Course Information
Graduate Courses in Physics
This is a seminar-style course covering multiple topics in contemporary physics research. Students will attend presentations about recent research topics, given by experts as well as their peers. Students are also required to give presentations and participate in discussions. The aim is to improve students' presentation skills, so that they can participate in scientific seminars in a professional manner.
This course is an introduction to the physics of phase transitions. Through the course, students will build foundational knowledge in key topics such as scaling, critical exponents, universality, fractal behavior, transfer matrix, Monte Carlo simulations, renormalization group, which are critical in the study of phase transitions.
This course aims to equip students with the advanced concepts and problem solving skills in condensed matter physics. It surveys foundational phenomenology of solid state systems with an emphasis on the origin and basic techniques used to describe how electrons behave in crystals, and material responses to electric and magnetic fields. The course will provide students with an essential conceptual framework to parse fundamental electronic phenomena in crystalline materials, as well as a toolkit of effective models and approximations to perform calculations for materials.
This course aims to equip students with a unified macroscopic theory of the dynamics of classical electromagnetic waves (hence called Classical Electrodynamics), in accordance with the form invariance of the Maxwell equations and the constitutive relations. Great emphasis is placed on the fundamental important of the k vector in electromagnetic wave theory.
This course aims to acquaint students with many of the tools and techniques currently used by experimental condensed-matter physicists. Through this course, students will learn how the development of materials, measurement techniques, and theoretical insights are employed to explore the impact of quantum architecture of materials on new device responses. This builds an understanding of how experimental methods work and apply to real-world problems.
This course aims to equip students with the basic concepts of determinism and randomness in the physical world. Students will develop a basic understanding of dynamical system theory which is an essential component in physics, engineering, chemistry, biology, and the social sciences. They will also gain basic computational and analytical skills to solve and understand real-world problems involving chaotic and non-linear systems.
The course aims at providing the practical skills needed to address problems numerically. Special focus will be given to problems in physics, but several examples will show the applicability of the techniques to a broader range of problems, like industrial planning. Students will review numerical methods for several prototypical problems and learn how to effectively implement them for practical applications.
This course aims to teach students optical spectroscopic and imaging techniques that form an important class of non-destructive, state-of-the-art material characterization methods which have been extensively used in traditional bulk and thin film studies as well as in nanoparticles, nano-devices and bio-molecular research. The topics covered include Raman and Brillouin scattering, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and imaging, photoluminescence and photo-excitation spectroscopy.
This course intends to equip students with the fundamental concept and principles of key topics in advanced optics and nonlinear optics. Students will gain knowledge in the mechanisms of beam manipulation, generation of ultrafast laser pulses, optical resonators, wavelength conversion, nonlinear absorption etc.
This course aims to introduce the fundamental physical concepts of spin electronics and their applications in technology. It includes a study of fascinating magnetic phenomena in condensed matter systems, as well as an analysis of cutting-edge research in spintronics. Central to the course is the underlying physical principles, including symmetry, quantum mechanics, and electromagnetism.
This course aims to equip students with the central theoretical framework and tools which are paramount to understanding the advantage brought by quantum information processing and some experimental basics of realizing these technologies. Students will learn a comprehensive overview of central topics of interest in active research areas.
The course covers advanced concepts in quantum mechanics, with a focus on multi-particle systems. Students will learn how to quantitatively describe the scattering of quantum mechanical particles, the effects of scattering resonances, entanglement between quantum subsystems, and the quantization of fields such as the electromagnetic field. Key analytical and numerical methods taught in this course include quantum Green’s functions, Fermi’s golden rule, density matrices, and second quantization. This course provides the theoretical background for advanced courses in quantum field theory, high energy physics, and condensed matter physics.
This course is an introduction to plasma physics applied to magnetic fusion energy. It will present key nuclear reactions, and the advantages/drawbacks of fusion energy. This course will explain why confining a hot plasma is the best way to produce fusion energy, and how this can be done with intense magnetic fields. In addition, it will introduce the main instabilities that may plague a plasma.
Courses for MSc in Precision Scientific Instrumentation
Compulsory Courses
This is a laboratory-based course aiming to train student on experimental techniques employed in electronic device measurement and material characterisation. Student will be trained on how to do hardware and software programming of microcontroller and applied to real precision control.
Prescribed Elective Courses (Specialisation Track)
NANO-PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY
The course will discuss fundamental and applied research within surface and interface physics and related fields, such as material science, material chemistry and nanoscience. Techniques and instrumentation of surface characterisation will also be a focus of the discussion.
This course will give you a comprehensive introduction to optical spectroscopy and imaging techniques. These techniques are widely used in the non-destructive analytical characterisation of traditional materials such as organic compounds, semiconductors, and metals, as well as in emerging fields like nanophononics and biomolecular research. By covering the physical mechanisms, instrumentation, and data analysis involved in optical spectroscopy, this course will provide the relevant background needed to embark on a successful professional career in this field.
This course aims to provide a good understanding of the principles of optoelectronic technology. Topics covered include fundamentals and applications of optics, Optical fiber communication, display technology, and semiconductor optoelectronic devices etc.
This course introduces how quantum mechanical behaviour emerges in condensed matter systems at the nanometre scale and how quantum mechanical laws govern their properties. It will provide an overview of physical phenomena observed experimentally, introduce their underlying physical principles, and aim to build the analytical skills to describe these phenomena mathematically. This course will equip students with the relevant concepts of modern nanoscience and technology that will prepare the students to follow or initiate research in the field or to work in industry jobs related to applied nanoscience and technology.
