological photonics

The project bridges the fundamental physics of topological phases with nonlinear optics. This promising synergy is expected to unlock advanced functionalities for applications in optical sources, frequency combs, isolators and multiplexers, switches and modulators, both for classical and quantum light.

Dr Daria Smirnova

Topological data analysis

A range of projects are available applying and developing the tools of topological data analysis. Data include 2D and 3D digital images, structural motifs in molecular-dynamics simulations, porous materials and more.

Dr Vanessa Robins

Ghost imaging in the third dimension

In ghost imaging, images are formed based on photons that have never interacted with the sample. 3D ghost imaging was first performed in 2018 by scientists at ANU and international collaborators at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility: the student will work with these scientists to further advance the field.

Dr Glenn Myers, Dr Andrew Kingston

Motions of crystalline bar-joint frameworks

Periodic frameworks, viewed as simple mechanisms, can be rigid or display a variety of exotic deformation properties such as surface modes or expansive auxetic motion. This project will conduct a systematic search for frameworks with these properties.

Dr Vanessa Robins

A computational method to detect and quantify symmetry

Apply methods from topological data analysis to derive a new approach to quantifying the geometric symmetries of three-dimensional shapes.

Dr Vanessa Robins

Tomography of dynamic processes (3D movies)

Generating 3D volumes, i.e., tomography, of an object as it changes over time (or evolves) is a challenging problem. The ability to achieve this would reveal new information and understanding of many dynamic processes.

Dr Andrew Kingston, Prof Adrian Sheppard, Dr Glenn Myers