CHIP TECHNOLOGY
This course will introduce magnetics and spintronics technologies applied in hard disk drives and emerging magnetic random access memory devices. The course consists of three parts. The first part provides the fundamentals of magnetism. The second part discusses the basics and recent developments of magnetic recording. The third part discusses the basics and recent magnetic random access memory developments.
This course seeks to illustrate and explain key experimental methods available to contemporary solid-state physicists. Examples will predominantly be drawn from the field of quantum condensed matter physics, followed by a phenomenological review of several important theoretical concepts to interpret typical experimental findings. These include classical and quantum phase transitions, low-dimensional magnetism, electronic glasses and superconductivity.
This course will give you a comprehensive introduction to optical spectroscopy and imaging techniques. These techniques are widely used in the non-destructive analytical characterisation of traditional materials such as organic compounds, semiconductors, and metals, as well as in emerging fields like nanophononics and biomolecular research. By covering the physical mechanisms, instrumentation, and data analysis involved in optical spectroscopy, this course will provide the relevant background needed to embark on a successful professional career in this field.
This course covers core concepts and basic building blocks of digital electronics for understanding and designing complex digital systems. It will introduce the concepts related to number systems, Boolean algebra and logic gates. These concepts will be applied to design fundamental digital circuits of combinational (like adder, multiplexer, comparator, etc.) and sequential (like flip-flops, finite state machines, shift registers, memories, etc.) nature.
The students will be able to understand how to implement such complex circuits through hardware description language (like VHDL). Accompanying hands-on exercises are designed to enable a deeper understanding of the digital circuit design principle. The course will also discuss programmable logic, commonly used for prototyping, testing and deploying digital circuits. Finally, the design flow of digital integrated circuits will be discussed to provide a comprehensive look at digital systems from conception to fabrication to deployment.
INTERDISCIPLINARY AI
This course aims to provide students with the quantitative skills needed to study complex physical situations, such as multi-dimensional systems, nonlinear phenomena, and stochastic phenomena. Emphasis is placed on practical analysis, problem-solving, and debugging skills. These skills are developed through programming assignments, in which students will learn how to tackle a variety of physics problems in electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics etc.
This course aims to equip students with the application of silicon photonics in the real world. The students will be introduced to the industry practice on the technology, design, layout, and testing of Silicon Photonics Integrated Circuits. The concept and knowledge of the importance of layout for wafer testing will also be taught. The students will also be imparted with the knowledge of characterisation and testing methods of key components of silicon photonics products. Specific topics on silicon photonics manufacturing, like wafer manufacturing and post-fabrication flow, will also be covered in this course.
This course is designed for students who are interested in AI for sciences. The course aims to cover basic concepts of machine learning, deep learning, nonlinear dimensionality reduction, data representation and featurisation, geometric deep learning and their applications in physics, chemistry, biology, and materials.
QUANTUM COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
This course aims to introduce the rapidly developing field of quantum communication, quantum sensing, and metrology from theoretical and practical aspects. Basic theoretical concepts of quantum mechanics will be developed and applied to these topics. Advances and challenges in state-of-the-art practical technologies will be discussed.
This course imparts fundamental knowledge, theory, and quantum mechanics concepts. It uses quantum paradoxes to unveil the mysteries of quantum mechanics and gain a deeper understanding of the theory by developing a better physical intuition. This course is designed for students embarking on quantum engineering, and it provides foundational knowledge for more advanced topics like quantum information theory, quantum communication, quantum metrology and quantum tomography.
Early 80’s, Aspect's experiment demonstrated the violation of Bell’s inequalities which ended a long quest initiated by the EPR paradox in 1935. This is a keystone for what is called nowadays the second quantum revolution. This revolution is characterised firstly by the emergence of new technologies that allowed for a constantly improved control of simple quantum systems (single and twin photon sources, for example). Besides, it is based on the recognition that the irreducibly non-classical behaviour of quantum systems offers new ways to tackle old problems such as cryptography and algorithmic. The course aims to introduce the basic concepts behind this revolution and illustrate them with applications related to quantum information and quantum sensing processing.
Unrestricted Elective Courses
This course aims to teach students the understanding the origins of the wide variety of solid state properties. Contents include crystal structure, lattice, structure determination by diffraction methods; phonons and their properties; interband transitions, excitons, and plasmons; electrons in a periodic potential, semiconductor, magnetism and superconductivity.
This course has been specially designed to develop graduate students' ability to communicate their research in writing and orally in academic and professional settings upon graduation. Students will learn the principles that underlie effective scientific communication. They will learn to evaluate scientific claims and arguments critically and to present logical arguments in their writing and oral presentations. The course will also provide opportunities for students to acquire the skills required to participate effectively and confidently in scientific discussions and seminars. This is a practice-intensive course where students will be provided with opportunities to practise their communication skills individually, in pairs and in groups and receive feedback to help them perfect their skills.
This is a 10-week internship training in the local industry with project scopes relevant to physics and engineering.
Research project supervised by a faculty advisor, with weekly consultations. The research projects will focus on training the students on necessary concepts and skills related to advanced scientific instrumentation. The project can be carried out at a university laboratory or local research institutes or an approved industrial site in the case of a supervised industrial project.
This course presents the opportunity for students to involve in a research project overseen by a faculty advisor. Weekly consultations of up to four hours are conducted to equip students with essential concepts and skills related to advanced scientific instrumentation. Research projects may be conducted at the university laboratory, local research institutes, or approved industrial sites, in the case of supervised industrial projects. Assessment will be emphasised based on research performance evaluated by the project supervisor, a project report, and an oral presentation assessed by appointed examiners.
This course aims to support students’ career preparation for future roles and to develop research skills, which are crucial for both industry R&D and academic research.